The guy with all the down-votes is a rude, a lot of people seem to hate on our state without realizing what is here, often(but not always) the hate is inseparable from politics sadly. Ct is an interesting blend of small town America main-streets lodged right next to urbanisim, nature, history, and industry. We have lots of amazing restaurants around the state and it never takes more than an hour to get anywhere.

Depending on how far you want to go and what time of year you come, we have hiking and trails, lots of nature parks, a couple quality theme parks, all sorts of awesome fairs like the Big e and smaller more local ones/ we have still beaches and beaches with waves if you want to go next door to rhode island or cape-cod, we also have multiple casino's, museums, etc.

We have lots of bars and lots of local brews, amazing restaurants on every corner, some notable ones are parkville market in hartford(a food court with amazing restaurants and bars, also live entertainment listed on it's website) mystic pizza, pepe's pizza, and probably an easy thousand quality international restaurants.

I recommend coming somewhere around late summer for the warm weather/beaches, or early/mid September for the fairs.

All that said, ct is probably as real America as it gets, and we're a pretty safe and quiet choice, as well as a safer choice compared to most states. Though we're not exactly a hot tourist spot, there are more vacation-y spots to do if that's what your looking for. you will need a rental if you really want to experience everything properly, as ubers will get expensive and bus service isn't ubiquitous, but be warned, our state problem is our insane and reckless drivers, though i hear Massachusetts manages to have it worse, if your coming for two weeks or more, a rental is a must, as it will expand your range to Boston and new York(dont forget the state exists), and further if your willing to take a 4-6 hour drive.

How long do you have. You can really get a good variety by a few towns along the coast and take trains. New Haven and get some famous pizza and see a small college town. Bars and restaurants.
Mystic Seaport for quirky fun history and the Aquarium is one of the bests. For extra time there some cool historic stuff along the way like in Lyme. Art musuem and such.

If in summer go on a fishing trip with the Blackhawk. Super fun and we have fantastic ocean fishing.

The casinos are unique so could be worth a visit. The Native American musuem at Foxwoods is fantastic. I like vibe of Mohegan.

We have beautiful nature too so plenty of hikes but I'd have to look for accessible ones.

You seem like my kind of traveler. It's how I do it too.

Enjoy and feel free to reach out.

You’ll quickly find out why Connecticut isn’t much of a tourist destination. I’ve had British people tell me CT is the state that reminds them the most of home so it might not even seem exotic to you. I love it here but I enjoy it’s quaint nature and lack of excitement

Charleston, SC near King St. You'll get a full dose of Southern American culture, great restaurants, awesome nightlife, and top rated beaches near. Have some shrimp and grits at Magnolias downtown and some brisket outdoors on a hot day under the tree at Lewis BBQ.

Speaking as someone who has been to every state in the US other than Hawaii...there is no "Real America" as far as I see it.

America is a huge country with vast differences between the states and coasts.

That said, I don't think you can go wrong with Connecticut or New England in general for your first visit.

Just got done hosting 3 friends from England here in Connecticut and a trip up to Maine/Boston and they had an amazing time. They couldn't get over how friendly everyone was and the lack of drama.

None of New England is "Real America" to most Americans so I wouldn't base my trip around that idea. It's small, affluent, white and much more liberal and similar to Europe than expected for its population density. Don't get me wrong, it's my favourite part of America by far (UK immigrant), but I wouldn't be 100% sure that it was the perfect short American break. The highlights here are the scenery, relatively slow living, quaint towns, high quality of life etc.

The best bits about America for someone coming for a short trip are usually the national parks and the huge cities (NYC metro area is like 2.5x bigger than London metro). Maybe the things you can't do back home for novelty like shooting a firearm.

So if food and nightlife are huge priorities and you can't rent a car, you should seriously consider going to NYC or Boston or similar. Good or even acceptable public transit is almost entirely absent here outside of the big cities.

Also, medium sized cities in America generally confer a huge culture shock on a European, they oftentimes have quite serious crime and homelessness compared to what you're used to. When combined with the car infrastructure, strip mall living and the fact that there are no cathedrals from the year 1100 this leads to pretty ugly cookie cutter cities IMHO. Most places bigger than 100k population and less than maybe 750k fall into this category for me.

If you can rent a car and are more interested in seeing the wee small quaint towns and the American quality of life, then buy the lonely planet guidebook and zip up the coast roads doing a classically American road trip, stopping into all the best bits. See some big mountains that we don't get back home, the lakes and forests, the wildlife is absolutely phenomenal etc.

As long as you don’t mind a bunch of New Yorkers then welcome! Since the pandemic they’ve literally overrun us in the state and are moving/visiting en masse. A lot of the coast line has become very touristy as a result of that, hopefully you’ll find a nice spot that is still mainly a local hang out spot.

CT is NOT real America. CT is one of the wealthiest states.

CT is very quaint, a lot of colonial history. TBH I think CT is boring for a trip to the USA unless you are able to visit NYC/ Boston as well.

aaaaah, there ya go. Yeah okay, well there might be fewer people in one of those Connecticut Long Island Sound beach towns, although I've seen them pretty jammed up, too.

Be ready for gray sand, cold, kinda murky water, average food with the occasional stand-out place, and local town rules that might make for rare and/or expensive parking. You might luck into a craft brewery with food trucks parked out front, best of all worlds.

Have fun regardless. Wish I lived in the UK. I know, I know. Still. Wish I did.

Ct isn’t the real America. We’re the smallest part of the country, literally aside from Rhode Island, if you want to see the real American history? Maybe you can try very hard to arrange some tours with a lot of travel time in between. If you want night life to enjoy a vacation go somewhere with nightlife and tourism.

Tbf it sounds like you want to be a tourist but told your agent you don’t want to be with tourists and tourism doesn’t work that way.