Would Bethel make a sensible one night stopover?

Greetings from England.

In October we will be touring New England, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick by car and plan to make our way back to Boston via Vermont. On the 17th we plan to drive from Saint Andrews in New Brunswick but I guess we will need a stopover both to avoid a really long drive and to allow us to take the Mount Washington cog railway on the morning of the 18th.

Back in 1997 we stopped briefly for lunch in Bethel (at Mothers?) and thought it a village we might like to come back to one day. Would this October by that day or should we be looking somewhere else on this occasion?

We enjoy staying in B%26amp;Bs but for one night would also consider a nice motel should anyone have some suggestions.

Many thanks in advance.

Would Bethel make a sensible one night stopover?

As far as time and distance are concerned, you should be able to make it from St Andrews to Bethel in an easy day%26#39;s drive assuming you%26#39;re planning on crossing the US-Canadian border between St Stephen, New Brunswick and Calais, ME and then taking Maine Rt 9 to Bangor, with time to see a few things along the way.

US Route 1 and US Route 1A are an alternative for getting from Calais to Bangor, but will take you an hour to two hours longer than the Rt 9 route, depending on traffic.

A couple of things to keep in mind....

1. You%26#39;re going to gain an hour%26#39;s time when you cross from New Brunswick into Maine -- New Brunswick is in the Canadian Atlantic Time Zone and Maine is in the Eastern Time Zone of the United States. When it%26#39;s 2:00PM in New Brunswick, it%26#39;s 1:00PM in Maine. Gives you an extra hour to explore or travel.

2. If you stay overnight in Bethel, you still have over an hour%26#39;s drive to get to the Cog Railroad. Cerrtainly do-able, depending on how long you want to spend on Mt. Washington, what time of day you want to get to Vermont, etc. But you might also think about pushing on a bit longer before stopping for the night -- not that Bethel isn%26#39;t a great little community and a fine place to stay overnight -- it is....we love it there. But if you%26#39;re willing to put in another hour to hour and a half of driving, you can get to the Jackson-Bartlett-North Conway area of New Hampshire, putting you much closer to the Cog Railway base station the next morning.

Sorry I can%26#39;t help much with lodging in Bethel other than giving you two places to check out on the web... the Bethel Inn is a legend for lodging in that part of Maine....has been there a long, long time and is highly regarded. The Grand Summit Hotel at Sunday River is high on one of the mountains of the Sunday River Ski Area....supposedly has some very nice rooms (predumably with some great views) and October will be an off-peak season for them (too late for fall foliage and too early for skiing) so you might get a great rate there. The Bethel Inn is right in the village, just off the village green....but Sunday River is actually about ten miles out of town....might be a consideration for you.

Would Bethel make a sensible one night stopover?

Thanks for your help.

We have booked the Rivendell House B%26amp;B. An hour to the cog railway will be fine and we plan to stay the following night in Woodstock which is only a couple of hours from Bretton Woods.

If we have a decent run through from the Canadian border then hopefully we will have time to drive up towards Grafton Notch on our arrival afternoon.

Would say that particular itinerary should work out very well for you. Have a great trip !!

Friends of ours own the Rivendell House in Bethel! Ten years ago they left their big-city life, bought a B%26amp;B, and have loved it ever since! I have not been there yet but there are very nice folks; I hope you enjoy your stay there.

Thanks kattbird. They have been very pleasant and helpful in their online dealings with us. Just wish we could stay longer.

prove residency