The Connecticut shoreline extends from posh, exclusive Greenwich just northeast of New York City in the west to charming, historic Stonington on the Rhode Island state line in the east (map).

Western Shoreline

The western extent of the shore, from Greenwich to New Haven, is heavily urban, with the commercial and industrial centers of Stamford, Norwalk and Bridgeport, Connecticut's second-largest city.

Frequent train service makes these Connecticut towns outlying suburbs of New York City.

New Haven & Guilford

At New Haven the shoreline changes, softens, and turns to a landscape of small towns and inland farms. Some of the towns are plain workaday places, but many are beautiful, graceful, historic and delightful, like Guilford, home of the oldest house in Connecticut and one of New England's finest town greens. More...

Hammonasset Beach State Park, east of Guilford, with its fine long sand beach on the (relatively) warm waters of Long Island Sound, is a favorite resort in the heat of summer.

Vineyards & Wineries

Speaking of Long Island Sound, its benign moderating influence on climate makes the Connecticut shoreline a good place for vineyards and wineries, of which there are several good ones you can visit...and taste. More...

Connecticut River Towns

The lower reaches of the mighty Connecticut River have their own charming towns, many having grown rich on shipbuilding in the 1700s and 1800s and one—Old Lyme—on art.

East of the Connecticut's mouth, New London and Groton prospered by making helicopters and submarines.

Mystic Seaport & Stonington

Near the shoreline's eastern boundary, Mystic was a famous seaport in colonial and early American times, and is now famous for Mystic Seaport, a living museum of Connecticut maritime history.

But today even the famous seaport museum is overshadowed by the runaway success of the glittering gambling casinos established a few miles to the north on the tribal reservations of the Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot peoples. More...

Stonington, farthest Connecticut shoreline town from New York City, has kept much of its former charm and seaside serenity as towns to its west along the shoreline have grown and spread. More...

—by Tom Brosnahan

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