My mom and I are looking to get out of town for a day or two, and are thinking about either the Jersey Shore, the Poconos or the Catskills (and possibly the Hudson Valley or Long Island). Cape May was my first choice, but I think it might be a bit far (we'd like to spend under 2 hrs each way on the road). Does anybody have any suggestions? We're looking for something serene (quiet beach or lake, or a quaint town), maybe w/ a little shopping (my mom loves antiques). I'm open to pretty much anything - just don't know where to begin. (For a native NYer, I'm remarkably ignorant about these things.) Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Cold Spring, NY is great...it's only a little over an hour north of the city. You could even take Metro North there if you don't mind the short walk (5 blocks or so) to Main Street, where everything is.

Cold Spring is a quaint little town on a hill overlooking the Hudson. It's full of cute antique and craft shops. It had been untouched by any of the chain stores (like Starbucks,etc.) It has an old train depot that has been turned into an outdoor cafe, often with live Louisiana-style music.

It's also great just hanging out by the river at the end of Main Street, watching the boats go by.

I've been here with my parents many, many times...I think you two would enjoy it! There's not enough in this one town to require an overnight stay...a day trip will suffice.

I suggest a trip to the Rhinebeck, New York area...it' s under 2 hours and along the way you can stop in Hyde Park and visit the Vanderbilt mansion, the Roosevelt home, Eleanor Roosevelt's hideaway, and others...Rhinebeck has lovely little stores to browse in and restaurants...the Beekman Arms is there and it's a historical landmark where you can have a nice meal...there's a b&b in the area called Jennie's that you might want to check out.

For quaint towns, my wife and I always head to Bucks county, PA; there's a number of great antique shops along the River Road (delaware River road). And New hope, & Peddler's village has some great antique shopping.
No great beaches, but nice views of Delaware River and Delaware Canal - very scenic.
JK

I would suggest going to the Catskills. There are many beautiful small towns, but you will need a car. If you are looking to stay in a chain hotel (Ramada Inn, Holiday Inn etc) then you will probably want to book one in Kingston. But many of the small towns have bed & breakfast rooms. While in the area you can travel to Woodstock and Saugerties which have some wonderful shops. Saugerties has some nice antique stores. Also from Kingston you can head up Route 28 and hit some nice towns along the Esopus.

You may also want to check out Mohonk Mountain in New Paltz. I think the hotel on the mountain is expensive but they have a lot of nice hiking trails.

Here's a vote for Long Island, specifically the North Shore from Oyster Bay east along Route 25A.

Start in Oyster Bay and tour Teddy Roosevelt's Sagamore Hill home. Then take in Oyster Bay town.

Go east (~10 minutes) to Cold Spring Harbor, nice B&B and a couple of very good resturants, whaling museum, home of Cold Spring Labs, shopping and quaint village.

East (~5 minutes) to Huntington Village for historical sites, plenty of shops, resturants.

~10minutes east of Huntington is Northport, yet another nice village (movie was filmed there), right on Northport Bay. Stop at "The Shack" on 25A for great clams, chowder, etc. Don't mind the "bikers", they're the "yuppie" variety.

Woodstock, Saugerties and New Paltz are nice areas. I would agree with the previous poster, Mohonk Mt. and Miliwaska Lake (might not have spelled that correctly) in New Paltz are really pretty. I just went to Rhode Island for a long weekend, took 4 hours. Mystic, CT might be nice, but it's also about 2.5 hours. I hear that you can take a ferry from Port Jefferson (Long Island) to Conneticut (not exactly sure what the drop off area is). Have fun!

I've gone to Cold Spring and Rhinebeck a number of times. Actually, the Cold Spring train station isn't really 5 blocks away from the main street. It's pretty much right there. There are plenty of stores/shop that run up and down the little hill, including a cute little B&B. and there's a hotel right on the river. I'm not sure how far in advance you'd need to make reservations for these. It's great for a day trip, for a couple of days I'd take a car, there's plenty to see in the area.

Rhinebeck has been getting more and more developed over the years and has quite the young urban professional presence now. The last time we went to the Beekman Arms restaurant it was a little unpleasant and the food wasn't as good as usual. The inn has nice rooms, some with fireplaces, but you do need to book months in advance.

We've stayed at Jennys country kitchen and it was comfortable with a nice breakfast. Had a little kitchenette. Not as nice as the Beekman. It's in Red Hook, just a couple of miles away.

The area is wonderful, with lots of old mansions to tour. Go to Olanna if you can. The view is spectacular.

My husband and I just got back from a weekend trip to the Hudson Valley (Rhinebeck, Millbrook and Amenia). It could definitely be a day trip if you wanted to (and then I would suggest Rhinebeck). However, we did some wine tasting at the vineyards in Millbrook and Amenia (it's called the Dutchess Wine Trail - www.dutchesswinetrail.com) - lots of fun!!!!!

If you go to Millbrook don't miss the Innisfree Garden. The road that leads to it is easy to miss (small sign). And there's a gate that leads to a small parking area. It's really beautiful.

Definitely go to Oyster Bay - it's lovely