In our May/June 2012 issue, we featured ten top places to go for an incredible summer vacation. That feature was comprised of our suggestions. Now, if you want travel recommendations from locals, read on. Here, your neighbors dish on the places they like to go when it’s time to break loose from the daily routine and take flight.
Reykjavik, Iceland
It is the most amazing place. On our last visit to the city, it was warm and so light we could walk around past midnight because the sun had not yet set. Just a few hours away, we were up at the glaciers, snowmobiling across them. That was an once-in-a-lifetime experience, with nothing but a sea of white and grey all around us. Back in the south, we went for a soak in the famous geothermal spa, Blue Lagoon, and rode Icelandic ponies. It’s a beautiful country and very surreal.
—Anne Schuck, Darien
North Truro, Massachusetts
My extended family gets together every August in this town at the tip of Cape Cod, where my parents rent a group of cottages on the bay side for all of the kids, grandkids and cousins. We spend our days on the beach swimming, kayaking and playing football. Provincetown is minutes up the road for the rock walk, ice cream and whale-watching trips. But the best time is back at the cottages when we put together all the picnic tables and grill our dinner. For dessert, we have s’mores around a campfire, and the kids put on a show. It’s a ton of laughs!
—Michelle Koch, New Canaan
Lake Sunapee, New Hampshire
I grew up going to Lake Sunapee, where my family has been vacationing for fifty years. There’s hardly a town and no traffic lights. We spend the whole day on the clear water skiing, tubing and swimming. It’s not unusual for several days to go by without getting in the car, which is probably why we feel far away when we’re there. It’s a very relaxing family vacation. My husband Scott grew up going to Nantucket, so we take our second week of vacation there. We go all the way out to Wauwinet and spend our days at the beach and in the ocean. Both spots attract our families, so our kids spend their vacations with cousins and second cousins.
–Lynne Somerville, Darien
Cape May, New Jersey
My husband and I got married in Cape May, New Jersey, and we bring our young children there now because it’s just three hours away and we never tire of going to this seaside jewel. It’s a gorgeous little town and a place that many Fairfield County residents don’t know about.
– Jennifer Bickerton, Rowayton