Things to do in Hartford

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Hartford featuring heritage architecture, a city and an administrative buidling
Hartford which includes a city and cbd
Hartford featuring a garden and heritage elements
Hartford which includes a city
Hartford featuring a garden and outdoor art

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What to do in Hartford


Discover the most popular places to visit in Hartford

Discover the most popular landmarks and neighborhoods in Hartford

Connecticut Science Center featuring a garden

Downtown Hartford

4/5(448 area reviews)

Downtown Hartford boasts a bustling business district, housing major corporations and Connecticut's state government. Explore historic sites like the Wadsworth Atheneum, Bushnell Park, and the Old State House, while enjoying convenient access to Connecticut Transit Hartford and Union Station.

Downtown Hartford
Riverside Park which includes a garden

North Meadows

2.5/5(76 area reviews)

Unique features of North Meadows include the live music and theaters. Make a stop by Xfinity Theatre or Connecticut River while you're exploring the area.

North Meadows
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Frog Hollow

While Frog Hollow might not have many sights to explore, venturing just a little farther will lead you to top things to see and do like Connecticut State Capital and Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts.

Frog Hollow
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Barry Square

If you're spending some time in Barry Square, Webster Theater and Assaiante Tennis Center are top sights worth seeing.

Barry Square
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South Meadows

3.5/5(87 area reviews)

Visitors to South Meadows like its coffeehouses and seafood restaurants, and Connecticut River is a sight worth a stop.

South Meadows
Underneath that blue dome lies the east armory of a factory once owned by a man who changed American history, the innovator of the revolver, Samuel Colt. Sprawling around the crumbling red brickwork of the old Colt’s Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company, once the largest private armory in the world, are the remnants of Coltsville, the utopian village he built for his workers. 

A model of 19th century industrial paternalism, Coltsville included a church, a social hall for dances and lectures, workers’ housing, a giant landscaped park home to deer and peacocks, sculpted botanical gardens, and thousands of feet of greenhouses filled with tropical fruit and flowers. Samuel Colt felt such responsibility for the welfare of his workers outside the factory that he went so far as to build Potsdam Village, to replicate the feel of the German village from which he imported his skilled craftsmen to work in his willow ware factory.

The National Park Service began having on-site presence in 2015, with workshops and tours, including up into the Blue Onion Dome which affords magnificent views of downtown Hartford, the Connecticut River and Colt Park, formerly the back yard of Armsmear, Samuel & Elizabeth Colt’s mansion. By 2016, an NPS ranger had taken up residence in the South Armory and was giving walking tours of Coltsville.

The old South, East and North armories are under renovation and the two 1855 brownstone buildings, the oldest structures on site, will become the National Park Service Visitor Center. The armories themselves have been or are being renovated into apartments, offices and education facilities.

Sheldon-Charter Oak

While visiting Sheldon-Charter Oak, you might make a stop by sights like Connecticut River and Charter Oak Tree Memorial.

Sheldon-Charter Oak

Popular day trips from Hartford