@privatebanker gave you a great itinerary. I would just add that when you visit Boston make a stop in the North End to get some cannoli from Mike’s Pastry.
@Momma2018 Thank you, finally…it had to be said. A trip to Boston without a cannoli from Mike’s is bordering criminal. We make special trips just for that whenever in the area.
You’re going to LOVE Boston and surrounding areas. Really a special place.
U of New Hampshire is a nice school that has an interesting location…the ocean, mountains, Maine, & Boston are not too far away. It has more of an athletic vibe than U of Vermont, & is closer to points of interest than UConn (which achieves the almost unachievable–it’s in the middle of nowhere in the tiny, condensed southern part of New England).
UNH is great. Beautiful in Durham, NH. Right next to the beautiful seaport town of Portsmouth. Great pubs, restaurants, shopping, history, etc. 75 minutes from Boston.
OP, any ideas what your Junior son wants to study, or if he has extracurricular interests he wants to pursue in college?
Based on only the initial post, with college visits the priority over sightseeing, I’d do it this way:
Fly into Hartford CT if possible, pick up car rental. Visit UConn. Continue up to UMass Amherst (Amherst College is also there if LACs are of interest. At the very least, a walk or drive through campus to get a feel). Then continue north to UVM. Head back to Boston, possibly by way of University of New Hampshire. Get to Boston, ditch car for a few days and see BU and any other colleges in the area that might appeal.
Your timing will depend on if you want to take the official tours at all the schools, since those usually happen at scheduled times.
I know it’s not as easy as staying in one place, so it really depends on what your priorities are.
@Amkngk I mentioned above that he wants to study Biology or something bio related. He is interested in almost everything extracurricular wise - he does tons of sports (soccer, football, track), he loves the outdoors, hiking, habitat restoration etc.
I’m going to sit down this afternoon and try to do an itinerary based on everyone’s input.
I’ve also been thinking he should do a 2 week summer program this summer (studying biology and something else) to get a feel for the east coast. BU offers a 2 week session. But what if I sign him up for the BU program and then he doesn’t even like it when we visit! any other suggestions of summer programs would be great (only 2 weeks since he has football this summer and is taking calculus)
@rickle1 and @moooop - thank you! UNH sounds great for him. I just read him your descriptions and he thought it sounded good too.
I just talked a bit with him and we agree if it is all 5 of us, we might mostly stay in Boston, but if it is only a few of us, we will do more of a roadtrip. Seems maybe we should leave my senior home, he has done a lot of travelling for his school search (which is still up in the air as we wait for WA and CA decisions to come out…lol)
@privatebanker - thank you for all of your input very valuable! I am going to sit down this afternoon and draft an itinerary…
Among local cannoli purists, Modern Pastry is preferred over Mike’s - and if you go to the annex entry there is often no line 
https://newengland.com/today/travel/massachusetts/boston/the-best-cannoli-in-boston-north-end-bakeries/
@TheFrenchChef Staying in Boston is a good idea with many schools to see… I also echo Northeastern. When I was taking my older D on her college tours to see many LACs, we had an extra half day and I suggested we check out NEU to see an urban campus and one a little bigger. It kind of blew us away as it was totally different than every other school we saw (Brandeis, Tufts, Amherst, Wesleyen (never made it to Dartmouth and Wiliams) and she applied and got in and never looked back. D2 is now there as well. NEU (and prob other Boston schools) has a very active Outdoor Club that has many weekend outings to local and further away hiking, skiing, surfing etc. activities so he can still get that too even being in a city.
The way you describe him I think you should definitely visit UVM even though it is out of the way. His stats seem to fit, the town is awesome and there are so many outdoor opportunities up there from VT to the Adirondacks. There is an airport in Burlington but I don’t think they have very many flight options.
I second Mikes - the eclairs are really good too! My other favorite is Reginas Pizza - you can get it at Quincy Market at the stand if you don’t have time for the sit down restaurant and then since you are there you might as well get a bag of my favorite Boston Shipyard cookies. :))
@twicemama NEU sounds good, but isn’t it really hard to get into? I don’t really feel like seeing schools he doesn’t have much of a chance to get into.
@momtogkc I agree I really want to see UVM. I’ve looked into flights into both Portland, Burlington and Connecticut, and there is nothing direct from SFO and it is quite a bit more expensive and like 3 hours longer. So I feel like it makes sense to just do round trip to boston then drive (since it is 3 hours at least longer to fly into those other airports…)
Yes NEU is very selective. But they do have some unique opportunities for students just outside target. But still very selective.
One example is called “NU.in” which has you start overseas and come to the main campus in spring. They have the co op program with students moving on and off campus with regularity, so these other programs and spring admits keep the dorms full.
@privatebanker good to know - he very much wants to go abroad. This kid just likes to do stuff… hard to explain.
I’ve just googled Portsmouth and it is so nice! I so miss those charming east coast towns, looks so ideal, I also forget how close your states are - only an hour drive from Boston. We will definitely include it and visit UNH. It’s been so long since I spent a lot of time on the east coast…I’d love one of my kids to go to school over there. Not sure why, but my senior didn’t apply to any schools on the east coast. He almost applied to Middlebury with hopes of playing soccer for them, but decided not to. And now he is leaning toward the west coast schools instead of the Midwest ones he applied to…
Depending on day and time of day the drive can be much longer. Think 90 minutes to Portsmouth.
I had one of my first jobs there and loved it.
90 minutes is still not far. In the bay area it takes forever to just get to the next city over lol which is not that much different than the city you are in.
Hah. Good point!
It doesn’t usually take 90 minutes to get to Portsmouth. On the other hand, it took me three hours one time to go two miles in Boston.
Yes it can be an easy drive.
I was averaging using the hour wait at 93 north and 95 north interchange at the wrong day and time. And depends if you are driving through or going to somewhere in town. It always seemed to take me more than an hour to work in Portsmouth and I lived a bit closer than Boston at the time.
It once took me an hour to go one block in SF.
We joked that we should have hopped out and gotten a drink at the corner bar then hopped back in!