Hi,

My mom is visiting New York in the middle of this month. This is her second visit and she saw most of the city last time. She wants to see something different this time. I'm planning on taking her for a day trip for sightseeing, somewhere closer to the city (less than 2 hour drive).

Are there any scenic areas near New York? Long Island? Upstate New York? CT? and what to see and to do over there. Please advise. Thanks.

Are there any scenic areas near NYC????

WOW! Where to begin!!

......OK. Any ideas for what she would like to see/do? (Whew!)

Here is a recent thread on Quaint towns in NY, NJ and PA. Some will be w/in 2 hour drive I think. Maybe not the PA ones unless the Pocono area is mentioned.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...1&tid=35153513

If she enjoys gardens and great houses, take her to Kykuit, the Rockefeller estate upstate. There used to be a cruise you could take up the Hudson to get there (I think Nywaterway.com did it) but not sure that's still being done. I know you can buy a day trip package from Metro North train that includes transportation and entry to Kykuit.
http://www.mta.info/mnr/html/outbound.htm

If she's into wine, a day trip to the North Fork on Long Island to visit some vineyards can be nice.

She likes "natures". So some places with beatiful scenary like a "Must See" for out-of-towners. I'm thinking about Hudson Valley (but not sure what to do there), Mystic, CT, etc. New Port Rhode Island is an ideal place, where there are views and mansions to see, however it's a bit too far and requires overnight.......so please help!

Newport is too far for an easy day-trip (it's do-able, and I have done it, but it's very tiring).

The Hudson Valley is beautiful; so is Bear Mountain; both are within easy striking distance of the city.

The crucial question you don't mention is whether you will have a car. If not, then you're going to be limited to certain places you can get to by train or ferry, and that definitely limits your choices.

Without a car, I'd suggest checking to see if any of the Metro North weekend excursions are still running; they're real packages.

There are also hiking tours with Hikes Tours. I've never taken one of these, but they are bus tours that take you to some of the beautiful surrounding natural areas for a bit of hiking and include lunch. Prices seem to be around $80 per person; they leave early, though. I've thought of taking one of these myself, so if you go this route, please post a review. I really like the idea of these, and I see them handing out fliers near Grand Central quite often.

I mistyped. It's "Hines Tours" (hinestours.com). Sorry about that.

take her out to Montauk and the Hamptons on the eastern end of Long Island.

Beautiful place to be. Grew up in there.

I'd go north up the Hudson river to see both scenery and the beautiful homes like Hyde Park, Sleepy Hollow and others. Here's a site with some info:

http://www.hudsonriver.com/estates.htm

(silly me...I seel Mclaurie has actually made this recommendation, only I didn't know Sleepy Hollow was called Kykuit).

Also, there are probably lots of interesting things away from downtown New York that she may have missed on a previous trip...what about the Botanical Gardens (in the Bronx or Brooklyn), the Conservatory gardens in Central Park, or the Cloisters?

Thanks everyone for the responses.

Doug_Stallings, I do have car so are there other options? I checked out the website but not very crazy about the tours they have.

Kykuit is nice. I can take my mom to see gardens and houses. Is this place like Newport, RI where there are lots of beautiful houses or is there just one big house to visit?

there are several estates, but they are some distance apart. Take a look at the website I linked above to get an idea. Or do a search for Hudson River mansions and you will find several sites with info.

f you go to Hyde Park on the Hudson River, you can visit FDR's home; Eleanor Roosevelt's home, Valkill; and a Vanderbilt mansion, all quite near one another. And then have a meal at the Culinary Institute of America in the same town.

My aversion to driving is showing due to driving alot in the NYC area (hey, you try driving in this area for 20+ years - it wears on you), but there's alot within a *1* hour drive from NYC.

I'd second the Bear Mountain area suggestion. Even closer is Rockland Lake State park. Take a quick stroll around the lake. You can drive around the Tappan Zee bridge area (45 min from CP) and admire the views. There's a great view of New York from the south side of the GW bridge.

If you drive up 9 on the East side of the river, there are a million places to just stop and look around. Small towns, antique stores, views, lakes, etc...

If you have a car, I'd head toward Poughkeepsie. The big estates are up there, and I've been to at least 4 of them. FDR's home and presidential library is there, as is Eleanor Roosevelt's. The Vanderbilt mansion is not far. I think these are all several miles further up the river than Kykuit, but I'm not sure how far. The geography of the Hudson Valley eludes me.

If your Mom likes fine dining, you could arrange a lunch at the Culinary Institute of America (reservations required, and it's dressy). You could combine that with a visit to a couple of homes.

If you want something more bucolic, then go further. If you are willing to drive about 2-1/2 hours, you can get to the area around Hudson. There are some historic homes there, a Shaker museum, and a great sheep farm where you can buy fresh sheep cheese and yogurt (though you can also buy this at Whole Foods). It's really beautiful up there, and Hudson itself is walkable, though not as pristine as Rheinbeck, which is about 20 miles south and another fine destination.

"This is her second visit and she saw most of the city last time."

This just struck me as funny. I lived in and around NYC most of my life and I still haven't seen "most of the city" In fact, every time I see the City it changes.

I went to the website of The Culinary Institute of America to make a reservation and there are four different restaurants: American Bounty, Caterina de' Medici, Escoffier, and St. Andrew's Cafe. Which one is highly recommended? Did anyone go to the French Culinary School in Soho? Is CIA like this as well, student cooking under teacher's supervision? or is it better?

I'm now leaning toward Hyde Park to visit a few mansions and lunch @ CIA. I notice that all these mansions require admission fees. Is it worth buying tickets to see inside of the house or can we just appreciate them from outside and go to more different mansions?

I also did some research online and found Mystic, CT appears to be a cute little town to visit. Has anyone visited this place before and would recommend it?

Thanks.

The CIA is THE top culinary school in the US, so the student run restaurants are really something special.

Yes, you really do need to tour the houses. It's not like in Newport, RI where they are all lined up on a street and you can just pass by. Some allow you onto the grounds for free, others charge for that too. Not terribly expensive,
(Kykuit , closer to NYC, the Rockefeller mansion is much more expensive, and tours need to be booked in advance. You actually go to the house by shuttle bus from another area, so it all takes more time, too)

If you are in the Hyde Park area for the CIA, I would recommend seeing Springwood (FDR house, museum/library($14) and The Vanderbilt Mansion(tour is $8) as a contrast (much grander)

Driving through the Hudson Valley is much more scenic than the drive to Mystic. Mystic is far, but it is a quaint town. I know alot of people like to visit it because of the movie, but other than that, you'd get more out of the HV. And the pizza, in my opinion is overrated.

re:CIA. The restaurant in soho offers pretty good food but the restaurant was relatively small.
I took my husband to the CIA in the HUdson some years ago and we thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
We took a tour of the beautiful building where the restaurants were, we came across cooking classes where you could watch through the glass windows. The students were having so much fun it made us want to take classes there too. I actually took a class in CIA soho before. The atmosphere at the hudson was very special and very inspiring.
Follow the smell you will find a bakery (in the main building) where people sit and have a nice soup but we love the sandwiches and the cakes so we did a takeout and had a nice picnic at the vandabelt estate (a short distance away) one day and the other day we drove around (it was autumn foliage time) and did some antique shopping. We had a sit down 3 course lunch at the cafe (could be andrew) one day (I remember going in a different building) it was pretty good. We had dinners at the french and the Italian restaurants. The dining rooms were spacious(coming from NYC, space is such an issue and a rare commodity) The atmosphere was formal but not stuffy and no phony french accent. The food was as good the top restaurants here in the big apple and much less expensive. The wine list was good and reasonable.
I enjoyed talking to the waitresses who were graduating students and they said they loved being there.
We had a great time.