Hartford is the capital city of Connecticut and the largest city in the state. The greater Hartford area offers prehistory in the form of dinosaur tracks, museums and historic buildings, including the Mark Twain House in Hartford where the writer penned Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. Dinosaur State Park at Rocky Hill is home to the largest dinosaur footprint area in North America.

The Waterbury area is Yankee country. Attractions range from mountain biking to Victorian mansions, riverside train trips and an historic opera house in Thomaston. The Naugatuck Railroad of the 1881 Thomaston Station invites train buffs to imagine the salad days of railroading along a 20-mile sight-seeing route aboard the "Naugy".

A Lock 12 Historical Park and a unique character Baker Character, Comic & Cartoon Museum in Cheshire, apple orchards and New Britain's "Hardware Capital of the World" New Britain Industrial Museum, characterize the Central area. In addition, the National Iwo Jima Memorial Monument in New Britain is a 40-foot bronze and granite monolith honoring the bravery and sacrifice of Americans in one of the epic battles of World War II.

Rustic scenery distinguished by covered bridges, American Clock and Watch Museum, diversions ranging from skiing and car racing to the Lake Compounce Theme Park, are found in the Litchfield Hills. Also in the area is the Institute for American Indian Study, which reveals the lifeways of early and contemporary Native Americans, including a 17th Century Algonquian village replica and other exhibits, all at Washington.