best way to New Jersey from New york
Apr 13th, 2013, 04:59 AM
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best way to New Jersey from New york
Hi
We're traveling to East Coast this May 2013 for two weeks
We're planning to stay 1 week in NYC then visit some nearby cites like new jersey, DC, Boston etc. I'm planning to join a 3 day tour for washington, philidelphia and nigara falls is it ok and can we cover all main attractions?
But my big problem is I can't figure out the best way to New jersey. Can you help me out?
and can you suggest best places to stay for a family of 5? We're planning to stay in NJ for 3-4 days. Also what are the good attractions in NJ that are worth to go to?
Thanks ahead!
We're traveling to East Coast this May 2013 for two weeks
We're planning to stay 1 week in NYC then visit some nearby cites like new jersey, DC, Boston etc. I'm planning to join a 3 day tour for washington, philidelphia and nigara falls is it ok and can we cover all main attractions?
But my big problem is I can't figure out the best way to New jersey. Can you help me out?
and can you suggest best places to stay for a family of 5? We're planning to stay in NJ for 3-4 days. Also what are the good attractions in NJ that are worth to go to?
Thanks ahead!
Apr 13th, 2013, 05:06 AM
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NJ is a state, not a city. I recommend getting a guidebook and reading about NJ so you can decide what you want to see there. The best route from NYC could depend on where in NJ you're going.
Re: the 3 day tour to DC, Philadelphia, and Niagara Falls, it doesn't seem possible to go to all of those places in three days. It's over 550 miles from Washington to Philadelphia to Niagara Falls.
You could easily spend three days in Washington alone.
Re: the 3 day tour to DC, Philadelphia, and Niagara Falls, it doesn't seem possible to go to all of those places in three days. It's over 550 miles from Washington to Philadelphia to Niagara Falls.
You could easily spend three days in Washington alone.
Apr 13th, 2013, 05:46 AM
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In 3 days you can do a quick trip to DC (although it deserves about 5) OR Niagara Falls OR Boston (also deserves 4 or 5 days). From NYC it's easy to get to DC or Boston by Amtrak. To get to Niagara Falls requires either an 8 hour drive, an 8 hour train ride or flying. (Or a hideously long bus ride.)
While it might be possible to get to all 3 places in 3 days - if you fly - you would have next to no time to see anything. It would be a huge waste of time and money. (Just because someone sells something doesn't mean it's worth of being bought!)
As for Niagara Falls it makes no sense to go there and not go to Canada - where you get much better views, have better hotels (the NY side is sort of a depressed area) and can see Niagara on the Lake.
As for New Jersey - what do you want to see/do there? I don;t want to malign a state - and there are many pleasant residential areas - I can;t think offhand what there would be to see or do for someone coming across the country. (There are plenty of smaller, interesting things and sights - but not typically what people come across the country to see. If you're thinking of Atlantic City - it was significantly damaged by Superstorm Sandy and the casinos are IMHO in an unpleasant area near some high crime areas.
As for how to get to Jersey - it totally depends on what part of the state you are talking about.
You REALLY need to rethink this - and let us know what you want to see and do. I strongly suggest you have a look at an atlas - or map online - and check googlemaps for an idea of travel time between cities.
As for places for 5 - in NYC that will require either 2 rooms or a suite - since fire laws don;t let more than 4 people in one room.
While it might be possible to get to all 3 places in 3 days - if you fly - you would have next to no time to see anything. It would be a huge waste of time and money. (Just because someone sells something doesn't mean it's worth of being bought!)
As for Niagara Falls it makes no sense to go there and not go to Canada - where you get much better views, have better hotels (the NY side is sort of a depressed area) and can see Niagara on the Lake.
As for New Jersey - what do you want to see/do there? I don;t want to malign a state - and there are many pleasant residential areas - I can;t think offhand what there would be to see or do for someone coming across the country. (There are plenty of smaller, interesting things and sights - but not typically what people come across the country to see. If you're thinking of Atlantic City - it was significantly damaged by Superstorm Sandy and the casinos are IMHO in an unpleasant area near some high crime areas.
As for how to get to Jersey - it totally depends on what part of the state you are talking about.
You REALLY need to rethink this - and let us know what you want to see and do. I strongly suggest you have a look at an atlas - or map online - and check googlemaps for an idea of travel time between cities.
As for places for 5 - in NYC that will require either 2 rooms or a suite - since fire laws don;t let more than 4 people in one room.
Apr 13th, 2013, 09:43 AM
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Thanks for all of your replies, very much appreciated. Yeah i understand the distance of these places but i was just moved when i found many day tour sites and good reviews from what they offer. But it would really be convenient for us if we can book a tour on DC, boston, etc. cause we don't know much of the place since its our first time in eastcoast.
With regards to new jersey we're interested on good bargains since i heard theres no tax f
With regards to new jersey we're interested on good bargains since i heard theres no tax f
Apr 13th, 2013, 09:52 AM
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Sorry i accidentally click the button anyway
With regards to NJ were interested on finding good bargains since i heard there's no tax for clothing and shoes. So were looking for good outlets. Also i heard wildwood beach is nice and its boardwalk is it worthgoing?
Thanks for the info reg atlantic city NYtraveler, so this means that we shouldnt visit the place?
And the niagara falls? Cause some of my relatives said it is a must go so we're still considering about it
P.s do you know any tour that has longer days for dc boston philidelphia and niagara falls that are reliable
Thanks a lot!
With regards to NJ were interested on finding good bargains since i heard there's no tax for clothing and shoes. So were looking for good outlets. Also i heard wildwood beach is nice and its boardwalk is it worthgoing?
Thanks for the info reg atlantic city NYtraveler, so this means that we shouldnt visit the place?
And the niagara falls? Cause some of my relatives said it is a must go so we're still considering about it
P.s do you know any tour that has longer days for dc boston philidelphia and niagara falls that are reliable
Thanks a lot!
Apr 13th, 2013, 01:09 PM
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OK -now I'm confused - are you asking about doing DC, Boston and Niagara Falls eas as day tips form NYC? this is even crazier.
Niagara from NYC as a day trip is by air and the cost I saw was over $1000 per person (car or train is 8 hours each way - so NOT possible in one day at all).
NYC to Boston is about 4 hours each way by train or bus. So you would spend 8 hours on the road to get 4 or 5 hours - and perhaps 1 or 2 sights in the city.
DC is more like 5 hours each way (and while train is usually on time, bus often runs into heavy traffic, bad weather or accidents - so you are talking at least 5 hours travel in each direction (10 hours on road to see 1 or 2 sights).
There is no need for a tour = just pick which one you want to see and go there.
To give you useful advice plesae provide:
whoe the 5 of you are - if parents and 3 kids how old ar hte kids
How many days you have total on the est coast (this is completely unclear)
What are your interests (do you really want to spend 3 days to see water falling - pretty - but IMHO waster time unless you are touring upper New York State or visiting Toronto - and you will need passports)
Where are you from (wanting to go to Jersey to save a few $ on sales tax makes little sense). Yes, you can go to Secaucus malls by bus from NYC - but Woodbury Common outlets in NY is about an hour by bus from the Port Authority - and often has great deals. But is shopping one of your main reasons for going? (Unless you come from womeplace where things are much more expensive - don;t see wasting vacation time shopping for clothes you can - for the most part - get in any upscale mall.
Niagara from NYC as a day trip is by air and the cost I saw was over $1000 per person (car or train is 8 hours each way - so NOT possible in one day at all).
NYC to Boston is about 4 hours each way by train or bus. So you would spend 8 hours on the road to get 4 or 5 hours - and perhaps 1 or 2 sights in the city.
DC is more like 5 hours each way (and while train is usually on time, bus often runs into heavy traffic, bad weather or accidents - so you are talking at least 5 hours travel in each direction (10 hours on road to see 1 or 2 sights).
There is no need for a tour = just pick which one you want to see and go there.
To give you useful advice plesae provide:
whoe the 5 of you are - if parents and 3 kids how old ar hte kids
How many days you have total on the est coast (this is completely unclear)
What are your interests (do you really want to spend 3 days to see water falling - pretty - but IMHO waster time unless you are touring upper New York State or visiting Toronto - and you will need passports)
Where are you from (wanting to go to Jersey to save a few $ on sales tax makes little sense). Yes, you can go to Secaucus malls by bus from NYC - but Woodbury Common outlets in NY is about an hour by bus from the Port Authority - and often has great deals. But is shopping one of your main reasons for going? (Unless you come from womeplace where things are much more expensive - don;t see wasting vacation time shopping for clothes you can - for the most part - get in any upscale mall.
Apr 13th, 2013, 03:36 PM
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NYC also does not have sales tax on clothing and shoes, if each item is $110 or less. So no need to go to New Jersey just for that reason. Most of the outlets in New Jersey are just not as good as they were 10 or 20 years ago and a lot of the clothing there is not the same as you see in the stores, (They make cheaper clothes for the outlets) NYC has national chains like TJ Maxx and local chains like Loehmann's and Century 21 that are like outlets, but they carry more than one brand name per store (most outlets are for one company or brand only).
If you are looking for very fancy designer names (Chloe, D&G,), it might be worth a trip to go to Woodbury Common in New York State about an hour away from NYC, But, since it will take time to get there and back and it is pretty expensive to get there, this is only if you are lookinig for the real designer names and plan on spending hundreds or thousand of dollars.
I assume you mean that you want a tour that spends more days in DC, Boston, Philadelphia, and Niagara Falls, not that you want to spend only one day in each
I don't undertand how you were planning a "3 day tour for washington, philidelphia and nigara falls" It will take almost 3 days just to drive from city to city-- really!
A tour that covers all of them would probably be at least 10 days or 2 weeks. Can you just travel from city to city by yourself and take tours in each one? Most have special tour buses that you can use for a day or 2 to see many sights, and then you can go back to see different sights another day on your own. It will be much cheaper, and you will spend more time seeing the things you want to see.
If you are looking for very fancy designer names (Chloe, D&G,), it might be worth a trip to go to Woodbury Common in New York State about an hour away from NYC, But, since it will take time to get there and back and it is pretty expensive to get there, this is only if you are lookinig for the real designer names and plan on spending hundreds or thousand of dollars.
I assume you mean that you want a tour that spends more days in DC, Boston, Philadelphia, and Niagara Falls, not that you want to spend only one day in each
I don't undertand how you were planning a "3 day tour for washington, philidelphia and nigara falls" It will take almost 3 days just to drive from city to city-- really!A tour that covers all of them would probably be at least 10 days or 2 weeks. Can you just travel from city to city by yourself and take tours in each one? Most have special tour buses that you can use for a day or 2 to see many sights, and then you can go back to see different sights another day on your own. It will be much cheaper, and you will spend more time seeing the things you want to see.
Apr 13th, 2013, 03:59 PM
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I live in New Jersey and would be happy to provide suggestions, but I'm having a hard time figuring out your overall plan. From where are you traveling and who is in your group of five? Niagra Falls is beautiful, but it is in the opposite direction from Philly and DC, so it should be done as a separate trip from those cities. Perhaps you could find a tour that went either north (Boston, Niagra) OR south (Philly, DC) from NYC. Though it is also easy enough to do these on your own without a tour too.
The NJ shore is fabulous, but I'm not sure if it would make sense for your trip. The beaches north of Atlantic City suffered considerable damage from Sandy. Those south of AC (including Wildwood) are in pretty good shape, however you should be aware that you would definitely need a car. May is not the prime season, though you can sometimes get some really nice beach weather (though the water will probably be too cold to swim). These beaches are also much closer to Philly than NYC. If you are looking for a day of shopping in NJ from NYC, consider Paramus which has numerous malls and high end shops. Or, if you will have kids with you, you might enjoy a day at the Six Flags amusement park in Jackson, NJ, a town that has a number of outlets.
The NJ shore is fabulous, but I'm not sure if it would make sense for your trip. The beaches north of Atlantic City suffered considerable damage from Sandy. Those south of AC (including Wildwood) are in pretty good shape, however you should be aware that you would definitely need a car. May is not the prime season, though you can sometimes get some really nice beach weather (though the water will probably be too cold to swim). These beaches are also much closer to Philly than NYC. If you are looking for a day of shopping in NJ from NYC, consider Paramus which has numerous malls and high end shops. Or, if you will have kids with you, you might enjoy a day at the Six Flags amusement park in Jackson, NJ, a town that has a number of outlets.
Apr 13th, 2013, 05:41 PM
#10
Holland tunnel, Lincoln tunnel and the George Washington bridge.
FYI: Delaware has no sales tax on anything.
How much stuff are you going to buy and then carry all the way home? Usually it is just easier to buy things online and have it shipped to your home.
Why not come into these cities without a car to save a lot on parking?
FYI: Delaware has no sales tax on anything.
How much stuff are you going to buy and then carry all the way home? Usually it is just easier to buy things online and have it shipped to your home.
Why not come into these cities without a car to save a lot on parking?
Apr 14th, 2013, 05:35 AM
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erikatan -
If you would respond to some of the questions people have asked I think you would get more helpful responses. As it is it's not really possible to understand how much time you have or what you're trying to do.
If you would respond to some of the questions people have asked I think you would get more helpful responses. As it is it's not really possible to understand how much time you have or what you're trying to do.
Apr 14th, 2013, 08:56 AM
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New Jersey is a state with a wide range of activities, sights, etc. If your reason to go is for shopping, then, as mentioned above,look for bargains in NYC.
Besides shopping, what are you interested in? Nature, the ocean, historical sites, quaint towns, amusement parks, concerts, museums ? We really need more information to give you advise.
Besides shopping, what are you interested in? Nature, the ocean, historical sites, quaint towns, amusement parks, concerts, museums ? We really need more information to give you advise.
Apr 16th, 2013, 02:43 AM
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Sorry for the late reply and incomplete details it was really a rough plan at start since I haven't research everything yet but now I had a clearer picture on the places and distance.
Yeah were 5 in a family 2 parents and 3 kids all girls at teenage years (19,18,16)
We're traveling all the way from the Philippines, so I hadn't much idea on touring east coast since we're always on the west coast side. Our big problem is we only had 10 days to tour east coast including new york, and I'm planning to have 5 days in NYC so it gives us only 5 days to tour other states. We're interested in sightseeing places and famous attractions, quaint towns but also doing activities like shopping since we're all girls but it's not our big priority and also we're interested on doing unique activities of that city(more on seeing/feeling their culture). But we're not that fan of museums.
I understand it's impossible to see everything so now we're just prioritizing washington DC and Niagara Falls since the kids love to see the falls but if its impossible to go there with our time frame it's also fine, we'll just consider other places.
Based from all your suggestions I think visiting New Jersey will not be good this time as there's nothing to see in Atlantic because of the hurricane. and thanks for all comments your right We'll just find bargains in NYC.
We just had 5 days to see the other state aside from NYC so we just want to make the most out of it. Hope you can help me. Also my big concern is we have baggages that we'll carry as we tour other states since we don't have any relatives in the east cost. Also we don't have a car so we're using public transportation cost is also not a big deal as long as it's worth it.
Thanks ahead guys!
Yeah were 5 in a family 2 parents and 3 kids all girls at teenage years (19,18,16)
We're traveling all the way from the Philippines, so I hadn't much idea on touring east coast since we're always on the west coast side. Our big problem is we only had 10 days to tour east coast including new york, and I'm planning to have 5 days in NYC so it gives us only 5 days to tour other states. We're interested in sightseeing places and famous attractions, quaint towns but also doing activities like shopping since we're all girls but it's not our big priority and also we're interested on doing unique activities of that city(more on seeing/feeling their culture). But we're not that fan of museums.
I understand it's impossible to see everything so now we're just prioritizing washington DC and Niagara Falls since the kids love to see the falls but if its impossible to go there with our time frame it's also fine, we'll just consider other places.
Based from all your suggestions I think visiting New Jersey will not be good this time as there's nothing to see in Atlantic because of the hurricane. and thanks for all comments your right We'll just find bargains in NYC.
We just had 5 days to see the other state aside from NYC so we just want to make the most out of it. Hope you can help me. Also my big concern is we have baggages that we'll carry as we tour other states since we don't have any relatives in the east cost. Also we don't have a car so we're using public transportation cost is also not a big deal as long as it's worth it.
Thanks ahead guys!
Apr 16th, 2013, 03:40 AM
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I would suggest you concentrate on NYcity and DC. Both have excellent public transportation and you can leave the luggage in the hotel while you tour the cities. There is service by train, plane and bus between the cities.
If the 10 days includes travel you will find plenty to do in the remaining time in those two cities. If you want a little nature you could take a boat trip around NY harbors or rent bicycles and pedal from DC out to great falls of the Potomac.
If the 10 days includes travel you will find plenty to do in the remaining time in those two cities. If you want a little nature you could take a boat trip around NY harbors or rent bicycles and pedal from DC out to great falls of the Potomac.
Apr 16th, 2013, 05:48 AM
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Agree on NYC and DC - each is worth at least 5 days. If interested in American history try to spend a day in Philadelphia - site of the Liberty Bell and where the Continental Congress met during the Revolution against the British.
IMHO Amtrack is the most comfy way to travel and you can get discounts if you buy tickets in advance. The bargain buses - Bolt or Mega bus (but NOT the chinatown buses which are unsafe and unreliable, one was recently shut down for numerous accidents including deaths) offer very cheap fares if you buy early enough. But then you are subject to delays from accidents, traffic and/or bad weather.
Unfortunately the White House is now closed to foreign visitors but the Capital (where the houses of Congress sit) is still open - but do get tickets as far in advance as possible.
IMHO Amtrack is the most comfy way to travel and you can get discounts if you buy tickets in advance. The bargain buses - Bolt or Mega bus (but NOT the chinatown buses which are unsafe and unreliable, one was recently shut down for numerous accidents including deaths) offer very cheap fares if you buy early enough. But then you are subject to delays from accidents, traffic and/or bad weather.
Unfortunately the White House is now closed to foreign visitors but the Capital (where the houses of Congress sit) is still open - but do get tickets as far in advance as possible.
Apr 16th, 2013, 06:17 AM
#19
Depending on what hotel you choose you may not need to hire a tour guide. Union Station is within walking distance of the Capitol building. Walking the length of the National Mall and seeing any of the Smithsonian buildings that interest you would be a good plan.
If your hotel has a concierge, he/she should be able to give good guidance.
If your hotel has a concierge, he/she should be able to give good guidance.
Apr 16th, 2013, 09:06 AM
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Haven't finalize any hotels yet. I know we're in a bit rush but trying to finalize everything this week.
Can you suggest any good hotels near on the main attractions sites so it will be very accessible to us?
Thanks nytraveler considering Amtrack as our option since we also value time. But by problem is with the baggage cause the time I choose to be back to NYC doesn't offer baggage service. Is it possible to pay for the baggages even that train doesn't have service?
Can you suggest any good hotels near on the main attractions sites so it will be very accessible to us?
Thanks nytraveler considering Amtrack as our option since we also value time. But by problem is with the baggage cause the time I choose to be back to NYC doesn't offer baggage service. Is it possible to pay for the baggages even that train doesn't have service?
