Chris_Brown

Hello,

I will be visiting NYC for two weeks Sept 2013.
I want to rent a car and go to Cooperstown to spend one night and see the HOF in the morning.

Some places I though I might stop at on the way are...

Lynhurst, Sleepy Hollow, Stoney Point, Bear Mountain, West Point, Mohawk Mountain, Walkway over the Hudson and on to Cooperstown.

My questions are, Is this too much for one day of driving?
Should I skip any of them?
Anything I should add?
Anything to see between Pooghkepskie and Cooperstown I should add?

Here is a Google Map I created.
http://goo.gl/maps/4kghw

Also I was interested in a drive around Staten Island, Long Island and maybe out to Block Island but I will create a new thread for that.

Thanks for your help,

Chris

nytraveler

Your list of places will take 3 or 4 days to cover. Plan on seeing one place on the way to Cooperstown - unless you wil be leaving at 6am.

Staten Island is primarily residential and sufered significantly in Sandy. it is not a place I would recommend that a tourist go.

Long Island is (110 miles) and you will need a couple of days at least - depending on what you want to see. (The first 50 miles or so is primarily just masses of residential suburbs.)

garyt22

there are too many stops for one day... a drive along the Hudson in september will offer you some amazing scenery and I would suggest stopping for lunch, perhaps in Sleepy Hollow before continuing on to Cooperstown...

there are also some charming attractions in and around Cooperstown as well, so plan on Dinner there the night before your museum day... have fun

Chris_Brown

Thanks for your suggestions. I didn't realize it would take that long to drive a couple hundred miles. Is this because of traffic? I commute 80 miles one way each day and it only take me an hour and a half so my frame of reference is off.
Or is it because the roads have a bunch of stop lights and stop signs and low speed limits?
Or maybe is takes that long because each stop takes a long time?

Really I'm just looking for roadside stuff to do. Nothing that takes a couple hours in and of itself. For example I can skip West Point because I don't plan on taking the tour. But it would be nice to see it from the outside.
Walkway over the Hudson can't take more than an hour can it?
I will be leaving first thing in the morning but probably not at 6 am.
Thanks again.

HappyTrvlr

Don't skip West Point. You don't need to take the tour, but do see it from inside the gates.
Coopertown is a wonderful town in addition to the Baseball HOF. Your route is on a combination of city roads and more local, i.e. slow, roads, thus the longer time.Well worth it.
Long Island..suggest you go there for a few days, out to the Hamptons at the end to escape suburbia and densely populated areas.
Block Island ..ferry is from Rhode Island, Pt. Judith.

J62

My 2c on what you could / should fit into 1 day from NYC enroute to Cooperstown. It will take you a long time for a few reasons.

1. you wont be driving on highways in many of these areas, and it takes time to get places when you have stoplights and 30mph or 45mph zones.

2. you will be stopping and touring

3. This is not the amazing race. We assume you'll actually want to see and enjoy the places you visit, not just check off your list.


Lynhurst - no
Sleepy Hollow - no
Stoney Point - no
Bear Mountain - no

West Point - yes - even if you don't tour you'll want to get out and walk around - you can't see much just by car.

Mohawk Mountain (it's Mohonk Mtn), no

add in Storm King Mtn art center - yes

Walkway over the Hudson - yes (does not take more than an hr, and you can access it from the west or east side of the river)

and on to Cooperstown.

garyt22

there is another stop on the way to Cooperstown that is well worth it...

Bethel woods Performing Arts Center in Bethel,NY is the home of the Woodstock Concert Museum... not that far off your route and well worth the few hour stop...

garyt22

forgot link www.bethelwoodscenter.org museum

sf7307

>>

We were there in May and I was under the impression you could not go in EXCEPT on a tour.

Agree with Storm King if you have time -- even if you just take the tram on one circle route.

We did the Walkway over the Hudson and it was nice -- we just walked to the center of the bridge and back, which was still about 2 miles round-trip including from the end of the bridge to the parking area and back.

nyer

What kinds of things do you actually want to see? For me the trip to and from Cooperstown is long enough without the detours. There are enough things to see in that area, especially in September when you could also start to see some fall foliage a bit north or or at higher elevations

If you are in NY for 2 weeks, it would make sense to do a Hudson Valley tour as a daytrip or overnight separately, Then you can do Stony Point, Tarrytown, West Point etc some justice

nytraveler

First of all - I think you are overestimating the speed you can do. Not sure where you are from - but our highway limit is 55 - and if you run into traffic (anywhere near NYC) it will be much slower. Also, many of these sights are on local roads, which can be lined with malls, have stop and go traffic in the towns and outside them perhaps 40 to 45 mph at best.

And none of the places you are listing are highway stops - they would all take at lest 2 hours to see much of anything - and many can take a whole day.

As for your trip to Long Island - traffic depends on when you go. But getting from NYC to Montauk can easily take 4.5 to 5 hours if you go on a weekend, there is an accident or you are near any rush hour.

Chris_Brown

Thanks for your help everyone. I think NYer is right. I should split it up.
What I probably should have asked from the beginning is,
"If you had two weeks in NYC how much would you devote to the HOF, how would you get there, and what would you see along the way?"

My trip is basically a baseball trip. Giants play both the Mets and Yankees so HOF is a must.

I googled best drives in NY or something like that and HWY 9 came up which led to the post.
I'd rather not rent a car at all but from other threads seemed the best option to get there. And if I have to rent it for a couple-three days I might as well rent it for a week.

Thanks again.

nytraveler

Just looked at Yahoo maps and they list Times Square to Montauk at 2.5 hours. I'm sure that is correct - at 2 am. At any time during the day or early evening it is significantly more - at busy times double.

sf7307

>>

Unless you'll actually be in Manhattan part of that time, where it will be very expensive to park the unneeded vehicle!

Here's what we had time for on our trip in May. We were in "no rush":

"Well, we didn't have time for everything, but we kept this thread handy, and managed to squeeze in tours of West Point, Olana and FDR's home and library, a visit to the grounds at the Vanderbilt mansion, a walk across the Hudson on the walkway, poking around Cold Spring, Hudson, Rhinebeck and Saratoga Springs, and a visit to Storm King Art Center (we are not museum people, but we absolutely loved Storm King). We had some good meals - excellent lunch at the Apple Pie Bakery at the CIA ( excellent wild rice soup and roasted mushrooms, delicious flank steak and cavatelli carbonara, fantastic rice pudding and chocolate cake "pop"). I got a macaron to go and didn't eat it until the next day - it was still great - it was goat cheese and apricot). We also had good meals on the casual side of Terrapin in Rhinebeck and at Sushi Thai in Clifton Park (where we stopped for the night after getting pounded by an incredible rainstorm near Albany...I couldn't wait to get off the road). All in all, it was a wonderful respite. The views throughout the valley are astonishingly beautiful."

That was 4 days' worth.

nytraveler

You do not want a car in Manhattan. Besides paying more than $100 a day for a car you can't use - you'll pay $35 or so a night to park it. Just doesn't make any sense except for days you are outside the City.

nytraveler

If this is a baseball trip suggest you start tracking Yankee tickets sales so you can purchase the day they go on sale. A chance to see Yankees/Giants will being out hosts of fans and they may well sell out the first day. And you don;t want to be buying on the secondary market - tickets are often double face value for popular games.

Mets - not so much, obviously.

barbfdny

I live right by the Cooperstown area and please keep in mind you are traveling all back country roads to get to Cooperstown which is a very rural area. Most roads are the ones that you see a field of cows and then fields, fields and more fields and then a house, then more fields. Maybe 2 hotels near the Hall, both you must drive to. Hall of fame is on main street and there is NO parking anywhere at anytiem due to locals and many tourists. The double day game between 2 MLB teams is during the induction week and this year there are no inductees. If I sound bitter, I am sorry. Husband works for the local sheriffs dept and the stories he can tell of many people not understanding that traffic jams here on most roads are cows crossing from one field to another.