Hi Sarah,

First off all enjoy your trip! Remember, RI is the smallest state in the union, so you can expect a quick drive from Newport to Providence (about 40 minutes or so). Newport will defintely be a bit more expensive than other parts of the state. You may want to consider Warwick as there are many hotels near the airport that may offer you a lower rate. I really can't suggest any specific locations for your hotel, but I just wanted to point out that RI is very small, so if you find a good place in any city, it is only a small drive to any other part of RI! Also, for your car hire consider getting a price quote from Alpha Car Rental Discounts http://www.alphadiscounts.net - I always rent my cars in the states through them. Have fun in RI and I would suggest visiting nearby Narragansett RI for their fantastic beaches and restaurants. Have fun!

Providence is not on the way to Cape Cod from Newport.

BUT -drive time Newport-Providence-Dennis is about 2:15 (versus 1:40 for Newport-Dennis), assuming no traffic delays, so it does not add a lot of extra time.

You can also look for lodging in places in Massachusetts that are close to the border, such as Attleboro, Seekonk, and Fall RIver. They might be more affordable, although more generic. If you stay in Mass., it probably makes more sense to go to Providence after your stop in Mystic and then visit Newport the next day.

Depending on what you do, though, you will be pushing it to try to go from NYC to Mystic, stop there, and then see something else that same day. Driving NYC-Mystic-Newport/Providence is almost 4 hours - longer if you hit traffic delays.

You easily can spend a whole day (if not more) sightseeing in Newport. You should plan on spending a minimum of half a day there. What about Providence makes it a must-see? If I had to choose between them, Newport would win handily.

Agree with advice to stay in Seekonk or Warwick. I've attended a yearly event in Providence and it's expensive to stay in the city even with discounted convention rates or Hotwire. The attendees on tight budgets stay in Seekonk or Warwick.

I concur that Warwick right outside Providence has reasonably priced hotels (all free parking while you're there) and is very easy to get to Providence, and not bad for a day trip to Newport.
If bidding on Priceline makes sense for you, the rates can be downright cheap.

Newport is cheaper and less crowded midweek than on weekends, so that might work too. I don't know exactly when the highest season rates kick in for Newport, but you could get something (though still more than $100) for a night. The big hotels in town charge for parking--up to $30 per night, so look at rates in Middletown just a few miles out

WOW thanks soo much for your help guys! Cannot tell you how much we appreciate it!

Ill definatley be looking at that car hire site Callie33, thanks- that is still something we havent sorted!

As far as the question of why providence?.....i guess there isnt really an answer!lol We definatley want to see the mansions etc in Newport and i suppose Providence just slipped in there too- but you guys know best, if you think time would be better spent in Newport ill go with that?

So do you think then drive NYC to Mystic as planned, stay in Mystic for the day, drive to a nearby town in Ma (ill take a look at warwick etc) then spend the next morning doing the Newport thing- mansions etc, have lunch then head for Cape cod?

Btw Cranachin- we are staying in Dennis on Cape Cod- of all the examples to give on the cape for journey time you picked our exact location!!!!

Um, you can spend several days seeing the summer "cottages" that the uber wealthy built in Newport. Visiting each one can take quite a bit of time - unless you plan on just a drive by.

As for places in stay in the US budget chain motels are extremely common and B&Bs much less so. Many "B&Bs" are actually inns and tend to be much more upscale/expensive, often with gourmet restaurants attached - or at least a gourmet breakfst - budget B&Bs are fairly uncommon.

We actually only want to do some of the cliff top walk and MAYBE one mansion that is all. In forums people always think there is loads to do in all the places i ask about and that our time is too little!lol but we know that and are happy to just see a little and move on- its all good to us!!

It is hard for me to get my head around how expensive Inns or B&B's are as over here in northern ireland, a B&B would be a budget choice- MUCH cheaper than hotels etc. But message recieved. thanks

As said, you may want to look into Middletown, RI
Here's a place that should be under 100. per night and is a skip to Newport. There's plenty of parking and transport to Newport if you want to leave the car behind.
The Cliffwalk is gorgeous, btw. I walk it just about every Fri now that the weather is nice.
In regards to Warwick, RI or Seekonk beware that there really isn't much going on in either location.
Good luck!

Sorry forgot to link
http://www.rheasinn.com

Hi Sarah,

I would suggest that if you are driving from NYC and doing a stopover in Mystic, Ct., then you head for Newport and drive south to Cape Cod from there. You will be backtracking (in a sense) if you are going from CT to PVD, RI. However, you will find that lodging will be expensive no matter where you stay as you will be in the tourist season. Seekonk and Warwick will be more reasonable but you will be away from the sightseeing you want to do.

You could check out the towns nearby to Newport and see what they offer. You didn't say whether you are planning to spend a night in Mystic.

I would suggest that you visit "The Breakers" mansion while in Newport. You will love it. My daughter and family were just in Newport for her bday and they took our 2 grandsons to see The Breakers. The boys loved it. We have been there also and it is really a nice place to tour. If time permits, then you can talk a walk along the Cliff Walk which will parallel or be behind some of the mansions. Eating - no problem w/ restaurants in Newport. Seafood to die for.

Two Star hotels such as Pineapple Inn, Newport, RI, Bayberry Inn Of Newport and Days Inn Newport Rhode Island are great for those traveling on a budget and are generally clean and well-maintained.

Here is a website that you can use:

http://www.deskbell.com/us-hotel.asp?State=RI&City=Newport

I am not sure you will find anything around $100.

Good luck. Enjoy your stay.

read up on bidding for a hotel. learn what to bid by studying www.betterbidding.com and seeing the recent wins on their webpage. they have hotel lists which will make you see what nice places people are winning.

Looking outside larger cities is best for cheaper rates. Give it a try.

I assume you know about www.hotwire.com? That website I mentioned also has lists for hotwire hotels.

good luck. i am sure you will find something within your budget through those sites.

Thank you cybor and Luv2travel15 for your help- i think one mansion is all we will be able to do, ill definatley look into the breakers one.

Lincasanova- no i had not heard of bidding on a hotel or hotwire! Ive had a quick look at hotwire and am a little wary of not being able to see the hotel your buying....do people generally feel this works out ok? They aren't left staying in a real dive?

As for bidding i didnt even know you could do that.... sounds a bit tricky but im interested, ill definatley check out bettebidding. Thanks!

Using Priceline is an art - and you do need to be areful. they don;t inxpect properties - so the lodgings report on themselves and how many * thye should be. However, IMHO *s in europe and the US are not the same - often what would be a 4* in europe would be a 3* in the US. I would never bid for less than a 3* - and you do need to checek neighborhoods caerfully - since sometimes budget properties are in areas you don;t wnat to stay in.

Sarah, you have received a lot of great suggestions here on this post. I am sure that your brain is now very confused trying to figure out what to do. I think that you should sit down and come up w/ a time line from the time you arrive in NYC and figure out what is going to work best for you. Once you do that, everything will make more sense to you as to how much time you will have to spend in each location. Get back to us w/ that time line and we can help you critique it.

Here's a website for the Breakers:

http://www.newportmansions.org/page10001206.cfm

As far as Priceline, bidding, etc. I personally have not used these sites to book hotels as I am very picky and want to know where I am staying. I know that you can get a great deal but I still want to know what hotel we will be staying at. The hotels in Newport are generally very nice.

Good Luck.

Me again,

I just checked out the Priceline website 4 U:

www.priceline.com

Plugged in Newport, RI and and there are several hotels you could consider. You can pick one you like and pay full price or name your own price.

I put in the date of June 24th to get an idea of price as you said you would be spending 3 days in NYC. However, June 24 is a Friday so hotels are more expensive on the weekends in Newport and some you have to book 2 nights. They will tell you which ones offer free parking.

I might take a chance and do a bid as Newport covers a small area and you would probably get a fairly decent hotel. You can look the map over first. You can check the star category you want to bid on also.

Most of the 2* hotels are located in Middleton, RI but not too far from Newport, you would need to drive. The 3* and above categories are in Newport. It's a gamble but you never know and might get lucky. My daughter stayed at the Hotel Viking and that is on the high end in price for June. If you arrived on a Thursday, your prices per night would be lower.

Check it out and let us know if we can help you narrow down a hotel. I would either pick #1 Newport/Goat Island area or Middletown, RI. Kingstown won't be close enough to Newport for you.

here are the hotwire results for june 24th,1 night, two persons to a room.. Also you can see a list of name your own price wins at www.betterbidding.com.

http://www.hotwire.com/hotel/results.jsp?searchTokenId=1

Luv2travel15- thank you so much for taking the time to look into things for me, cant tell you how much a appreciate that, it is very kind of you. You too lisacasanova!

As far as time line goes we have already paid for 3 nights in NYC so that is a definate. We will be picking up our hire car on 24th June and that will be our 1 night between NYC and Cape Cod- i know its a bit of a pain that its a friday, and prices are higher but cant be helped just with the way flights etc are.

I think we have decided that we will stay the 1 night in Mystic, CT rather than Newport, RI- prices are marginally lower, and Mystic was always on our cards anyway...and i think im right in saying that it is a little closer to NYC than Newport (??)

We then hope on the 25th to leave Mystic and travel along the coast to Cape Cod, detouring at Newport to see Breakers mansion. We hope to be in Dennis, MA before the evening- that seem realistic?

thanks again everyone

ps. Im like you Luv2travel15- i need to see the place im staying at...and read tripadvisor reviews!! So i think ill be giving priceline and hotwire a miss, but thanks

Hi Sarah,

Ok, think you have sorted everything out now! The distance from NYC to Mystic is approx. 113 mi. or 181 km so depending upon the traffic it will be about a 2 hr. drive (maybe longer). The traffic can be very heavy along Route 95 but it moves along unless there are any detours or road construction.

I would definitely suggest that your book your Mystic hotel ASAP as that is a very popular area and it will be tourist season. You will like the Mystic area, it is very pretty there as it's right on the water. Mystic Acquarium is a nice attraction or walking along the Seaport area. There are lots of shops and you can walk the boardwalk and see all the ships.

www.mysticseaport.org

My daughter has taken our 2 grandsons there and they loved it. I was just checking the list of activities there for the weekend of June 24 and there will be a Wooden Boat Show which will attract a lot of people. Let me know how you make out w/ a hotel and I will give you some other nearby towns to check out. Look into Groton, CT also as it is close to Mystic but not as expensive. It will be south of Mystic.

It is approx. 33 miles or 53 km to Newport from Mystic so you can easily get there in less than 1 hr., again depending upon traffic. It will be a straight run to Newport from Mystic as you will get on Route 95 heading North until you come to the Hope, Rhode Island exit, then you will follow Route 1 directly into Newport. If you have a GPS then you can get your directions from that.

If you decide to do the Breakers (I have been told it is the most popular attraction in Newport), then there is a free parking lot near the mansion and you can do a short walk to the entrance of the mansion. I would allow a good 2-3 hr. They will give you headsets w/ audio so you can move from room to room at your own pace. We loved using these. If you want to do a short walk along the Cliff Walk you can access that there also. It is a beautiful walk along the Atlantic and really spectacular to see.

You should definitely be able to make Dennis by night. Again, you will experience heavy traffic once you get to the Cape as it will be tourist season there. BTW, my sister lives in Dennis. Where are you going to stay while there?

I hope this helps. Good luck. Let me know if I can help you w/ any other info. I can give you my email if you like.

Luv2travel15 you are hands down the most helpful person i think i have ever come across! thank you so much for more fantastic information!

Thats great to know the driving distances from a person rather than a site, i know the distances calculators do not rell take into consideration the traffic etc.

Ive had a look and am thinking we hope to stay in the Howard Johnston at Mystic- ( can i just say apologies to everyone else, i know im talking about CT on a RI thread) it seems to get good reviews and is a quite good location- do you know anything about it?

As for Dennis, we are staying at the Sesuit Harbour Motel- after ALOT of reseacrh into different areas on the cape, i just fell in love with the photos of it and the area....i hope if you know much about it, its not all bad!

thanks again, Sarah x

Your welcome, Sarah. People tell me I should be a travel agent & I am not. I just love doing travel stuff and helping others as well.

Distances are approx. and all depend upon the traffic situation. Driving from New York can be frazzling to say the least. Most of the places you will be heading will be on the highways and pretty much straight runs til you get to your destination. However, New York will be the only place you should encounter much traffic. I would suggest that you do a map quest search and get directions to Mystic. I would definitely suggest that you do NOT go via the George Washington Bridge. Others will say the same. It can be a nightmare w/ traffic, etc. We made the mistake of missing our exit last year and ended up going over the GW bridge. Never again! I can help you w/ directions if you like. We live about an hour from Mystic Ct. and Newport so we travel that route when we head to Florida or other southern destination. Just let me know. I have routes mapped out by our AAA travel agency that I can share w/ you.

I think that you would be fine booking the Howard Johnson's motel, it looks nice on their website. Besides, it will only be for one night so you can survive. I would say that most of the motels in the Mystic area would be pretty decent as that is a very high tourist area and also a very nice area to visit. I did see that there is no breakfast included but if that is not of concern to you, then I would go ahead and book it. My daughter had breakfast at a cute little place in Mystic when they were there in February. I will ask her when I see her later today as we are heading there for Mother's Day.

Dennis is a lovely area to visit. I am not familiar w/ the Sesuit Harbor Hotel but it does look lovely and I would definitely not hesitate to stay there. Rte. 6A is a historic route w/ lots of lovely homes on it. You can find so many things to do on the Cape. Don't worry you will fall in love w/ Cape Cod. If you are looking for specific things to do, I can ask my sister what to suggest, depending upon how many days you are staying there. There is so much to see and do on the Cape.

I think that all in all you have done a fabulous job planning your trip. You really will have some fantastic memories to take back home. Again, I love doing this so it's so much fun helping you plan your trip. Ask away if you need anything else.

Hi Luv2travel15- i should have asked before now- what is your name?

Thats good advice about GW bridge- something us foreigners would never know! I would very much appreciate route suggestions if you had them? We pick up our car at Newark as mentioned, so wont be driving in downtown NYC, phew!

I posted on the Ct forum and am a little disheartened that the Howard Johnson is not getting great reviews as a chain, although im not sure they are being specific to the actual one in Mystic- it did get many glowing reviews on tripadvisor, but like you say, its only a place for 1 night to lay our heads!

If your sister had any ideas about cape cod, id love to hear them- as mentioned ive done alot of reseacrh and the things to do seems endless!!lol the seashore is a definate though, and we'd like to take the Cape Cod tour trip one of the days. If she had any other suggestions to help me narrow stuff down that would be fab!

Thanks again x

JFYI, there is no need to repost questions on Connecticut forum, etc as all questions come to the USA forum and are just tagged that way for research . Be sure to read all the suggestions on your numerous threads.

Your really should study up on Hotwire or Priceline if you want to save money on this long trip.

www.betterbidding.com

You can see what hotels are usually won in what category or decipher opaque purchases by studying the amenities at the Hotwire lists there. MAny times it is foolproof on Hotwire as you get the amenities PLUS customer satisfaction rating!.

There are also willing to help you identify hotels there, especially if you are kind enough to do your purchases through their links.

Alos, you DO know about online coupons for hotels.com, expedia.com ,etc? You can many times receive 10-15% off using those coupons.

Lincasanova- thanks for pointing my repitition out - yet again. I have said on another thread that i apologise for repeating but did not realise the questions could be seen by all- i thought they were specific to each state and therefore that is why i posted several times for each states thread. As i mentioned on the PA thread to you and doug_stallings it is not terribley clear.

thanks for the information however we have almost everything booked now. Many thanks

Hi again, Sarah,

When I do research for a hotel stay, I usually check Trip Advisor as they get a lot more reviews than other sites I have used. I have also learned that you take those reviews w/ a grain of salt as everyone has different tastes and wants in a hotel. As an example, we just returned from a cruise to Hawaii and I was looking for 2 nights post-cruise stay in San Diego. I was going crazy trying to find a hotel for my very picky taste. Reviews on a lot of the hotels were only so so. I finally narrowed the area we would like to stay in San Diego, looked at the hotels in that area, and narrowed it down to the amenities offered, free shuttles, breakfasts, etc. We ended up staying at the Holiday Inn Express and we found it to be a great value for the 2 nights we were there. Reviews were coming in mixed on the hotel but I took a gamble because we usually stay at HI Express when we are on the road. Everything worked out great.

Howard Johnson hotels have been around for many years and are probably not as updated as the newer chains out there - Hampton Inns, Holiday Inns, etc. However, given the price you have indicated, I believe this hotel would be ok for one night. Reviews were good on Hotels.com for recent guests who stayed there (within the last 2 weeks). Also check out Priceline,com as they are offering 20% off ($111. per night for 6/24) and that is not a bad rate. You will be tired from your NYC sightseeing and the drive from the city so think you will not care where you put your head. LOL You will only be sleeping at the hotel then off to Newport. I think I would book HoJo's b4 I booked a Days Inn or Ramada, but then I am verrrry picky.

I just checked Priceline again, here is the link:

http://travelb.priceline.com/hotel/searchResults.do?jsk=2103010a9903010a20110509132650084021856849&key=gnhgps4w&showDP=y&NYOPRedirNI=null

If you can't open it, go to priceline.com then put in Mystic, Ct., date of stay. The Howard Johnson's is listed for $111. and if you scroll down a couple of hotels beyond that you will see the Comfort Inn Mystic listed for $129. This is where my daughter stayed in February and this a decent price. You also get breakfast in the price. My daughter is as picky as I am! They said it was fine for one night.

Lincasonova, I believe that Sarah is only looking for the one night's lodging in Mystic at this point. They have their NYC and Cape Cod hotels already booked.

Sarah, my name is Mary, sorry I forgot to mention this. If you would like to send me your email address, then I can forward the map/routes that I have. My email: socolady@msn.com

Put NOT SPAM in subject line so it doesn't go to my junk box.

Cheers,
Mary