Experience the best of Plymouth

Plymouth lies on a sheltered harbour of Cape Cod Bay, south-east of Boston, and is the site of the Pilgrims' settlement of 1620, the first lasting English colony in New England. Plymouth Rock, a granite boulder beneath a columned canopy on the waterfront, is traditionally linked to their landing, and the Mayflower II, a replica of their ship, is moored nearby. Cole's Hill and Burial Hill hold early graves, and Pilgrim Hall Museum displays objects they brought with them.

Plimoth Patuxet Museums, south of town, recreate an English village of the 1620s alongside a Wampanoag homesite, with costumed interpreters, and the National Monument to the Forefathers, a huge granite figure of 1889, stands on a hillside. Myles Standish State Forest has kettle ponds and pitch pines, and Cape Cod begins across the canal to the south-east.

Plymouth County is a main cranberry region, and the bogs are flooded and glow red at the autumn harvest. Chowder, scallops and fried clams are served on the waterfront, and Thanksgiving, with its story of the feast of 1621, is the town's best-known theme. Summers are busy with visitors, and the harbour is at its calmest in autumn.