I believe it is about a 10 hour drive from Cleveland (east side suburb) to East Falmouth on the Cape. Any driving tips along the way, is it an easy drive???? Tips for Labor Day weekend traffic?

Our plan would be to leave Thursday evening and stop maybe in Utica or Albany for some sleep and then leave early Friday morning to get to the Cape. We'd like to get there pretty early to beat the traffic (suggested time?).

Also, how does one go about finding hotels that are near the highway? Do you have to search by a city or is there a site where I can put in I-90 and the approximate location? I've never really done a road trip before so I'm clueless in this area.

Thanks.

http://www.nysthruway.gov/index.shtml

This is the site for I-90 through New York. You can also go to AAA and create a Trip Tik for your trip and find lodging along the way. We are driving from Grand Rapids, MI to Cape Cod leaving Aug 3. We plan to stay at the Comfort Inn in Albany on our first night (second night we will be in Boston before going to Cape). I wanted something cheap. I was surprised that the Hampton Inn level hotels were closer to $150.00.
Good luck!

It is a 4/5 hour drive from Albany/Utica to Falmouth. Traffic Labor Day weekend to Cape Cod will start Thursday and build thru Friday - so really, really early may be helpful - like 5 AM. Many people work 1/2 day on that Friday, so try to get there before noon and make sure you have route that will not take you thru Boston rush hour.

It's almost 700 miles. You can't do it in 10 hours.

If you leave Albany early Friday morning, it'll still take you almost 4 hours to get to the Cape. You just need to get there as early as possible on Friday, as traffic will be horrid by late Friday.

In fact, if there are two or more of you driving, and you have a place to get to on the Cape, you may want to just drive straight there.

I strongly recommend that you make reservations for your stayover Thursday night.

Thanks for the tips so far...

AmyCal, what rate did you get for the Comfort Inn?

gail, we want to get to the Cape well before noon on Friday, more like 8am. How do we avoid Boston morning rush hour traffic?

rkkwan, mapquest tells me 10 hours and 45 min. My Friend who lives in Falmouth and has driven it before, tells me 10. I will plan for 11 though.

Check your route carefully. If you take I-495 South off of I-90 East, you will be a good 25 miles outside of Boston. There will be rush hour traffic between 7-9 AM, but not like it would be if you were in metro Boston.

Hubster has the correct route. Rte 495 is a loop interstate that is at least 20 miles from Boston - occasionally there are delays, but nothing like in immediate Boston area.

According to Mapquest Cleveland to Albany is 7+ hours. Leaving Thursday evening, that puts you into Albany well after midnight.

If you want to get to Cape at 8 AM as you state, then you need to leave Albany at about 3:30 AM. That does not allow much time for sleep.

You need to revise your times/expectations somewhat. Any chance you can leave earlier on Thursday?

This is not your exact itinerary but may give you an approximate idea. We recently drove from Chicago to Boston to Maine & back, with stops in Cleveland. We made it to Utica from Cleveland in about 4 - 5hrs. The most traffic we hit was around Buffalo, & this was a Saturday afternoon. We also had an Ipass/EZpass which made it abit quicker to go thru the toll boths on I-90. Since we were at the Rock & Roll Museum in Clevland on a Saturday morning & then drove after that, those 5 hrs, including a stop put as at Utica about 7pm. We stayed at the Radisson in downtown Utica. Good hotel & restaurant on site. But we would have made it much further then that from Cleveland, if we didn't go to the R&R first. The next morning, Sunday, leaving by about 9am, we got to Quincy,MA by about 1:30pm - 2pm. I am not positive, but depending on the traffic, Cape Cod could be 2 - 3 hrs drive past that. On the way back, we drove from Freeport,ME to Cleveland in about 10.5 to 11 hrs. That was about 750 miles.
Of course though, on the way back, were able to bypass the Boston traffic by using I-95, I-495, that did make a difference. We used detailed directions from the online triptik website for AAA. Worked well for us.

Forgot to tell you that we also had the travel guides from AAA for New York & MA, among others. It has most of the cities' hotels, but not all, listed in them. When we were within about 45 mins of Utica & figured that is where will stop for the night, while 1 person was driving, the other was looking in the AAA guide for hotels in Utica. The guide contains phone numbers as well as location, & we just used our cell phone & called from the car to first see if rooms were available & if so, then reserve it for that night. Also, there are blue road signs that start maybe a mile or less from the exit, that show what gas stations, restaurants & hotels are at that exit. Some things that I do if I want to look at websites ahead of time. I will go to any or all websites for the various chains, Best Western, Sheraton, Holiday Inn, Radisson, Marriott, Comfort Inn, Red Roof, etc, etc. & search for the city to see if they have hotels in that location. If they do have hotels, there is usually some type of map that accompanies the hotel info so you can see its location. Or another way is to google for, say: Hotels/lodging in Utica or Albany or wherever. & go from there.

It's 665 miles from my suburb to East Falmouth.

The earliest we could leave on Thursday would be about 5pm.

Cleveland to Utica - Bill says he did it in 4-5? Map quest says 5 hours and 45 min, but that could be off. That would put us here at about 10pm, which is fine.

Utica to the Cape - 306 miles, 5 hours. I guess realistically, the earliest we'd leave would be 4am, getting to the Cape at 9am (with no traffic).

I think this sort of a plan could work.

It would be better to drive as far as possible though the first night, into Albany. Is it ok to arrive at a hotel around midnight? I'm assuming that doesn't make a difference.

Also more information on the Ipass/EZpass? I got an estimate and it looks to be about $30 roundtrip for the NY portion of the trip. What would we expect for PA or MA, or a trip total in road fees?

Oh and thanks for all this really great roadtripping information. The AAA site seems to be the best, I was looking at that earlier on today.

And Bill, I saw your trip report earlier on and I noticed you went to the Waffle House off of 44. You mentioned that it looked new. It is! I'm thinking 2 years old if that. I actually live about 6 min from there.

But..I've never eaten there.

Amelie, we used mostly AAA trip tik & some Mapquest & they both said for us it would take about 10 hrs from Freeport, Me to Buffalo. We made it way into OH when the 10 hrs driving mark hit us. We were able to average close to 75mph on the highway. The Waffle House, all over various parts of the county, serve quick, inexpensive, sometimes greasy food. All types of omlettes, breakfast sandwiches, Patty melts, burgers etc. Plus hashbrowns, done your way. I get them scattered, covered, & smothered. & Sometimes also get a bowl of grits to go with it. The kids like it, we like it, & it fills you up for a decent price. Now it is not for everybody, I realize that, but we stop when there is one near us when we are hungry.

Our rate is $89 - I booked it through AAA. It is actually the Albany Clarion Hotel, not Comfort Inn.

Have a look at reviews on TripAdvisor for the Albany Clarion.

We often spend the night in the area on our way home from Niagara Falls, and finding a nice place to stay is quite the challenge.

You might want to consider the Econolodge in nearby Rensselaer (and rates are lower). It's not your typical Econolodge - very attractive inside and out.