Consider yourself warned: This weekend itinerary in Mystic, Connecticut, contains no pizza. Not that you can’t find a great slice in this New England seaport town, but Mystic offers so much more than nostalgia from the 1980s cult movie classic. Eccentric boutiques, hearty breakfasts, and stylish inns pile onto the nautical charm of the village, which is divided between Groton and Stonington by the Mystic River.

It’s pretty much a straight shot up 95, clocking a little over four hours from Center City. Start the car.

Start the trip with a Mystic tradition: breakfast at Kitchen Little, the second-floor cafe at the Mystic River Marina on Mason’s Island. The huge menu features blueberry-jeweled buttermilk pancakes, omelets stuffed with corned beef hash, and nine different types of eggs Benedict, including one piled with hunks of fresh lobster. Ask for a table on the deck for views of the boats drifting through the harbor.

📍 36 Quarry Rd., Mystic, Conn. 06355

Composed of a series of historic buildings constructed between 1865 and 1920, the Whaler’s Inn sits at the end of Mystic’s famous Main Street Bridge, an ideal location for exploring the town. The property fits the weekend’s nautical theme with its whitewashed facade, navy shutters, slate woodwork, and two seafood restaurants. Room categories are spread across multiple buildings, from adults-only luxury suites with buttercream sofas and sleek integrated kitchenettes to family rooms with built-in bunks and a children’s library. The experience is super customizable depending whether you’re traveling solo or with children.

📍 20 E. Main St., Mystic, Conn. 06355

More than 40 boutiques comprise Olde Mistick Village, a model colonial-era New England town originally opened in 1973. The shops, arranged around a meeting house, run the gamut, from Salt Life-type souvenirs to rare manga volumes (Arisu), Murano glass jewelry (Gineva) and eerie Victorian oddities (Alice’s Little Haunted Book Shop). And if the weather isn’t cooperating during your visit, the village also hosts Mystic Luxury Cinemas, where the recliners are heated and the popcorn comes topped with real butter.

📍 27 Coogan Blvd., Mystic, Conn. 06355

Just west of Mystic, the Poquonok River meanders down into the into Long Island Sound, shimmying around the tip of Bluff Point Beach. This tranquil, undeveloped stretch of sand at the end of Bluff Point State Park arcs into the water like a slingshot, making it a relaxing place to sunbathe, stroll, and plane-spot the occasional jet taking off at Groton-New London Airport just across the river. Park in the state park lot; the beach is the end of the marked trial, a little over a mile south.

📍 55 Depot Rd., Groton, Conn. 06340

Lobster is not Southern Connecticut’s only historic industry. The region was also a leading producer of velvet in the 1800s. That craft takes center stage this summer in Luxe CT: Velvet Mills to Modern Runways, opening June 26 at Mystic Museum of Art. If painting is more your medium, the museum’s white farmhouse-style building houses a stunning collection of American Impressionist and Tonalist works from the early 1900s to the early 2000s, including Henry Ward Ranger’s Connecticut landscapes.

📍 9 Water St., Mystic, Conn. 06355

Also on the weekend of June 26, the Mystic Seaport Museum’s 34th annual WoodenBoat Show goes down with over a hundred styles of wooden vessels on display at the riverfront institution’s wharf. Besides the show, this is the place to learn about Mystic’s maritime culture, home to four national historic landmark vessels you can board and explore, as well as the Henry B. duPont Preservation Shipyard, the nation’s first preservation yard dedicated to wooden ships. If you love boats, or better yet, have kids that love boats, you should not miss it.

📍 75 Greenmanville Ave., Mystic, Conn. 06355

Perched along the river, Red 36 glows as bright as a lantern once the sun goes down in Mystic. Heading here for dinner means shorts and a T-shirt and a table on the wide waterfront deck or under the barnlike wood-beam ceiling inside — extremely chill. Order a spicy marg made with jalapeno-infused tequila and mezcal or an ice-cold Allagash, along with one of two types of clam chowder; we say the creamy over the clear. Entrées include fish and chips splashed with malt vinegar, seafood paella, and the mac-daddy whole steamed lobster served with Mexican street corn, coleslaw, and Old Bay fries.

📍 2 Washington St., Mystic, Conn. 06355