Start from 28 curated places around New London, CT, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
Captain Scott's Lobster Dock
This is the birthplace of the hot buttered lobster roll — Connecticut style — and the dock on the Thames River has been serving them since 1986. Order at the window, grab a picnic table, and watch the river traffic drift by while you work through clam fritters, chowder, and a roll piled with sweet warm lobster. Cash only, seasonal, and perpetually mobbed for good reason.
On the Waterfront
Consistently ranked #1 in New London on TripAdvisor, this casually elegant Italian-American spot along Pequot Avenue earns its reputation through sheer consistency: handmade pasta, impeccably fresh seafood, and a waterfront patio that turns dinner into an event. It's the kind of place locals bring out-of-town guests to show off what New London can do.
Trails & outdoors
Bluff Point State Park & Coastal Reserve Loop
Connecticut's last remaining piece of undeveloped shoreline — a 3.6-mile loop through a wooded peninsula that ends at a sand spit jutting into Fishers Island Sound. The wide gravel carriage path is easy walking for all fitness levels, birding is exceptional (warblers in spring, shorebirds in fall), and the views from the bluff over the Sound are legitimately spectacular.
Haley Farm Loop
A gentle 2.9-mile loop through open meadows, cedar groves, and oak-hickory forest in Groton, with surprising waterfront views over the Poquonock River and Long Island Sound. It's the kind of trail where you'll surprise a great blue heron in a marsh and find wild blueberries in July — quieter than Bluff Point but equally beautiful.
Things to do
Garde Arts Center
Built in 1926 with a breathtaking Moroccan-inspired interior, the 1,450-seat Garde Theatre is one of the last grand movie palaces in New England — and it's still in use. The nonprofit programs everything from Broadway touring productions and jazz headliners to independent film and community events, making it the cultural heartbeat of downtown New London.
Ocean Beach Park
New London's mile-long boardwalk beach has been the summer social hub since 1938 — white sand, a retro arcade, mini golf, an Olympic pool, classic car cruise nights, and the best sunset views on the Connecticut coast. It's a place where nostalgia and family fun genuinely coexist, and a summer evening here feels like a lost American tradition.
Landmarks & sights
Fort Trumbull State Park
This granite fortress on a Thames River peninsula has been guarding New London's harbor since the 1830s, and its star-shaped bastions offer some of the finest river views in Connecticut. Walk the ramparts, peek into the restored gun casemates, then linger at the waterfront fishing pier as the Navy submarines glide past. A free visitor center tells the full story, from the Revolution through the Cold War.
Lyman Allyn Art Museum
Perched on a hilltop above Connecticut College, this 1932 neoclassical gem holds a surprisingly deep collection — American paintings, Connecticut silver, and a beloved dollhouse collection that enchants all ages. New London residents get in free, so locals treat it as their living room. The surrounding lawn has picnic-worthy views over the Thames River valley.