DC, NY and Boston
 

I am planning a trip to the east coast with my parents who are in their mid 60s and my 29 year old brother in mid November. We are planning on flying from LAX to DC, taking the train from DC to NY, taking the train from NY to Boston.

We do not have a specific itinerary yet. All we know for sure is that we have 6 days to see everything we can without feeling rushed. We are planning on flying from LAX to DC in the afternoon of November 16th and flying back to LAX on the 22nd, arriving at 8pm at the latest.

Do you think we have enough time to see DC, NY and Boston or just skip Boston altogether? Our original plan is only to go to DC and NY, but thought we might have enough time to Boston and make the most of our trip.

Any ideas and suggestions on the itinerary would be greatly appreciated. In NY, we want to see central park, ellis island, statue of liberty, wall street and empire state building. We also want to see the new broadway show Allegiance. In DC, we want to see the white house and the capitol. We don't have anything in particular that we want to see in Boston. We are not so much into visiting museums.

Six days is not enough time to see all three cities, especially with travel time.
In NYC, be sure to book tickets to SOL and Ellis Island from the official seller www.statuecruises.com. Do it as soon as you know what date you want, as tickets can sell out.
I don't know if Allegiance will be available, but sites for discounted Broadway show tickets include playbill, theatermania, and broadwaybox.

Three major cities in 6 six days sounds pretty rushed. I would go with your original plans and split your time between DC and NYC. And even better if you could arrange to fly into one city and out of the other.

Might be worth noting that you are traveling the weekend prior to Thanksgiving. Once your dates are set for visiting, do not delay in getting your train tickets as Amtrak will be slammed with college students traveling the eastern corridor home for the holiday.

Nor sure where your interests lie other than not being esp. interested in museums, but in DC you might consider Arlington Cemetery, Mount Vernon, a tour of the monuments on the National Mall, Archives, Ford's Theater, National and Smithsonian art galleries. And given that many of the museums are clustered on the National Mall and have no admission fee, you could drop into see something iconic like the Star Spangled Banner without devoting hours to the visit.

Pick two cities. The train trip from NYC to Boston is about 4 to 4.5 hours and that will cut significantly into your time on the ground.

And if you're not interested in museums, walking the Mall in DC will keep you plenty busy with monuments, memorials, etc.

With only 6 full days, I'd definitely stick to w out of the three cities --- you will easily fill your time, there's so much to see and do in all of them.

I agree with everyone else. I would add that you could pass 6 days in any one of those cities very happily, never running out of things to do but not feeling rushed, either. But three is crackers!

I would skip Boston.

You definitely do not have time to visit all three of these cities in the time you have for this trip. In fact, it's going to be a rushed trip just trying to squeeze in D.C. and NYC. Here's an itinerary that would work:

Nov. 16th --Arrive D.C. in afternoon. Dinner and walk around monuments (They look so great when lit up at night)
Nov. 17-- DC
Nov. 18 -- DC, evening departure on train for NYC
Nov. 19 --NYC
Nov. 20 -- NYC
Nov. 21 -- NYC
Nov. 22 -- morning only in NYC in order to give you enough time to get to airport for a flight that gets you back to LAX by 8pm.

If you think you'd enjoy spending more time in DC than NYC, then leave for NYC on the evening of Nov. 19th instead. It all depends on your interests, but keep in mind that nearly all of the attractions in DC are free and nearly none of them in NYC are.

Unless you are taking the Ocela Express (Amtrak), the trip from DC to New York will eat up half a day. Factor that time into your plans.

The Amtrak Acela train from DC to NYC takes about 3 hours. The regular Amtrak which is considerably less expensive takes about 3.5 hours. Agree that you should book as soon as possible not only due to busy time, but also lower fares have more availability the further out you book.

Also be sure to look for senior fares for your parents if you can't get the saver fare which is $52.

Thank you so much for all the response. I really appreciate it.

If you want to walk around the monuments at night, I'd recommend the free tour offered by DC by Foot. http://www.freetoursbyfoot.com/washington-dc-tours

All their tours are tip-based, so you can give your guide whatever you think the tour was worth at the end of your time together. We did the nighttime monuments tour a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it.

Lee Ann