Old Town Charm in Bridgeport, CT

Connecticut is always a great option for a weekend trip away from the city. Normally when I'm trying to get away from NYC, I go to Stamford. However, this time I was going away with a (now ex) significant other and I wanted to go somewhere that wasn't tied to any old memories. So we randomly picked Bridgeport. 🤷🏾‍♀️

If ever you need to get away from the hustle of NYC, recommend checking out the Metro-North. It's a super affordable way to get out of the city quickly. We headed to Grand Central Terminal to hop on the New Haven line. $14 ($28 each for a RT ticket) and 1.5 hrs later, we were in Bridgeport.

As we got off the train, we got a great view of Steelpointe Harbor, an up-and-coming waterfront development. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Bridgeport-Trumbull-Fairfield which was about a 7 minute walk from the station and is located right in Downtown Bridgeport. (The downtown area is super walkable. I think the only times we opted for an Uber was when we decided to go to Dave & Busters and we took a random trip to Seaside Beach. Other than that, everywhere we went was walking distance.) We dropped our bags and then former bae requested we go to a brewery. We opted to go to Brewport which was less than a 20 min walk away. Good beer, amazing pizza and that's coming from 2 New Yorkers!

As a person that grew up in Brooklyn, I have to be honest. This town reminded me of a place in the early stages of gentrification. It has a ton of old school local charm, but I can see the cookie cutter type of stores creeping in. While in the downtown area, we made a point to eat and purchase items from the local mom & pop stores as much as we could. One of my favorites was Sweet Treats Bakery. A dope family owned business, specializing in Peruvian baked goods. We also lucked out and happened to be in town during Bridgeport's Jerk Festival. Jerk Chicken and homemade Sorrel for the win!

The Barnum Museum, based around Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, is in Downtown Bridgeport. Who knew? I surely didn't. Although, the museum was under construction, I still went inside and checked out the small exhibit that was open. So glad I did. If you're in need of some nostalgia, be sure to check this museum out.

If you haven't already, be sure to check out the gallery at the top of this post! 😀