Hey y’all! I just moved out of Central CT. The best hike I ever found was Rattlesnake Mountain in Farmington. There is some rock climbing there too if you’d like. The Trout Brook Trail in West Hartford is a nice flat, paved walk if you prefer, then you could grab lunch in the center. There’s bowling on the Berlin Turnpike and if you like arcades, they have a Dave and Buster’s in Manchester.

all trails is a pretty great app for hiking. eastern ct has some cool waterfalls you can hike to.

Wintertime is a bit tough.

Connecticut's main attractions are natural, historical and cultural.

Indoor activities until the weather improves.

Wadsworth Atheneum

Mark Twain House

Basketball Hall of Fame

Most towns have a local history museum or a historic home to visit.

The Peabody Museaum at Yale reopens in 2024.

There is a small Connecticut Natural History at UConn

There is the Pequot Museaum at Foxwoods

There is an indoor racetrack near Foxwoods

The Mystic Aquarium

And the three casinos in MGM in Springfield, Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun

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As the weather improves more outdoor activities become available

Old Sturbridge Village

Visit the Mansions in Newport

There are also mansions in Hudson River Valley Rockefeller Mansion, Lyndhurst and Vanderbilt mansions.

Mystic Seaport

Get hamburger at Harry's in Colchester.

Hancock Shaker Village can be done in a day

Plymouth Plantation can be done in day

Visit the Rhode Island beaches.

If you ski or board, mount southington is extremely small but IMO fun and pretty damn cheap. No idea how conditions are this year though. Believe they host some other events rest of the year too

Hartford wolf pack games are always fun

I have never been, but based on your interests have you tried Hall's Archery in Manchester? Bonus it is right across from amazing Mexican food at Three Amigos Taqueria.

The Wadsworth Athenaeum in Hartford

The Yale Art Gallery and the Yale Center for British Art (both free)

A ton of local music venues have shows most weekends for under $20

Go have a beer and throw some axes

Escape room

Barcade

If you don't mind being a little chilly, CT has more state parks than almost any other state in the country

Go to game craft in Southington. My wife and I also go rock climbing at Rock Spot in Wallingford. There’s a place called central rock in Glastonbury too. We’ve really enjoyed that.

I greatly prefer winter hiking over summer provided it’s about 30 or so. No bugs, no humidity/dripping sweat, and you can see much farther with unblocked views.

CFPA website has over 800 miles of marked trails.

Hammonasset Beach State Park doesn’t have large waves but it has very nice scenery, nature preserve, and walking trails.

If you're willing to venture to the eastern part of the state and the coast, there's old mystic village, the mystic seaport. And downtown mystic is very nice. Mohegan's Comix club is pretty fun too, the comedians are great and many are there for several weeks at a time. Gay city state park in Glastonbury is great for hiking and bringing doggos if you have one. Mansfield Hollow and the Airline trail are very nice too.

You wrote up such a nice list! Def gonna try some spots You suggested!

Art Cinema

Hike Talcott Mountain in Simsbury then grab a bite to eat in Collinsville (ex Lasalle)

I'm not sure if it's open now, but the Storrs Adventure Park is pretty fun if you like outdoors stuff and are, well, adventurous.

Gamecraft in Southington - Drinking and arcade

This is such a great list! Also wanted to add that MassMOCA is really cool and can be done in a day, depending on where you’re at! Or could be part of a little weekend/overnight getaway. Lots of other cool stuff around it!

We love Mystic! Will try the other suggestions as well.

My GF and I probably aren't the best for going to casinos together. She wants to gamble together and when she loses is ready to leave while I like to go off on my own and feel out tables and am okay going down $200 to try and win some back. I can sit at a table for hours while she can't more than like 20 minutes lol

This is great, thanks for the suggestion will definitely download this

We live right on Trout Brook Trail so we've walked it plenty! Will check out the other place though

I think we did the rock climbing in Wallingford but wanted to try the Glastonbury one as well.

We were actually just at the bowling alley/arcade in Southington last week. Lots of fun!

Nope this sounds cool though! Thanks!

I like asking but GF absolutely dreads it. I think I'm gonna still check it out but maybe with my GFs friends S/O haha

These are great suggestions. Been to Mystic but we love it. Great call on the comedy club as we've gone to a few and have enjoyed our time.

We don't have a dog but her parents have one that is basically her dog lol so maybe we can take him

Yup hikes Talcott Mountain a few times. We were going to go last weekend again but it had rained so we just walked at West Hartford reservoir instead

You're the second person to suggest this so definitely adding to my list.

I feel like I saw this when looking up stuff to do last weekend but might've been the Barcade in Hartford and I'm getting confused because we went to the bowling alley/arcade in Southington instead

I'm not big on axe throwing but there is one about 5 minutes from us.

We did an escape room a few months ago but I'd be down to do another one

Gay city is in Hebron.

Barcade New Haven followed by a fresh apizza 🤌🤌🤌

It sounds like you went to Crystal Bees in Southington. Gamecraft is downtown, where there's also a brewery and a few other attractions

Ok yes that's where we went!

You all sound as if you like some games! Have you considered board games? There's some great game shops around that I can recommend. I think they often have social hours where you can pay a little and come in and try a bunch of games, meet some nice people, etc.

Oh also Pickleball? My partner and I also just moved to what sounds like the same area, and we're going to be checking this out in the sprint:

https://www.westhartfordpickleballclub.com/home

Disc golf

Get a starter set for ~$25 or a single disc for $10-20 for each player.

There are a bunch of fantastic courses in CT and about 90% are in public parks so they are free to play. Just show up and start throwing. It is incredibly simple to understand the basic rules and fundamentals of the game and it isn't "stuffy" like regular golf. There is a great local community and nearly infinite online resources if you want to learn more. A round of 18 holes should take 1 - 2 hours for a pair of beginners and you'll end up with around 5 - 8k steps at most courses. If you don't want to play all 18 holes you can do as many as you want then leave.

For someone in the central part of the state I would recommend trying Panthorn Park in Southington first, particularly the short layout. Most courses are open year-round and if you enjoy the game you can find courses all over the country/world. Conveniently, nearly every course in the state has a local brewery within 5-10 minutes so you can reward yourselves with a drink afterwards.

To add to your great list:

Maritime Museum in Norwalk

Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport

IT Rope course at Jordan’s in New Haven

Various Axe throwing places in CT

This is a great date spot

Follow them on Instagram they post a lot with quality content on what events they’re holding etc

Parkville Market is always a great time and a good way to experience new local food and beverage. There's axe throwing across the st as well next to Hog River Brewing.

Full disclosure - In my haste I misread 'arcadey' as 'archery' in your original post :-). If you check it out, lemme know though. Been on my list to explore at some point.