Kylie4

Hi!

My husband and I are plannning to drive from East Haddam, Connecticut to New York (Manhattan, 49th Street). We have never driven in that area and I was hoping to get some tips so we don't get lost or into too much trouble.

1. We are driving on Monday, October 10th, which is the Columbus Day holiday. There will be a Columbus Day Parade on 5th Avenue from around 11:30am. Any tips on the best route into Manhattan?

2. We are hoping to leave in the morning and reach Manhattan before the parade. Any suggestions on the time we should leave East Haddam to avoid traffic and get into Manhattan?

3. Any time estimates on how long it should take to drive from East Haddam to Manhattan?

Any other tips/suggestions are appreciated (ie, somewhere for breakfast along the way).

Thank you!

J62

Have you considered driving to New Haven, Bridgeport or Norwalk, then taking the train into Manhattan? It would save you the hassle of finding parking in Manhattan, navigating with street closures, etc.

Kylie4

Yes, we considered taking the train, but we needed the car to drive around Connecticut anyway. We will be dropping off the car to the rental place in Manhattan.

mclaurie

Where on 49th st, east or west? My best suggestions are

1. use mapquest.com for directions. I don't know if it's the best route, but they basically direct you on 95 which I know has loads of traffic. They estimate the trip at 2 hrs 25 mins. Not necessarily saying to follow them

2. Assuming you need the westside, the parade is on Fifth Ave., starts around 44 st I think and goes up to 86th st. You will be entering the city on the eastside much north of there via the Triborough bridge. You'll then get onto the FDR drive. I'd get off the drive at 96th st and go across the park there to the westside so you don't really have to go near the parade. Head south on whatever avenue is closest to where you have to go.

If you need to get to east 49th, tell us where.

Kylie4

We will actually heading to Broadway at W. 49th Street. (Sorry, I forgot that there was a difference between West and East for the streets.) Someone mentioned that I should be using the Lincoln Tunnel.

J62

There are many ways into Manhattan from CT, but Lincoln tunnel sure isn't one of them. That crosses the Hudson River from NJ.

Jenski

I used to live on 49th St. East 49th that is! I agree about Lincoln Tunnel-no way! Go south on the FDR and get off at the E. 49th St. location and either park there (there is a parking garage right off the exit) and take the bus across town (there is a stop right by the garage across 1st Ave at 49th St. or walk. I wouldn't bother driving across town and then parking but it's not that big of a deal. I wouldn't worry about traffic on a holiday Monday (except for late afternoon/early evening when people are coming back into the city).

jlm_mi

Jenski - It doesn't sound like Kylie wants to park the car at all - they are returning it to the rental agency in Manhattan.

Kylie - You've gotten good advice about driving in, but I'd still like to second the advice about taking the train in from New Haven or one of the other cities J62 mentioned. Many of those cities also have rental car drop-off locations, so you could leave the car there instead of in Manhattan. I don't know what train tickets cost, but probably not much more than $10 each, which isn't much to save the headache of driving into Manhattan, especially if parade-route road closures could be an issue.

starrsville

I've picked up a car in the area and driven OUT of the city, but I'm with the others and would recommend returning the car somewhere outside he city and taking the train in.

Kylie4

Hi everyone. Thank you all very much for your suggestions. I am taking a look at the train idea again. I must admit that it is a bit confusing for me. If I am reading the website correctly, I should be able to take the Metro North train from New Haven to Grand Central Station.

1. Is Grand Central station the closest train station to Broadway/W. 49th Street?

2. If so, is it feasible to pull our luggage (2 suitcases, 1 carry-on) from Grand Central to my hotel? (Wouldn't I run into the Columbus Day parade in between?)

3. Is there a better train from Hartford, CT to Manhattan? (Better meaning cheaper, more direct route, or closer arrival station to hotel.)

Sorry, I am trying to figure this out, but I haven't been very successful. My husband is rather skeptical of the train idea because he knows my suitcase is usually heavy.

Thanks!

HowardR

1. I would recommend NOT taking the train. First of all, it's a pain with luggage. Second, Grand Central is on the east side (Park Ave. & 42nd St.). This would be about a mile from your destination. Thus, with luggage, you would most likely want a cab. And this would be a tough thing with the parade in your path! (If you are married to taking a train, then catch an Amtrak from New Haven. It stops in Penn Station--33rd & 7th. From there it's an easy cab ride to 49th.)
2. It seems silly to go so far out of your way to Hartford for a train, especially since you probably wouldn't save any money. In fact, it would probably cost more.
3. I would drive in and totally avoid the east side. Instead, follow I-95 all the way down, across the Cross Bronx Expressway, exiting on the West Side Drive (the last exit before the George Washington Bridge). Follow the West Side Drive down to 50th or 48th Street. Since 49th is one way going west, you can't drive down there from the West Side Drive. Exactly where on 49th are you going? Answer that question and I'll tell you the best way to get there from 50th or 48th.

Kylie4

Hi Howard!

Thank you for the information.

I am trying to get to the Crowne Plaza Hotel--Manhattan, which is located at 1605 Broadway between W. 49th & W. 48th streets.

Thanks!

jlm_mi

Howard - You would not go to Hartford for the Metro North train. You'd go to New Haven, or other cities along the southern and western edge of Connecticut, not out of the way at all coming from East Haddam.

I would think Amtrak would be prohibitively expensive.

I also don't think I understand why it would be difficult to take a cab due to the parade, but not difficult to drive in due to the parade. Wouldn't a cab driver know better how to avoid the parade route than someone who's completely unfamiliar with the city?

HowardR

jlm_mi, of course, I know that Metro North doesn't go to Hartford. I was responding to Kylie4's question about taking a train from Hartford.
As for taking a cab crosstown on parade days, you obviously have not tried to drive crosstown on those days. There are residual backups evevywhere in the midtown area. At least, if you are coming in from all the way over on the west, the traffic is not as heavy.
Kylie 4, to get to the Crowne Plaza, take a right on 50th street off the West Side Drive and go to Seventh Avenue and take a right. The hotel will be at your right.

HowardR

Ooops, I mean take a left off the West Side Drive at 50th Street. If you take a right, you'll end up in the Hudson River!

nytraveler

Taking the train is NOT a good idea for you . The only trains from CT come into Grand Central (East Side) and you need to drop on West Side, You can;t drag your luggage all the way over through the parade crowds - which would mean using the subway - lots of stairs and passageways - a bit fat mess.

Drive the car into Manhattan and get over to the West side as soon as possible to avoid parade traffic. (The parade ends on 86th street but the whole east side is full of buses that have brought people in- so you're best avoiding it completely.)

I would get from 95 over to the Merritt Parkway as soon as possible, which becomes the Hutch in Westcheste. Then take the Cross County Parkway west to the Saw Mill, which becoms the Henry Hudson parkway, which becomes the West Side highway. You have avoided all the truck traffic and come into the city farthest from the parade. (You're not going to get here before the parade traffic - buses start arriving by 8am.) I would allow about 2 1/2 hours for the trip - more like 3 1/2 in rush hour.

HowardR

nytraveler's alternate route is a good one. I confess that I was giving the directions that are easiest to follow!

QC

Hooray! Lots of wrong information from nytraveler as usual.

Amtrak service from Hartford, CT (as well as everywhere else in Connecticut) pulls into PENN STATION, on the west side.

Two one-way tickets on 10/10 costs $98. If you leave from New Haven it's $58. This is much more expensive than Metro-North but how much is your time and stress worth? It is trivial to get from Penn Station to you hotel- an easy, cheap cab ride with no parade traffic or driving headaches.

It took me three seconds to find that out on Amtrak.com

So, the only trains from CT come into the east side, except, of course, for the ones that come into the west side. Good work as usual on the Fodors boards.

nytraveler

QC -

The only problem is that they need to drop a rental car on the west side - hard to do from a train.

jlm_mi

nytraveler - The entire concept of taking the train involves dropping the car off in Connecticut instead of in NYC.

But I think I'm confused here. Is the hotel at Broadway and W. 49th? Or is it the rental car drop-off location? Or both? It just seemed strange to me that they would be headed to Broadway and W. 49th to drop off the car, and would also need to go there with luggage from the train station (so, no car to drop off).