Things to do in Western Massachusetts

First US museum dedicated to picture book art, founded by Eric Carle.

Train-themed boutique hotel in downtown Palmer, Massachusetts.

Southwestern New Hampshire's Mount Monadnock, small towns, and covered bridges.

A wood products factory store making bowls and cutting boards for over 55 years.

A small batch Vermont distillery known for its Metcalfe's liqueurs and Catamount spirits.

A Western Massachusetts recreational cannabis dispensary chain with a craft, farm-to-shelf focus.

A Western Massachusetts county anchored by Northampton and Amherst, mixing college-town arts culture with farm-to-table dining and outdoor recreation.

Connecticut's official tourism district for the central river valley and Greater Hartford region, spanning 60-plus towns.

Tour the poet Emily Dickinson's Amherst home and see original manuscripts and family artifacts.

A destination gift shop on the Molly Stark Trail selling Vermont maple syrup, candy, cheese and local products.

A free guide to public art installations, sculptures, and historic architecture around Greater Hartford.

Third-generation family leather store on Route 9 in Spofford, NH, selling leather goods, western wear, motorcycle apparel, jewelry and gifts since 1952.

The chamber of commerce and official visitor information center for Franklin County in western Massachusetts.

A large enclosed shopping mall in western Massachusetts with nearly 150 stores, a food court and family entertainment.

Family-friendly Berkshires ski area with 22 trails, tubing and terrain parks.

A Keene-based chamber music series that brings touring international ensembles to intimate rural venues in New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts each fall to spring.

See the 306-foot stone obelisk, the tallest man-made structure in Vermont, marking the depot fought over in the 1777 Battle of Bennington.

Try more than 165 hands-on exhibits, live science demos and 3D films in a nine-story riverfront building.

A former Shaker community with 20 historic buildings, a working farm and the circular 1826 Round Stone Barn.

A mile-long colonial village street lined with historic house museums, guided tours and hearth cooking demonstrations.

A hilltop dance center in the Berkshires hosting a summer festival on indoor stages and an outdoor stage.

Climb stone steps beside a series of waterfalls that drop 250 feet on Falls Brook in the Litchfield Hills.

Ride wooden coasters and classic rides at an amusement park in Bristol that has operated since 1846.

Wander huge contemporary art installations inside a converted 19th-century factory complex.

Hike rocky trails to a bare granite summit with wide views across southern New Hampshire.

Explore basketball history in a giant silver sphere, then shoot hoops on the full-size Center Court inside.

Walk among more than 100 aircraft in three hangars next to Bradley International Airport.

See Norman Rockwell's original paintings, including the Four Freedoms, and step into his studio on a Berkshires campus.

Wander a re-created 1830s New England village where costumed historians farm, cook, and run water-powered mills.

Ride 12 roller coasters, including the 208-foot Superman The Ride, and cool off in the Hurricane Harbor water park.

Spread a picnic blanket on the lawn and hear the Boston Symphony Orchestra play its summer season in the Berkshires.

See French Impressionist paintings by Renoir, Monet and Degas, then walk trails across 140 acres of Berkshires meadow and woods.

Tour the 1874 High Gothic home where Mark Twain wrote Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, then browse the museum galleries.

Walk through a castle-like Gothic Revival museum holding about 50,000 works, from Baroque paintings to contemporary art.

Downtown Springfield's 325-room Sheraton, two blocks from MGM Springfield and about a mile from the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Yankee Candle's flagship store, with 400,000 candles, hands-on candlemaking and a Bavarian Christmas village where indoor snow falls.