Hello,

I've got a question for all you New England folks...I'm going to be taking a daytrip to the Berkshires in October (probably a Saturday, to be specific). What are the do-not-miss locations of this region? I was anticipating finding a couple of not-extreme hiking trails that had really nice overlook views (looking for a nice walk, not a survival test, here). Scenic drives would be good too, as would be places to eat that are different, and fairly reasonable.

For reference, my friends and I will be driving from Framingham, MA, and returning there for the night after our trip. We were anticipating a solid 2 hours trip each way.

Two hours from Framingham sounds about right. Great Barrington, Lenox and Stockbridge are the most interesting towns to explore (in that order, in my opinion), at least in the central and southern Berkshires (I don't know the northern Berks as well, although the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown is supposed to be excellent). For low key hikes, check out the sanctuaries operated by the Massachusetts Audobon Society(http://www.massaudubon.org/Nature_Co...anctuaries.php).

I know the food in Lenox best: I've had lunch at Cafe Zinc several times and always have enjoyed it very much. I've never eaten at Dish, also in Lenox, but I've heard great things about it. The coffee shop right in the center of Lenox (Lenox Coffee, I think) is one of my favorite coffee shops anywhere. They make a consistently awesome latte! (Zinc and Dish are both on Church Street. Lenox Coffee is on Main Street, but is accessible from Church Street.)

Hi Blumie,

Thanks so much for your reply! The hiking links in particular look very promising. I think we will also make out way up Mount Greylock and look around. We're all getting pretty excited about the trip.
For anyone else looking for ideas, I also found some interesting travel articles on www.nytimes.com, on the Berkshires (or rather individual towns). They also have restaurant reviews, several of which contain restaurant/inn web site URLs. Wikipedia also had good background information on the area (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkshires), and lots of links to area resources.

The town of Lee, MA, has a web site: http://www.townoflee.com/ shows specific information on that city.