NeoPatrick

We're spending a long weekend going to Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Ct., Providence, and Newport. We need to be at Goodspeed for a matinee on Saturday. It now ends up my husband is working in Hoboken on Friday, so rather than return home that night to Western NJ, I'll go into NYC for the day with him and we'll leave from Hoboken after work (4:30). Time is not an issue as we'll only be about 3 and a half hours from Goodspeed. I'm looking for a place maybe just north out of Hoboken so we'd be on our way, stay at a relatively inexpensive place (Hyatt Places are kind of a favorite or midlevel Marriotts) but somewhere to have a really nice dinner, breakfast and then be on our way Saturday morning.

I guess I'm looking for someone to say something like -- oh there's a really great restaurant with really fun atmosphere overlooking the Hudson next to a Marriott Courtyard at _____ less than hour on your way north. Or something like that.

An alternative is staying in Jersey City at the Hyatt Regency that night (great rate with breakfast) and then just heading out Saturday morning. And of course we could easily just take the Path into the city for dinner somewhere, or is there a great suggestion right at Exchange Place?

nyer

Are you only thinking of spending Friday night staying closer to Hoboken, or are you also considering spending the night near East Haddam? There are many Marriot Courtyards and equivalents in the area south of Hartford, so that's an option if you would do the driving on Friday night, Not sure if you're interested in any museums or other activities before the matinee at Goodspeed, but if you stay overnight in CT, you be able to go to Hill-Stead in Farmington or the New Britain Museum of American Art.

Fra_Diavolo

Not on the Hudson, but less than a half-hour drive from the Tappan Zee Bridge, is a quite good restaurant known as Esty Street. http://www.estystreet.com/ (Caution -- annoying website with music. Turn off sound.) This is about 45 minutes from Hoboken.

Nearby (minutes away) is the Park Ridge Marriott http://www.marriott.com/hotels/trave...idge-marriott/ showing a rate of $149 Friday nights in June, $109 in July. A few more minutes will take you to a Hilton http://www3.hilton.com/en/hotels/new...IHF/index.html.

Note that there can be delays on I-95 on Saturday mornings heading north, as the beach rentals in Rhode Island and Cape Cod run Saturday to Saturday. I'd get an early start.

NeoPatrick

Hmmm. We're thinking of just driving to Greenwich on Friday. Good deal at the Hyatt Regency there. Restaurants? Looking at Applausi.

NeoPatrick

Thanks both for your comments. It does seem a good point about traffic on Saturday (not that it will be a piece of cake Friday evening rush hour either). Ct. Is a good idea. Then poke our way along on Saturday.

DebitNM

If you are going to stay in Greenwich, eat in Port Chester at Mario Batali's Tarry Lodge - it's wonderful.

http://www.mariobatali.com/restaurants_tarry_lodge.cfm

NeoPatrick

Debit, finally getting back to this. Yes, we did book the Hyatt at Old Greenwich. Looked at Tarry Lodge which looks like fun. The menu is sort of Otto and sort of Lupa, both are favorites of ours foodwise. Is it a big bustling noisy place? Particularly on a Friday night?