Coyote

Hello
We are coming to the US, spending 4 days in NYC then travelling up to Boston (not sure how yet) for 2 nights (staying with friends in Concord), then heading up to the White Mountains for 4 nights. Afterwards, one night Boston, one night NYC, fly home (UK).
Advice required as follows:
- best way (ie cheapest and fastest) of getting from NYC to Boston. Rail travel seems v expensive. As we will need a car to get around the WM area, guess this might be the better option. If so,
- best (ie most picturesque and least traffic) road to travel between NYC and Boston/or NYC and Concord.
- best place to stay in WM area. Have been told that N. Conway is nice .... we want to be outside, hiking in the hills for most days and to be able to come back and enjoy cosy evenings in front of the fire. A small inn is preferable to a large motel esp if we can eat / drink (alchohol that is) there too! Teh more picturesqe the better. Does anyone know the 1785 inn and if so whats it like? Also the Buttonwood inn ....???
- Will we be ok with the weather (ie is it going to be muddy?)
- Can anyone recommend some routes for good hiking in the WM area? We wont be camping out overnight but woiuld like some good mountain walks ie around 5-6 hrs with good mountain views.
- We are only planning one day in Boston on the way back. What should we focus on doing for the day (I thought whale watching if poss?
- where to stay in Boston?
- where to eat out in Boston?
- Whens the marathon
Thanks for any comments.

Lizak

1. NYC to Boston. The cheapest way that I know of is the bus. You can take a bus one way for around $25. You can also take a bus from Boston to Concord (they leave hourly). You might want to wait to rent a car because Boston is a nightmare to drive around given our construction project called the Big Dig. You might want to consider staying in Boston and taking our subway, called the T (www.mbta.com) around.
2. There are plenty of routes to take from NYC to Boston or Concord, but you have to decide whether or not you'd like to take a highway and get there in a reasonable amount of time vs. taking back roads and it taking many hours. If you take Rt 95, it could be horribly congested, but you could stop along the coast of Connecticut, stop in Providence, RI. If you take 84 to the Mass Pike, it's kind of dull with respect to scenary.
3. White Mountains: stay in North Conway if you wish, as there are plenty of restaurants, inns, etc. It can be very very busy with traffic. It's one small town with few roads to navigate and it's very popular.
4. White Mountains: consider staying near Lincoln / Woodstock because it can be much quieter with similar services (restaurants, inns, movie theatre).
5. White Mountains: if you like hiking, consider staying at an AMC lodge (Pinkham Notch, see www.outdoors.org). There are so many hiking options and you must realize that many 5-6 hour hikes will lead you to snow covered trails. If you like hiking in snow, consider a hike up to the Tuckerman Ravine Trail on the Pinkham Notch side. On the Route 302 side, consider the Crawford Path to Mt. Pierce, or the Cherry Mtn trail. In Franconia Notch, consider a hike to Cannon Mtn or Lonesome Lake.
6. Weather: could be muddy, but could be rainy, sunny, icy. Bring boots, jacket, gloves, everything.

sharona

I'll answer the easiest question first: the Boston Marathon is always the third Monday in April so this year it is the 21st, the day after Easter and Easter Monday to you. The cheapest transportation from NYC to Boston is via Chinatown buses. I've pasted a previous poster's message below:

Author: Anonymous
Date: 02/07/2003, 11:25 am
Message: There are plenty of buses running from Boston to NYC. There are several local bus companies that run buses between the Chinatown areas of both cities, which are relatively safe and centrally located, as well as regional lines like Bonanza Bus, which runs between major cities inthe region.

http://www.staticleap.com/chinatownbus/

http://www.sunshineboston.com/bustours/nyc/

http://www.bonanzabus.com/schedule.htm

http://www.boston-online.com/Transportation/Buses/

******

If you want to drive from NYC to Boston then the easiest route is Interstate 95 North to I-93 North. However, the BEST route is I-684 to I-84 E to I-90 E, which is the Massachusetts Turnpike and a toll road. You should try to avoid rush hours as much as possible as all of these roads are very heavily traveled.

Since you have friends in the area who know your interests they can give you some good advice on what to see in Boston. But if you've never been to Boston before I would probably skip the whale watch and do a hop on/ hop off trolley tour. Olde Towne Trolley Tours is a good choice. You see lots of the city that way and you can get off and explore any sites that interest you.

If you are in town on Marathon Weekend just realize that the race attracts thousands of visitors both as participants and as spectators. Lodging will be extremely tight so I suggest making reservations as soon as possible. There are many previous posts here about Boston hotels and restaurants so if you do a search you are bound to come up with lots of suggestions. Or, it would be helpful to know what you are looking for in terms of a restaurant (price range, cuisine, etc.). A good web site for visitors is digitalcity.com/boston.

I'll let those knowledgeable about the White Mountains answer your questions about that area.

Cicerone

I would NOT rent a car in NYC and drive it in and out of the city, while trying to figure out Manhattan traffic and negotiate the area around Bronx and Westchester and White Plains. The highways in this area are old and poorly designed and traffic is pretty bad. You will also pay a higher price to rent a car in Manhattan.

If you really want to rent a car, I would take a train from NYC to a town along the Connecticut coast like Greenwich. Greenwich is right on Route 95 (main highway to New England) and is a small very safe town. Greenwich is about one hour by train from NYC. There is a car rental company called Enterprise that will often bring the car to you, and may be able to meet you at a train station, or Hertz or Avis may have a pick up location in the area. (These are often gas/petrol stations.)

I just looked at the Enterprise website (enterprise.com) and found that they have a location in Greenwich, Connecticut:
15 EDGEWOOD AVE
GREENWICH, CT 06830-5218
tel: (203) 622-1611

If you are interested, call them to check prices (or first check through the website for prices from that location as well) and tell them you want to have the car meet you at the Greenwich train station. (The main station for Metro north commuter trains.) If you want to use this method, write back on this thread and I will give you website and other information for getting the Metro North trains from Grand Central Station in Manhattan to Greenwich.

I have to say that the drive is not very scenic along the coast, and with traffic and highway construction and possibly rain, it may be that much fun. The drive by Route 95 would take about 4 ½ hours to Boston/Concord without traffic or construction delays, for which this highway is infamous. There are some "back roads" (like the Old Post Road through most of Connecticut), but these are local traffic roads and they would be fairly busy with local traffic and would take days to get you to Boston. Unless you want to stop in Mystic Connecticut or Newport Rhode Island, there is not much in the way of sightseeing along either Route 95 or any back route.

Another way is to take the train roundtrip between NYC and Boston and then rent a car from a location outside of Boston for the New Hampshire portion. When you get to the Boston area, there should be a Hertz, Avis or other car rental location in the Concord area where you're friends are. Check the websites or call the rental car companies. Enterprise that will often bring the car to you. Try to avoid renting a car at an airport and the charges are always much higher.

mm

The best White Mountain related site is:

http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/whites/

filled with photos, trail info, trip reports. The best there is.

As far as a scenic lodge/B&B/hotel goes my recommendation is the Franconia Inn just north of Franconia Notch State Park. They also have a website:

www.franconiainn.com

Great food, perfect location for hiking and scenic drives.

From NYC, I would drive or take the train and then rent a car in Boston for the trip to the Whites. You do not need a car in Boston.

N. Conway is nice and has a lot of great things nearby, such as the Conway Scenic Railroad and it is relatively close to Mt. Washington Valley. Of course you could drive to N. Conway from Franconia via two wonderful roads, Rt. 302 or the Kancamagus Hwy.

Craig

Please see my reply to your question on the thread entitled "NEW ENGLAND TRIP". Although many of my points are repeated here by other posters, you should also check into flying into NYC and out of Boston as most airlines have flights out of both to the UK and it should not cost you extra to do this. Even if it does cost more, you will save a lot in aggrevation and wasted time driving.

zootsi

Just realize that April in the Whites is still pretty much winter, especially as you get up into the higher elevations.You will probably need snowshoes. At lower levels , it will be muddy and or slushy going. A very handy White Mountain hiking map/guide is the Delorimer's hiking map of the White Mountains. It can be picked up at any bookstore and many other places for about $5.