Travel Guide: Mystic, Connecticut – Days 2 & 3
Welcome to the second half of my Mystic, Connecticut Travel Guide! If you haven’t yet checked out Part 1, read that first, right here. As I mentioned in that post, we had the most amazing weekend in Mystic. We loved every moment of it and I couldn’t wait to share all that we did for anyone else planning a trip there. In this half, I am going to share our second and third days in Mystic.
The first part of day 2 was dedicated to the aquarium. The Mystic Aquarium was the biggest draw to Mystic for us. Roman, Marina & I just love aquariums. I have been visiting aquariums all my life everywhere I travel and I’ve been taking them to aquariums since they were babies. Needless to say, we were so excited for this visit and it did not disappoint! We started the day with a quick breakfast at McDonald’s and then we made our way over to the aquarium, which were both just minutes walking from our hotel, the Hilton Mystic.
The aquarium is truly phenomenal. It is one of my favorite aquariums that I’ve visited yet. It is perfect for all ages. If you’re planning a visit, I would say that you should plan for about 4 hours there, maybe a little longer if you want to stay for lunch. We bought our tickets online in advance and chose the first entry option which was 9:00 am. I had read that it was a good idea to get there early to avoid any lines and that worked out perfectly for us. We didn’t experience any lines and all of the exhibits and extras were easily accessible.
There is a lot to see, but our favorites were the Beluga Whale exhibit, the Sea Lion show, and the touch tanks. We also opted for the extra dinosaur exhibit and the 4-D movie experiences which were short but very cute, the kids loved them. In addition to all of the exhibits (both indoor and outdoor) there is a cafe and a really lovely gift shop.
Once we had seen everything that we wanted to see at the aquarium, we made our way over to our next stop, Mistick Village, which is right next door. Mistick Village was also at the top of my list right after the aquarium. I couldn’t wait to explore the village and all of the shops within it. Truly, there are so many shops, cafes, and restaurants within the village that you could easily spend an entire day walking around, shopping, and eating. My original intention was to visit the village on our first day in town, but as I mentioned in my last post, we hit traffic on our way in, so that didn’t happen.
I knew my little ones were already somewhat tired from the aquarium, so I had to be very thoughtful about where we would go in the village. My highest priority was Alice in the Village, a themed Alice in Wonderland tea room and gift shop. I lured the kids through a few shops to find souvenirs all with the bribe that they could get bubble tea & macarons at Alice’s if they cooperated. It worked. I also had a macaron, I chose the lavender flavor, and it was to die for. We visited a handful of other shops which I absolutely loved. Cloak and Wand is a can’t-miss for magic-lovers like me. Olde Mistick Village has a fabulous website that lists all of the shops and eateries. I highly recommend checking it out and making yourself a list so that you don’t miss anything that you really want to visit there.
After so much walking around at the aquarium and then the village, the kids really needed a break. So we headed back to the hotel to rest up before dinner. This is when one of the most fortuitous surprises of the entire trip took place. Although I had carefully planned our itinerary, I never made a decision about where we would eat dinner on day 2. It would depend on how the kids were feeling. I also knew that they wanted to swim in the hotel pool. On the previous day, on our walk back from downtown, we had passed Rio Salado. It never came up while I was planning our trip, so I hadn’t considered it. However, it was so close to our hotel and I thought it would be a nice dinner. Also it was a short walk for the little ones who had already done a lot of walking on our trip. So I made an early reservation, and after some rest, we headed to Rio Salado.
What happened next can only be attributed to good luck, I suppose. There at Rio Salado I had one of the best meals of my life! I don’t know how this restaurant had avoided my radar because it was absolutely fantastic. It’s always a bonus when the restaurant provides crayons and activity sheets for the kids, but on top of that, the kids meals were incredible. For me, the sangria was out of this world. My dinner of shrimp tacos was delicious. And the Mexican street corn appetizer was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten in my entire life! We ended the meal with a shared dessert of warm churros and ice cream, which was the perfect ending. Just when I thought things couldn’t possibly get better, our sweet waitress gifted each of us with a tiny Mexican worry doll when it was time to pay the bill! The kids were over the moon! What a gift that we stumbled upon this place. I cannot recommend it enough.
After dinner we were all very happy and very full, so we headed back to the hotel for a bit of rest. After some lounging, we put our swim suits on, and headed down to the hotel pool which was really lovely. We had the entire thing to ourselves for quite awhile. It was so special. After some swimming, we headed back to the room, we all took showers and then went to bed after a busy and wonderful day of fun.
Day 3 was our final day in Mystic. All along I had been on the fence about visiting the Mystic Seaport Museum. It was highly recommended in all of the reviews I had read, but I wasn’t sure if the kids were quite old enough to appreciate and enjoy it. Plus, I was kind of confused about what it actually was. It was called a museum, but the descriptions sounded more like a village. Ultimately, I decided to take the chance and check it out.
So that morning we packed everything up into the car, checked out of our hotel room, and headed over to the Mystic Diner for breakfast. The diner was fun and offered your standard diner fare. Once we were full, we headed back downtown, where we had been on day 1, and parked in the museum parking lot. I had no idea what to expect as we crossed the road and headed into the museum ticket building. In the end, I’m really glad that we did this. What I learned is that the museum is a recreated 19th-century seafaring village complete with real historical trade shops and businesses from the 1800s that were transported to Mystic Seaport Museum from locations around New England! There are all sorts of shops and buildings, from shipsmiths and coopers to woodcarvers and riggers, all demonstrating America’s maritime past.
Our favorite stop was the Charles W. Morgan, which is the last wooden whaling ship in the world. Touring this ship was fantastic. There just aren’t words for how awesome it was to walk around on this thing, and you must make sure that you view the whaling demonstration before you get on board. It was so fascinating and enlightening! We also loved the printing shop where the worker inside gave us a full demonstration of the working printing press and even printed something for the kids to take home. If you do visit the village, be prepared that it is a lot (and I mean a lot!) of walking. The grounds covers 19 acres along the Mystic River, so you can easily spend an entire day (or even multiple days) there.
There are also some really cool-looking eateries in the village. If we’d had more time and energy I would have loved to check them out. Spouter Tavern looked amazing. If I ever go back, I definitely want to eat there. But after a couple of hours that morning, my little ones were tired. We had a long car ride ahead of us, so we cut our trip to the museum short and we hit the road.
We had a truly incredible time in Mystic, from start to finish. I just can’t recommend this town enough. I am so grateful that we had the opportunity to get there and to explore together. I hope that we will get to return one day.