lcuy

My daughter's August wedding will be in-between Oneonta and Delhi, NY. I'm going to be flying up about 5 days early and driving up with my daughter from Manhattan, but other friends and relatives coming from Hawaii and the west coast are debating the best way to get there.

The most obvious choice seems to be to fly into Albany and drive from there, maybe 1.5 to 2 hours?

Some people might want to combine a trip into NYC with the wedding, so they would fly into NYC, rent a car, and drive from there. Google says 3 to 3.5hours.

It occurred to me that most people would want to arrive by late Friday afternoon, and likely would leave Oneonta after breakfast on Sunday morning, so I wonder if traffic might be a major issue on a summer weekend to and from the Catskills from NYC.

I din't find any trains or buses up there. Are there none, or am I just missing them?

Any advice to make this a better drive would be greatly appreciated, including any favorite stops along the way. I have always been so grateful for Fodorites directing us to a route using the parkways from NYC to Boston years ago.

So much better than the freeway (95?) that we were later forced to use when moving another daughter from NYC to Cambridge. And come to think of it, even that trip went much more smoothly, thanks to someone pointing out that it was illegal to take a U-Haul on the parkways!

gail

The traffic from NYC north on a Friday on a summer weekend will be horrible. Anyone flying into NYC might want to wait until early Sat AM to make that drive. Since it is a 3.5 hour drive, I would suggest people just drive and not look for interesting stops.

However, there are more limited flights into ALB than one of the NYC airports - so some people may want to factor that in. I also did a fast look and cannot find any public transit that would work.

If people don't want to drive and can coordinate their arrivals, you could check into car/van service - party bus to wedding of icuy's daughter?

But I also think you are being overly nice - put together a few options and email it to anyone who asked. As parent of bride, you can't be expected to play travel agent as well.

Ackislander

The biggest favor you can do your guests is find places for them to stay because there aren't huge amounts of lodging in this part of NY State.

Motels, hotels, and B&B's fill up quickly. Baseball fans and opera fans visiting Cooperstown often have to stay in Oneonta or equally distant places in other directions.

doug_stallings

There are some other flight options. You could fly into Syracuse or Ithaca. Both also have very limited flights. Some people might also want to fly into Stewart Airport, which has even more flights and much better connections from more airports. It's a longer drive, but it's closer than NYC.

So people flying in may or may not even want to connect in NYC. Some flights to Ithaca, for example, leave from Philadelphia. I'm not up on all the connections, but I think there are some other options for you.

Ozarksbill

I remember staying in a rural B & B Rte. 10 south of Sharon Springs as we toured the area.

J62

AA recently added flights to ALB from Chicago, so AA, UA and Southwest are your best options into
Albany.

lcuy

Thanks everyone. Looks like I'll be recommending Albany to my family and friends. I was pushing people to get rooms months ago; most did, and the kids have blocked lots of hotel reservations for the procrastinators!

tomfuller

If someone from the west had Niagara Falls on their bucket list, they could fly to Buffalo. There are 2 morning Empire Service trains from Niagara Falls NY (one very early) east to Schenectady or Albany. The coach fare is in the $50-60 range per adult (kids half price).
There is a Hertz car rental in Schenectady.