We are going with to young adult daughters for 2 weeks to the East coast, planning to be a couple of days in NY and then head to the coast we want very nice places since they both are getting married next year and want to enjoy a special trip with them, there are so many places that we are at loss,New hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, Cape Code, etc. What are your suggestions??
The budget is kind of open, excluding the very very expensive places.
We enjoy the beaches little towns with art galleries, little shops to brouse. Some activities and time to enjoy the scenery.
Thanks

We have 2 whole weeks.
I think we should start making reservations soon.

Two weeks in one place seems like a long time. How about splitting up your time in two different places like Maine and Cape Cod. Or you could go few different places on Cape Cod and a week on The Vinyard? With the amount of time you have it would be doable. The only concern would be that most home or condo rentals would probably be on a weekly basis.

It sounds like a good idea, to go somewhere for 2 nights then rent a condo for a week and visit another town for 2 or 3 nights, the other thing could be to stay 2 or 3 nights and visit 5 places and end in maybe Boston?

When will you be going (most summer rentals are gone already - people starting renting in January at the latest) - so you may be better in resorts - than in a letover house.

Not sure what you mean by very, very expensive. If in a resort you are looking for two rooms I presume. What is your budget per room: $250? $400?

you could head up the coast north of boston and spend a couple nights in rockport or newburyport. then on into maine and stay somewhere central with day trips to all the cute towns.

or you could head out to the cape and martha's vineyard and nantucket and, possibly, hit newport too.

once you decide the towns, people can recommend places to stay.

A few thoughts - you may want to try and make your flight an 'open jaw' if possible - into New York and out of Portland Maine, Manchester NH, or even Boston. This will allow you to go further afield without having to worry about the long haul back to NYC. If you want to stay on the seacoast (New England also has beautiful mountains); 3-4 days on the Cape, a night or two in Boston, and 3-4 days on the Maine coast would be very nice. For spectacular beaches of every type, the Cape is hard to beat. Sure it gets crowded in the summer, but it's big enough that you can still find lots of tranquil places to unwind. Chatham, Wellfleet, Eastham and Dennis are very charming towns. The Maine coast also has some very nice sandy beaches in the southern part of the coast interspersed with rocky areas, lighthouses, and lots of lobster eateries.Towns in this area include York, Ogunquit,Wells, and the Kennebunks . As you drive up further, the scenery gets more rugged, with lots of picturesque harbors and rockbound shoreline. You may want to decide if you want to stay in motels, inns, b&b's, etc, and then do more research.

See my post under your "west" coast trip.

When is this trip happening? The Hamptons is a lovely beach area 2-3 hours east of NYC with 6 or so towns to explore and some of the most beautiful beaches in the country. It has been a slow rental season this year. Many homes that generally rent for the season have gone unrented and might consider a week or 2 week rental that otherwise wouldn't be available. I personally know of a number of nice houses that could be available. There are ofcourse also inns and b and bs if you don't want the responsiblity of a house.

You could spend a week in the Hamptons and then continue on elsewhere further north. There are 2 ferries from Long Island to Ct. that would get you further into New England. The island of Nantucket off Mass. is beautiful and also has what you describe.

I agree an open jaw ticket might work best. If you already have your ticket, maybe somewhere north first and then head back toward NY.

But you really have to give us some parameters of budget and whether you'd prefer inns/b and bs or renting homes.

Zootsi has the right idea for your trip! An alternate to flying from NYC, take the "fast track" train to Boston. From there rent a car and visit the Cape and go over to Martha's Vineyard. Drive north to Maine, staying in the former art colony village of Ogunquit--drive up and around Kennebunk & Kennebunkport. Then head north to Portland, Brunswick, Wiscasset, driving over and staying in Boothbay Harbor. Continue to head north through Rockland, Camden, Deer Isle with a definite stopover. Continue on up the beautiful coast of Maine to Bar Harbor and Acadia Nat'l Park. Stay here and take a day trip to Quoddy, where the sun first touches the eastern U.S. coast and Campobello. Make sure to take time to see Acadia and eat at Jordan's Pond!
Boston is a good place to stay for a few nights, as there are lots of good restaurants, art galleries & museums, parks, unique shopping, Harvard Square, etc.
Follow mine and Zootsi's recommend-
tions and you can't help but have a fantastic time!

Curious about what the 2 young adult daughters would enjoy, and where the 2 young adult future soninlaws fit in this? Posters have given you a ton of wonderful places to consider, but you need to be hasty as summer rentals fill up.

We are planning to go the last week of July and the first of august an the budget per room could be between 250 and 300 maybe ??????
the son in laws will stay home this time.
We think we would like to drive a couple of hours out of NY and stay somewhere maybe 3 nights and then drive another stretch and stay another 3 nights and so on. zootsi and matss have great advice please if possible let me know names of towns and possible places to stay thanks you've been great help

We've been looking at the places and maps and every place looks fantastic, what if we went somewhere in the Hamptons, then to Montawk it seems to have a ferry to New Port or Marthas Vineyard or both, then to Nantucket and Cape Code, maybe that is enough for a relaxed and interesting 2 week's vacation and maybe visit boston and maine next time.
Should we contact a local travel agency or make the trip by ouselves in the net????? do you know anyone that you would recomend
And again thanks for the help.

Since most of us are "do it yourselfers" here, not sure if you'll get recos for a travel agent. You can certainly do this yourself if you're willing and able. I think you've already done the hardest part, deciding where to go. BTW, you may likely get lots of people telling you how expensive the Hamptons are and while it's not cheap, it's not nearly as pricey as many make it out to be. You will likely pay $250-300/night for a room though.

I can get you started with the first part, travel and the Hamptons. I think your idea of maybe 3 places is a good one and I think you should probably stick to staying in inns/b and bs etc. rather than renting a house. You won't be staying a full week anywhere which makes renting a house difficult and it's less work and responsibility to just stay in an inn....unless there's a budget issue, in which case you should pick 2 locations and try to rent a house for a week in 2 places.

There are indeed some ferries from Montauk to Rhode Island, Ct. and Martha's Vineyard but they only take passengers, no cars. That would present a problem for you once you got to your destination. Viking Ferry Lines, (631) 668-5700 is the ferry co. Their website is www.vikingfleet.com

If you wanted to consider this anyway, your options are going to Block Island, RI and from there taking another ferry to Martha's Vineyard OR they appear to have only 2 ferries all summer, on Sun July 17 and Sunday August 17 that go straight from Montauk to Martha's Vineyard, again passenger only. They leave at 7 pm and arrive at 1 am !

What most people who are driving north from the Hamptons do is take the combination of a ferry from Sag Harbor to Shelter Island (5mins) then Shelter Island to Greenport (~10 mins) then drive to Orient Point on the North Fork of LI and take a ferry to New London Ct. and continue driving from there.

As an aside, both Shelter Island and the North Fork are lovely spots and the North Fork is known for wineries now. They would be slightly less expensive than the Hamptons but don't have quite as much to do/see and don't have ocean beaches.

For accomodation in the Hamptons, first decision is which town to stay in. Southampton and East Hampton are the 2 major shopping towns but Bridgehampton falls right inbetween and can also be a good base for checking out all the towns. East Hampton has the larger selection of restaurants but also tends to be the busiest in season. Sag Harbor on the bay is also very charming and historic, has some good restaurants, a small movie theater, but is further from the ocean beaches. It is the only town though that's on water. Many yachts dock there. There is a motel there across from the water called Baron's Cove Inn.

Many people prefer the more relaxed, beachy feel of Montauk and there are many more motels/hotels etc. to choose from there. It's a more rustic setting, but further to go to see and shop in the Hamptons, whereas staying in one of the Hampton towns you can easily drive out to Montauk for a day.

If you want to pursue this, you can read some hote/motel reviews on tripadvisor.com or post back with more info on budget etc.