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DC, Philadelphia, New York, Maine, Acadia NP and Niagara Falls in 11 days?

DC, Philadelphia, New York, Maine, Acadia NP and Niagara Falls in 11 days?

Old Aug 22nd, 2014, 06:05 PM
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DC, Philadelphia, New York, Maine, Acadia NP and Niagara Falls in 11 days?

Hi there,

I'm planning to take a trip to DC, Philadelphia, New York, Maine, Acadia NP and Niagara Falls in 11 days with my family including wife, 8 year old boy and 21 mo. old daughter.

I have been planning in the last one month but still can't figure out what to include and what to exclude.

To get a better help and advice, let me describe what my family's interested in:
- Sightseeing (Acadia NP, Foliage tours in New England, Niagara Falls, Statue of liberty and so on)
- Food (Like to try good food especially not so expensive one like Peter Luger steak house in Brooklyn, NY, but we'd rather try not so popular but provide very decent food with casual atmosphere with far less $)
- Shopping (We deviate from our course of trip often if we pass by big shopping malls or outlet malls so we're not a type who goes directly from point A to point B. That means we might need little more time in planning between places)

So now our dates.

We're arriving in Dulles international on Oct 1 at around 5 pm and we're flying out on Oct 13 at around 8 am. So we have 11 full days to travel.

I've always wanted to go to Maine for quiet rocky coastlines and pristine villages and so on to lower my stress level since we're from a big city Seoul. But, my wife doesn't like that kind of thing much so we're still debating what to include and what to exclude to make our trip a successful one for everybody including my two kids.

We might want to spend like 2-3 days in DC, 1 day in Philadelphia, 3-4 days in New York, 1-2 days in Boston, 2-3 days in Portland, Maine including Acadia NP(half day, we're not so serious into trekking and so on. we only need to sample a little bit to understand what Acadia NP is about), Hanover, NH (because I read Bill Bryson's books), Fall foliage tour driving and Niagara Falls.

That seems like a lot in 11 days.

We've been to New York and Boston but my wife wants to see better this time cuz we spent most of our time shopping when we were in New York. We didn't see almost none of touristy places. So this time, we're planning to do that. And for Boston, just to show my kids famous Harvard and MIT and maybe to try some seafood.

And as for DC, I was told DC has many nice museums for kids to show, so and we also wanna check touristy places. Also, wanna try blue crabs either in Baltimore or Annapolis. Some shopping as always.

In Maine, I think of lobster rolls and LL Bean outlets and checking out Portland which I was told small so we might not spend a lot of time. Acadia NP seems kinda far like 3 hour drive and my wife wants to rather go to Niagara falls instead of not so popular Acadia.

Fall foliage tours, we might drive though White mountains form Conway. I heard that's a good place to start a foliage tour. And Hanover to check Dartmouth college and so on. I liked Bill Bryson's books so. . . I really don't know if it's worth traveling to Hanover when you don't have much time.

Niagara Falls, I've been there but my family didn't. We're still thinking about going there or not. One of the main reason to include Niagara is to make a loop from DC to DC back through Niagara, New England area, Boston, New York, Philadelphia.

It seems like if we don't include Niagara, it's a straight line up and down from DC to Maine so instead of going back and forth the same road, we thought it's better to make a big loop. But to include Niagara, it's another day or two. So we're in a dilemma if we go to Niagara or skip it. If we go to Niagara, we might want to check something like Corning glass museum for kids and some other cities or anything between Niagara and Portland or Hanover or any other small cities like Conway for foliage tours.

I'm so frustrated with too many options. Please help me what to choose other than DC, Philadelphia, New York and Portland. Any suggestions? Should I include Niagara, Hanover, Fall foliage tour, Acadia NP? Or just stick to the eastern coastline instead of driving too far to Niagara? I might not have a chance to go to New England region in the future because my family likes big cities. That's why I'm trying so hard to include it but if it's too much in 11 days, we can skip that.

I'm desperate. Please get me some advice.

Thx a lot!!
ghymn is offline  
Old Aug 22nd, 2014, 06:23 PM
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> Should I include Niagara
No.
Trying to see just Washington, Philadelphia, NYC, and Acadia NP in only eleven days would be, IMHO, already too much of a rush. You'll have to cut back somewhere, and Niagara is the best place to start.
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Old Aug 22nd, 2014, 06:40 PM
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You simply cannot do all of this in 11 days. If it were me, I'd skip both Niagara Falls and NYC, doing just drive by in NJ to see the Statue of Liberty.
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Old Aug 22nd, 2014, 06:58 PM
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My flight is already reserved and I can't change it. I'm flying in and out of Dulles. So Dulles is my starting and ending point no matter what. = ]
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Old Aug 22nd, 2014, 07:00 PM
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And I must include DC, NYC(my wife's favorite) and the rest is not decided.
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Old Aug 22nd, 2014, 07:24 PM
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Definitely skip Niagara Falls--it's out of the way and would add too much driving time to a trip that's already got too many destinations.

The round-trip driving time from Washington,D.C. to Acadia National Park, without any stops, is 25 hours, which is the equivalent of 3 full days of driving. So that really only leaves you with 8 days to sightsee.

If your only reason to go to Boston and Hanover is to show college campuses to your children and eat seafood, then skip them. College campuses are not interesting at all for kids the ages of yours. (Wait until they are in high school and are thinking about attending college.)

And, as much as I enjoy Acadia National Park, it doesn't sound like your family is interested enough in that area to make that long drive worthwhile.

So, if you skip NYC since you've already been there, you are left with D.C., Baltimore and Philadelphia. This would be a great combination for an 11-day driving trip that wouldn't require a huge amount of driving. There are great museums and restaurants in all of these cities. (Get your seafood "fix" in Baltimore.) There are lots of kid-friendly activities and museums in all of these cities. And there are outlet malls in or near all of these cities for your shopping.

And since you'd like a place to experience "the great outdoors", you can easily drive from D.C. to Shenandoah National Park for a day or two. It would be a lovely time of year to go there as the leaves will be changing. (If you want to stay overnight in the park, you'd need to make bookings now as October is the prime time of year.)

Or, if you'd like a scenic area that's more "urban" than Shenandoah National Park, you could spend 2 days in the Lancaster, Pennsylvania area. It's got cute towns, pretty scenery (the leaves should be changing), fun attractions for the kids and outlet shopping.

This is how I recommend you allot your 11 days:

Washington D.C. 4 days
Shenandoah National Park or Lancaster, PA: 2 days
Baltimore: 2 days
Philadelphia: 3 days

This schedule gives you plenty of time for driving, sightseeing and shopping.
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Old Aug 22nd, 2014, 10:20 PM
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Hi, Thanks for all the opinions.

But, my wife really wanna spend at least 3 to 4 days in New York and she doesn't care about other cities or places to visit.
So we gotta include New York and since we're arriving in Dulles, we're planning to see DC and neighborhood. So that now leaves us if we just see Portland, ME or if we include Acadia.
Any suggestions?

Thx.
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Old Aug 23rd, 2014, 03:42 AM
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OK - by getting round rip tickets out of Dulles you have made your trip much more complcated - taking at least 2 days out of your 11 - 2 days of very log driving - just to get bak to DC.

So you actuallt hae just 9 days to see all those places and there is no way you can cover this.

IMHO you must bag Niagara Falls - which will take 2 full days out of your 9.

And since you have limited yourself by having to return to Dulles I think you're going to have to bag Maine. Seeing DC, NYC and Boston - even in a cursory way - in 9 days is a huge rush.

You are just not going to make all of those other places - unless you plan on spending 12 or 14 hours in a day (with 2 kids - madness!!) and not seeing much of anything.

Sit down with a decent map and lay out the trip day by day - where you will wake up, what you will see, where you will drive, and where you will sleep. If you do that - and consider how long it will take to see and do what you want (seeing the Statue of Liberty takes 5 to 6 hours and you MUST have ferry tickets in advance - as NOW - or you can easily have another hour or two just waiting for a chance to get on a ferry). When you leave any time to see turning leaves in the countryside near Boston - all of your days are stuffed with activities.

Please do this planning before heading out - and get lodging reservations now - so you have a realistic idea of what you have time to do -esp with 2 little ones.
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Old Aug 23rd, 2014, 04:39 AM
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Arrive at Dulles. Spend 2 days in DC area. Take train to NYC and spend 3 days there. Take train to Boston and spend 2 days there. Rent car as you are leaving Boston (this is the first time you should have a car) and drive to Portland, Maine. Spend 2 days. Portland and the surrounding area has beautiful lighthouses, rocky beaches, northern New England coastline. Return car to Boston/Logan airport and fly back to Dulles. One-way airfare from Boston to DC area are usually inexpensive - just make sure you are flying into the correct airport since airlines will list flights to BWI (Baltimore), DCA (Reagan National Airport - a possibility since there are shuttles to IAD/Dulles) and Dulles. Try to fly into Dulles, however.

If you try to fit in Acadia National Park and Niagara Falls by the end of the trip you will all likely be stressed and angry and need a vacation. Think of this trip as quality rather than quantity of things to see. In the plan your wife gets to shop and see NYC, you get to see some ocean coastline, and you do not feel like the entire trip is just racing from place to place, dragging luggage and tired children.
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Old Aug 23rd, 2014, 08:13 AM
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Based on the additional info that NYC is a requirement and that you really want to go to Maine, here's an itinerary to consider which includes them all. (BTW, Acadia NP is wonderful!)

D.C. for 3 days
Then take the train to
NYC for 3 days
Then rent a car and drive one full day through New England to
Acadia National Park/Bangor for 2 days
Then drive 3 hours to
Portland, ME for 1 day
And finally, fly to IAD for your return flight home

This would entail spending money on a drop-off fee for the rental car and one-way tickets from Portland to IAD, but it would certainly save you a lot of time and allow you to see the places you have mentioned that you specifically want to visit.
longhorn55 is offline  
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