Virgin Holidays has launched its 2006 USA & Canada brochure with a three-night offer to Boston from £399. The price includes scheduled flights with Virgin Atlantic and three nights at the Comfort Inn, Revere.
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Icelandair is now offering Lucky Fares from London to Boston valid Nov 1- Dec 14 for £264. Only available via their website.
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For affordable lodging in central Boston, check out the new Hotel 140 in Back Bay, close to the city’s main attractions. What is unusual about the hotel is that it is has 40 rooms on two floors of the historic headquarters of the YWCA.
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Isn’t it romantic?
The idea of a winter wedding in picture pretty New England is growing in popularity with visitors from the British Isles. A couple from Dublin married at The Inn at the Round Barn, Waitsfield, Vermont, so guests could combine a holiday with a happy event. The ceremony takes place in the historic (but fully heated) Shaker-style Round Barn, set in rural Vermont.
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Get your skates on!
From November 16, you can join office workers on their lunch breaks, young people meeting after school, or visitors from throughout the world skating on the Boston Common Frog Pond. You can rent skates and use the warming area right through till March.
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Dates for your diary
November 25-December 31: Nantucket Noel starts with the lighting of over 150 Christmas trees in the historic downtown. During the Annual Christmas Stroll Weekend (December 2-4), Santa arrives via a Coast Guard vessel and rides up Main Street in a horse-drawn carriage accompanied by the town crier.

November 27: 53rd Annual Quincy Christmas Parade features dozens of bands, floats, clowns, antique autos and entertainment, attracting more than 200,000 spectators along the parade’s three-mile route.

December: this is the 35th Christmas In Newport and the city is celebrating in style, with lights, concerts and special tours of the mansions, glamorously decorated for the holidays.

December 31: 30th First Night celebrations in Boston and across New England. An idea that started out in Boston and is now copied around the USA, this is a great way to welcome the New Year, with concerts, comedy and more in hundreds of venues – all for the price of one ticket.

What the papers say...
In the Sunday Telegraph, Lindsay Hawthorne reports on a great time in Vermont working with huskies. Training for the winter, the dogs pull carts instead of sleds ... in The Guardian, Tony Myers is drawn to the windswept beaches, dry-stone walls and village atmosphere of Block Island, off the Rhode Island coast... in The Telegraph, Pamela Petro raved about biking around Nantucket … and Paul Wade waxes lyrical about the Great State of Maine in Essentially America magazine.

The MFA Effect
Tens of thousands attended the Impressionism in Boston show at the Royal Academy in London this summer. But this is only part of the impressive collection at one of the world’s great museums, the MFA, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. This autumn’s blockbuster features the legendary American landscape photographer Ansel Adams.
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The right connections
If you don’t like to drive, then check out New England’s excellent network of buses and coaches. For example, Concord Trailways have a new express coach service from Boston’s Logan International Airport to the lively city of Portland, Maine. The Way2Logan trip takes about two hours and costs $39 return.
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Holiday delight
In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the excellent Strawbery Banke museum is a collection of authentic, restored and furnished houses, plus exhibits, historic landscapes and gardens. Costumed role players interpret the history of those who settled in Portsmouth from the late 17th to the mid-20th century. On December weekends, the lanes are aglow for the candlelight stroll, the historic homes are festively decorated and the scents and sounds of the holiday season fill the air.
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Space invaders
With the incredible success of the new Star Wars movie, the Boston Museum of Science has a new exhibition called Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination. Visitors will encounter artwork, props, models, film clips and documentary footage from the Star Wars saga and investigate the numerous parallels between technologies in the films and those in the real world.
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The Complete (American) Angler
The new American Museum of Fly Fishing is the home of the world’s largest collection of angling art and angling-related items. Find it in Manchester, Vermont, close to the Batten Kill River, a holy of holies for fly fishermen. Follow the timeline of the major developments in fly fishing, find out why fish are fooled by artificial flies, learn how rods and reels are crafted, see thousands of flies plus equipment once used by Ernest Hemingway, Dwight Eisenhower and Bing Crosby. To add to the temptation, the museum is next door to the Orvis Flagship Store.
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The B&B: a New England gem
In a recent poll of favourite B&Bs in North America, New England had 3 in the top 8: The Eastman Inn, North Conway, New Hampshire, Notchland Inn, Harts Location, New Hampshire and High Pointe Inn, West Barnstable, Massachusetts. For a wide range of B&Bs, check out the Inns and Resorts of New England.

Let it snow, let it snow...
Great interest in ski holidays in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont at the Daily Mail Ski & Board Show at Olympia recently, according to our reporter. “Brits that have been to the region love it because the service is second to none,” the Vermont rep told our man. “They love the colonial villages, Ben & Jerry’s, a real American experience, but so close to home.” New England’s closeness is a major attraction. “Breakfast in the UK, in Killington in time for a beer at the Wobbly Barn,” as a British boarder boasted. And at Killington, new Low Energy snow guns have been added to what is the world’s largest snowmaking system, covering more than 700 acres. New Hampshire has its fans, too, “Two and a half hours from Boston, an 8-resort passport, prices about the same as a week in France and a long, long season – that’s what attracts our British visitors,” we hear. “The people I talk to are amazed at the amount of snow that we have,” the man from Stowe tells us. “Jay Peak, Smugglers’ Notch, Sugarbush and Stowe have averaged 300-350 inches over the past three years.” And easy access is again a strong point: “Stowe is just 40 minutes from Burlington airport. That saves so much time and hassle.”

Not just downhill
Thanks to its glorious scenery and superb country inns, New England is also a popular destination for cross-country skiing. For example, Inntravel’s 2-centre week at Blueberry Hill Inn and the Notchland Inn costs £1,265 per person sharing, including flights, car hire, B & B, 3 dinners, 4 light lunches, cross-country ski pass. One night is in Boston.
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Shop and save!
To find out ‘What the Pound Buys in BostonUSA’ (or anywhere else in New England), check out a new chart developed by the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau.
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And check out Macy’s department stores’ new International Savings Card that entitles overseas visitors (on proof of international ID) to an 11% discount on almost everything in the store. This discount is even valid on top of existing sale markdowns! The cards are valid in more than 400 Macy’s locations across the US, with stores throughout the New England states. Either pick up a card in-store or, in the UK, call 020 7253 0254 to request one before you travel.

Drive The Open Roads
If you are touring in New England, you’ll need a car to explore the back roads and country lanes, the coastlines and the mountains. Hertz (0870 84 84 848), has great rental rates in New England.
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Save money...
The Boston CityPass provides entry to the six most popular attractions for $39, halving the usual admission price: Museum of Science, New England Aquarium, Prudential Skywalk Observation Deck, Museum of Fine Arts, Harvard Museum of Natural History, John F Kennedy Library & Museum. Reductions for children.
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