SECRET GARDENS

For travelers who can happily spend blissful hours in a garden, there are famous examples situated right in the heart of the region’s best-known cities, including Arnold Arboretum in Boston, Massachusetts, and Elizabeth Park in Hartford, Connecticut. But if you prefer to stroll through smaller-scale or more off-the-beaten-path botanical attractions, the following gardens may inspire the feeling you’ve walked into your own exclusive oasis.

For a MASSACHUSETTS photo op like no other, head to the town of Shelburne Falls. There, a 1908 trolley bridge over the Deerfield River has been transformed into the Bridge of Flowers, a footbridge filled with plants whose color evolves across seasons, from the first crocuses and daffodils of spring to the last ornamental kales of late fall. For a year-round escape, there’s the Botanic Garden of Smith College in Northampton: It encompasses a number of outdoor attractions but the crowning jewel is the 12,000-square-foot