What is it you're interested in doing?

The mid Hudson valley is a nice place to visit and offers a mix of adult and family friendly activities. There are lots of apple orchards, pumpkin patches, & corn mazes in the area.

The wildcard is weather - late October can be beautiful & sunny, cold and rainy, or even snow.

To someone in NYC, "upstate" is anywhere north of the city line(only slight exaggeration). To everyone else, it covers only the more northern and western reaches of the state, from near the Canadian border with Quebec to Buffalo and Niagara Falls.

How far (time, miles) away from NYC do you want to travel? Do you want mostly kid oriented places? What types of places do you like to stay at, motels, chain hotels, kid friendly resorts. Ar you coming from similar weather or are you looking for foliage you can't see where you live?
The more details you give, the more you'll get.When you decided on the trip, what were your original plans? I suppose I'm a little confused when someone says I'm going somewhere that I chose, now what should I do?

If you or your son has an interest in dolls, consider visiting the Strong Museum in Rochester. http://www.museumofplay.org/collections/doll
I have also visited the George Eastman house on East Avenue in Rochester.

If you don't want to go too far "upstate", the Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow area has a lot of Halloween related events going on, check out the Historic Hudson Valley web-site. This area is only about an hour from Newark airport.

You need to clarify what you mean by upstae. To me it is Albany, to Buffalo..

You and your 4YO child might enjoy Catskill Game Farm or a visit to Howe Caverns.

Not far from NYC but still considered "upstate" is Bear Mountain State Park. Or you could visit nearby West Point and tour the US Military Academy.

Check out the Museum Village in Monroe New York and while there stroll through the craft village at Sugarloaf, NY. You can also go apple picking at one of the many farms in the area.

There are plenty of places in the Adirondacks that are perfect fr families

Hi,

Just a heads up... The Catskill Game Farm closed back in 2006. What you may be interested in is the Catskill Animal Sanctuary.

http://casanctuary.org/

Secret Caverns or Howe Caverns are worthwhile:

www.secretcaverns.com

http://howecaverns.com/

Two places we've stayed at in the Catskills in recent years:

www.redranchmotel.com

www.catskill-motorcourt.com

Paul

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

To narrow it down, we don't want to go too far upstate. We don't plan on doing any serious walks or hikes this is definitely a more leisurely paced holiday. We don't mind driving. We like towns/cities. We are flexible enough regarding accomodation i.e. we are not fazed if its a motel or hotel chain. We can focus on child friendly things to do once we have sorted out a route.

Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow, Ithaca, Watkins Glen, Senecca Falls all sound great - This is from what other people have said.

While on this route is there an option to do the Catskills, by this I mean certain parts etc..

I suppose I'm just looking for suggestions to put a logical flow together.

We have 4 nights. We have been travelling from Ireland to NYC every year for the last 10 years and I guess this time we just want to do something different.

Thanks again.

Hi,

Ithaca and Watkins Glen are the furthest on your list. Figure 5 hours to get to either. Including the Castkills on the way would make much locistic sense, as the best way to get to Watkins Glenn or Ithaca from NYC/Newark, NJ would be route 80 across NJ to 380 in PA and then 81 to Binghamton to route 17.

The Catskills are about 2 to 2.5 hours from NYC/Newark, NJ. Along with my previous suggestions, the town of Woodstock is worth visiting. Just outside of Woodstock, we found this to be interesting:

www.kagyu.org/ktd/monastery/

http://woodstockny.org/content/Tourism

Just another option... drive the Connecticut coastline to Newport, Rhode Island. Along the way are Norwalk Maritime Aquarium, Mystic Aquarium, Mystic Village and of course, Newport. NYC to Newport, RI is about 4 hours drive.


www.maritimeaquarium.org

www.mysticaquarium.org

http://mystic.org/browse/what-to-do

www.gonewport.com

www.newportmansions.org/plan-your-visit/operating-schedule


Hope this helps with your planning.

Paul

Just so you know by the end of Oct the leaves will be off the trees once you get substantially north or west of the city - although they should still be colorful IN the city and possibly in the immediate suburbs.

If it were me I would try to stay within 3 hours or so of the city - so you're not spending TOO much time on the road.

The Hudson Valley and the Catskills both have a lot of countryside, cute towns and many thngs to see and do without venturing too far upstate.

Also, if you're interested NYC has an incredible Halloween parade downtown - like nothing else I have ever seen in terms of how clever the costumes and interesting the marhcing groups are.