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Boston, Portland, Bar Harbor, Saint John NB, Halifax excursions with young kids


hisleepy
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Kids are a little young to get the whole history thing in Boston. There is a children's museum, and they may enjoy the Tea Party Ship re-enactment, both close to each other. Aquarium, Science Museum as well.

 

Portland has a Science Center, right down on the docks, not sure what exhibits will be there next fall, but they had a Pirate treasure exhibit, and now a shark one. Also the Children's Museum and Theater. Ride the narrow gauge railroad. Taxi ride out to Fort Williams in Cape Elizabeth to see Portland Head Light and the Children's Garden.

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Thanks for the suggestions. For Halifax, I am considering the Harbor Hopper https://www.mtcw.ca/historic-tours . So many people said Peggy's Cove is charming, but is that much to do for a 3 and 5 year old? Would you recommend just check out Citadel and the waterfront broadwalk area?

 

If you're staying intown, check out the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, right by the ship terminal. It has a great Titanic exhibit, and one on the Halifax Explosion in WWI.

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Yes, with kids I would stay in Halifax. If they are energetic or you have strollers you could check out the Public Gardens, but really just walking the length of the waterfront, taking the Harbour Hopper or Theodore Too or the ferry to Dartmouth and back is enough. Check out Cows ice cream at the north end of the harbour walk (furthest from the cruise ship.) That could be a motivator to keep the kids moving.

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I am from Boston and it is a super child-friendly city. For little children, the Children’s Museum is a blast. Look for my painted “Penguins in the Rainforest”piano there! It is very close to the cruise terminal, but you will probably need to get an Uber there. Very close by is the Rose Kennedy Greenway which has a beautiful carousel, and Quincy Market is a short walk which has buskers (magicians, musicians, puppet shows, costumed historic figures) and lots of food and souvenir vendors. Within walking distance is Boston Common and the Boston Public Gardens. The lovely Swanboats are a gentle and fun ride for little children, I think $2 a ride, and get them to pose with the “Make Way for Ducklings” duck statues. You should pick up that book to read ahead of time, too. They will be thrilled to see the “real” ducks! When they are older come back and visit the Museum of Science and New England Aquarium. We have several tour options, a ho-ho trolly tour and Duck Boats, but with little guys you can save your money and do Boston easily on your own. Get yourself a map online and you will see how close everything is. We used to walk around to all those places almost every weekend when our son was little, and hop right on his favorite “ride”, the “T”, Boston’s very safe mass transit system.

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We are doing a 7 night with our 2 and 4 yo... planning to do the children’s museum in Portland, public gardens in Halifax and walk around in bar harbor and Saint John.... we did Boston with them last year (1 and 3) we did a hoho tour with a boat ride and then walked around faniel hall (sorry for the spelling) and got mikes cannolis- it was a great day!

 

 

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