Rent a Car in Hartford

Downtown Hartford itself is compact and walkable — Bushnell Park, the Wadsworth Atheneum (the oldest public art museum in the US) and the Mark Twain House sit within a few blocks of each other. But Connecticut's real appeal opens up the moment you drive out of the city. The Litchfield Hills, about 45 minutes west, are classic New England: covered bridges, stone walls and small towns that peak with fall foliage in October. Mystic Seaport and its historic waterfront are roughly an hour and a half southeast, and Yale University's New Haven is under 50 minutes south.

Hartford is also a major business hub — it's long been nicknamed the insurance capital of the world, home to Aetna, The Hartford and Travelers — so a hire car is standard for visiting professionals moving between the city's office parks and Bradley's terminal. For leisure travellers, Hartford works well as a base for a wider Connecticut and Massachusetts loop: Springfield, home of the Basketball Hall of Fame, is only 40 minutes north, and Boston is a comfortable two hours up I-84 and the Mass Pike.