Hartford to New Haven drive: Distance, time & best stops
The distance from Hartford CT to New Haven CT is 38 miles, with a 39m driving time. The best road trip stops on the Hartford to New Haven drive are Dinosaur State Park, Wadsworth Falls State Park and Powder Ridge Mountain Park.
Finding the best things to do between Harford CT and New Haven CT
The Hartford to New Haven drive connects two of the main cities in Connecticut.
The grand Connecticut State Capitol Building is the obvious centerpiece of Hartford CT, but the city has a strong collection of cultural attractions. The Connecticut Museum of Culture and History tells the state’s story, and the Wadsworth Atheneum Art Museum is home to more than 50,000 works. There’s a good mix of European and American art, plus plenty of Egyptian bronzes.
The two highlights are right next to each other, however. The Harriet Beecher Stowe Center and Mark Twain House celebrate the works and lives of two great American authors.
The top accommodation options in Hartford are the proudly grand Delamar West Hartford and the heritage-laced Goodwin.
New Haven CT is home to Yale University, which provides the city’s top attractions. The Yale Center of British Art hosts the biggest collection of British Art outside the UK. Yale University Art Gallery covers a broader, global range. And the Yale Peabody Museum does natural history, evolution and dinosaur skeletons.
You can also do self-guided smartphone walking tours of the Yale campus, or a story-packed ghost walk.
New Haven’s other claim to fame is New Haven-style pizza. It’s close to a traditional Neapolitan style, with a thin, chewy base and very little melted cheese.
Good quality, academia-themed accommodation options in New Haven include the Study at Yale and the Graduate.
Hartford to New Haven distance and driving time
By car, the distance from Hartford CT to New Haven CT is 38 miles. That makes for a driving time of around 39 minutes. The quickest route is largely down the I-91.
The best stops to add to a Hartford to New Haven road trip itinerary are Dinosaur State Park, Wadsworth Falls State Park and Powder Ridge Mountain Park.
Best stops between Hartford and New Haven: Dinosaur State Park
Dinosaur State Park in Rocky Hill CT is based around the fossilised dinosaur footprints that were discovered here in 1966. More than 2,600 individual footprints make up an impressive trackway, with over 750 of them preserved in a geodesic dome that now acts as an exhibit center. Within the park, there’s also a boardwalk, butterfly garden and arboretum.
Hartford to New Haven road trip itinerary: Wadsworth Falls State Park
Wadsworth Falls State Park near Middletown CT is an excellent place for leaf-peeping in the fall. It’s less colourful the rest of the year, but you can still go fishing in the Cochinchaug River or take the walk to the powerful Wadsworth Big Falls. This waterfalls is about width and waterflow rather than height, but the river still plunges 25 metres over the rock ledge.
Hartford CT to New Haven CT drive: Powder Ridge Mountain Park
Powder Ridge Mountain Park is hardly America’s greatest ski resort, but in this less mountainous corner of New England it’ll do the job. Winter offers skiing, snowboarding, snow tubing and snow bikes. Then, when summer comes around, there’s a different menu of activities. Mountain biking, ziplines, summer tubing and paintball are on that menu.
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