Greg_Australia

Australian family touring in Canada and NE USA. Don't like the idea of driving in NY so wonder where is a good place to drop-off the hire car? Looking at our map - Hartford or New Haven, CT look to be good options. However, we're not sure about the ease and cost of public transport into NY (Manhattan). Any advice please?

gb944

Try one of the airports, Newark or JFK. You could then take the PATH airtrain to the subway (JFK) or Amtrak (Newark).

nytraveler

Getting to one of the airports would involve you in much of the hideous NYC traffic - I don;t recomment it.

I would pick New Haven - which has very good train service to Manhattan (off peak trains run every hour or so and take about 2 hours to get to Grand Central). Hartford does not have good train service to NYC.

NeoPatrick

We've vacationed in New England several times with rental cars which we've dropped off at LaGuardia, before spending time in the city. I always thought the approach to return a car there was very easy, coming from the north -- all expressway, well marked and easy to follow.

nytraveler

Getting to LGA from the north is not that complicated. but - depending on time of day - it can be interminable (I have had it take more than 4 hours from New Haven to LGA).

And - if you really want Manhattan - why not take the easy way out and dumpt the train in New Have - and arrive in the center of the city?

mclaurie

From where exactly will you be coming before NYC? How many of you in this family? From where are you renting the car? Have you considered drop off fees?

Pausanias

My advice is to find the return site nearest to your hotel in the city and drop the car there. I'm thinking that a few minutes of hassle is better than schlepping luggage around small cities, airports and trains. New Haven and Hartford are probably harder to drive in than NY. And, as someone noted, by the time you reach the airports, you've already survived the worst NY can throw at you.

It is very easy to find your way in NYC, as one glance at the grid pattern should reveal. Presumably, you're not driving below 14th Street. For the East Side take the Triborough Bridge and get on FDR south. For the West Side, head for the George Washington Bridge and take the last exit in NY (prominently signed on the right), and head downtown on the Henry Hudson Parkway.

Drivers, particularly cabbies, can be aggressive, but just take your time. Double parking can slow traffic on cross streets. Pedestrians seem to love to slow drivers down. Grin and bear it, soon you will be a pedestrian, too!

Greg_Australia

Thanks to everyone for the great ideas. We're starting our trip in Dallas, heading across through Blue Ridge Mts, Virginia, and up to DC, then head up to Canada, looping back into US and heading down the coast to CT and then NYC. The one way drop-off fee is already factored in and at $199 USD is not too bad! Tough choice heading in to NYC - traffic, cabbies etc or the hassles of waiting for trains, carting luggage, etc. Thanks again, you guys are great!

Elainee

Drive into the city. It will not be as bad as you think. How great to drive up to the hotel and have them take the luggage up to the room. Avis and Hertz have offices all over the city.

clarkgriswold

You can save probably $200 by picking up the car in downtown Dallas or in Plano, rather than at the airport.

mclaurie

Drive into Manhattan. Finding a drop off in Ct. and taking the train with all your luggage will be a pain. If you absolutely positively don't want to do it, drop the car at La Guardia airport. It's not far from Manhattan and you can take a taxi.

mp

the day of the week and time of day will have some impact on your experience - if you say, arrive in NYC on a weekend morning, you will be probably be pleasantly surprised - it's no more difficult than most city driving, and in fact, because of the simple grid layout of most of Mnahattan, much easier. Street traffic almost never goes faster than 30 MPH - the traffic lights are timed for that speed. Plan your approach for a quiet time of day (avoid rush hour - 6:30AM to 10:00AM and 3:30 PM to 7:30 PM Monday thru Friday, don't be afraid to ask questions or directions, and you should be OK.

nytraveler

Which hotel will you be staying at? And have you checked to see f there's a car rental office nearby. (If you're on the upper west side it's easy - little traffic, you can get right off the highway ad there are several car rental offices (you do;t say which agency you're using).

But - if you're talking midtown, where lots of streets don;t allow turns at certain hours and traffic can be a real bear (crosstown is often no more than 5/10 mph) and the rental office is far from the hotel - then I wold be more likely to tke a train.

Getting into Grand Cenrtal (versus Penn station) is easy and grabbing a cab from the line to get to your hotel is not an issue.

gb944

From your itinerary, it looks like you might be driving through or near Boston.

If you do, and you survive that, then driving in NYC will be a breeze.

basingstoke2

As others have said, driving in Manhattan can be slow - very slow, but it is not difficult. Avoid weekday rush hours and you will be ok. Above 14th st. the Manhattan layout is for the most part a grid with avenues running north-south and numbered streets east-west. With some exceptions,e.g., 14th, 34th, 42nd, 57th etc. the streets are one way alternating in direction. You may be slowed by traffic but you are unlikely to get lost. Any time you lose in traffic will be far less than the time you lose in bothering with trains.

johngerard

I had same fears as you - picked car up outside New York but found that it was worst thing I'd done. Returning I gambled on driving into New York. Alamo was at West 77th & driving to it from I95 was a doddle. Driving I95 to New York was not - travelled 1/4 mile in 2 hours. Make sure you get satnav as I will be getting it this year.
Looking at how far you will have gone before New York you should have no problem. In New York just remember pedestrians have right of way at traffic lights.