Jancen

Hi there,

Just wondering what the best way is to visit these places. My wife and I are planning to fly to Toronto, drive to Quebec, Washington DC, Boston then in New York, we'll just take the subway/bus then fly back to Vancouver, BC.

clarkgriswold

You may not want to drive and park in Boston, or in DC either. What time of year is your trip and how many days do you have, total?

Jancen

July next year. 10 to 12 days. May I know why you don't suggest driving and parking in Boston and DC? Our main interests are Niagara falls, New York and if possible, DC.

clarkgriswold

Traffic. Also parking is tight and very expensive in both cities, and you can get around both cities quite nicely by metro.
You'll definitely need the whole 12 days for all that, and you're cutting each city short. Most people would want 3 days in each city, plus a couple of nights in Toronto and a couple of nights in Quebec. Plus the transportation days between them all. That adds up to about 17 or 18 nights.

I think I would skip Quebec. Fly into Washington DC, take the train to New York and then the train to Boston. From Boston rent a car to Niagara Falls/Toronto, which would be a long day of about 7.5 hours driving. Or just fly from Boston to Buffalo/Niagara which is a 90 minute, $69 flight.

nytraveler

Agree that you are trying to do way too much in too little tie. And also that a car is a nonsense in DC, NYC and Boston. In all 3 cities there is substantial traffic and parking is very expensive. If you try to drive from one sight to another you will be parking multiple times per day at $25 to $40 per time. Much better to get around by foot for short distances and Metro/subway/T for longer distances. An simply take Amtrak from one city to another - faster than driving, esp for any weekend day when traffic can b astoundingly bad.

Just seeing those 3 and then heading to Niagara Falls - a long day's drive or a flight - and spending a day there will be a major rush given all there is to do/see in each place. You are really giving all places very short shrift. Definitely cut Quebec and I also don't thin you have time for Toronto either.

doug_stallings

I can't imagine you'd be able to do all that in 8 or 10 days.

What I'd suggest is to Fly into Toronto, drive into Quebec, then Niagara Falls, drop off the car in Toronto. Then fly to NYC, train to DC, and fly home. I can't imagine you'd have time to see Boston, too. You'd be spending more than a third of your trip driving and traveling (if you're lucky) and possibly half your trip driving; you'd certainly be spending half your time traveling and driving if you include Boston and do the whole trip by car. And you'd have at most a day in each place. I realize some people like that, though it's not for me.

But I think I'd choose either DC or NYC, but not both.

clarkgriswold

The drive from Toronto to Quebec is 8 hours, provided that they don't stop and see a thing. Then you think they should drive back too, Doug? My question would be why do you think they should take 3 or 4 days to include Quebec when they said their main interests are DC, NYC and Niagara falls?

Jancen

Thank you guys for all your input. Considering all your suggestions, we will just drop DC and just hit Niagara falls and NYC. What would be best itinerary for this? We are planning to drive down and fly from SeaTac airport as it is cheaper than to fly from Vancouver. Can we go SeaTac, NYC,NYC to Toronto by plane, to Niagara by bus? subway? then back to Toronto airport? How much time do we need in NYC and Niagara falls? Will we have time to see some attractions in Toronto? If there is, we will probably tour Toronto after coming back from Niagara so that we are not pressed for time for our return flight.

nytraveler

In Niagara Falls you can do with 2 days/1 night - but that means getting there very early. Not sure about buses from Toronto to Niagara Falls but there is a train - not sure how often it runs. Then you would fly from Buffalo to NYC (driving would be at least 8 hours - possibly more if the border crossing is slow or they are doing road construction).

Also you seem confused about subway. Subway is NYC only - local underground transit within the 5 boroughs. You might mean Amtrak trains between other cities - but except for the DC to Boston corridor the trains take forever and are often very late - not really practical for a trip that is so rushed.

IMHO you need at least 4 nights (3 days) to see much of anything in NYC (just as in any other major city).

tuscanlifeedit

I like your plan of SeaTac > NYC > YYZ by plane, the YYZ back home.

At Toronto (YYZ) airport you can rent a car and drive very easily to Niagara Falls, and spend a few days. It's only about 90 minutes and a very easy drive.

If you have a car for that leg, it's nice to drive up and down the Niagara Parkway, one of my favorite parts of a trip to the Falls. There are parks, historic sites, and a really cute little town at Niagara on the Lake. These are short distances and you can see a lot along the Niagara River.

Lets say
4 nights NYC
2/3 nights Niagara Falls
3 nights Toronto.

You could trim a night here and there. We've made many two night trips to Niagara and a couple of two night trips to Toronto.

NorthwestMale

Jancen, some partial clarity for you.


Consider that central Boston streets(buildings lining them) were put there long before cars were around...


That explains just part of some of central Boston driving/traffic.