Our goal is to visit the 50 states. We are trying to visit the New England States in 7 days. from 7-21 to 7-28. We are flying into NYC and departing from Boston. We have been to NYC before but want to spend at least 1 night there and 2 nights in Boston and one night at Martha's Vinyard. Any suggestions on how to squeeze Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and /or Maine into our itinerary? Should we rent a car or take a train out of NYC? We love the Ocean. What are 'must sees' along the way. Any suggestions for inexpensive, family friendly lodging along the way? Appreciate any help.

You do know that you left out Connecticut and Massachusetts?

Anyway, here's my trip report of a 4-day trip we took last summer that started and ended in New Haven, CT, and included parts of Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...ew-england.cfm

Oh, I just realized that you do have Mass. in your intinerary, but you still need to "do" Conn.

If I understand this correctly, you have seven nights and are planning to spend one in NYC, two in Boston, and one on Martha's Vineyard? So, that leaves you with three nights for five states?

TRAIN? You mean Amtrak? Good gosh, no.

I would start by leaving the overnight on Martha's Vineyard off of the list

We did some of that trip last summer but spent more like 10 days. You are going to need a car for Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. We flew into Boston and left from NYC. Our trip was a little longer because we spent a couple days in New Hampshire to see summer stock shows and then we also spent 3 days in New York.

You say you are going 7-21 to 7-28, you mean as in next week and you don't have hotel reservations? I am sure you will something but especially ocean locations are booked up well in advance and last minute are usually costly.

I think if you did southern Vermont and New Hampshire and then cut over to the coast of Maine that would work. We loved the Kennebunkport area. CT is on the way between NYC and Boston and Rhode Island wouldn't be too bad of a detour. I'm sure someone else can help you better with the routing into NH and VT.

1) way too much territory in too few days to really see anything
2) yes you need a car (train is fine from NYC TO Boston - but it dopesn;t cover most of the territory)
3)agree you need to do something about hotels ASAP - esp if you are trying for any ocean resorts (many resort hotels will only do multi-night stays in the summer)

1) way too much territory in too few days to really see anything
2) yes you need a car (train is fine from NYC TO Boston - but it dopesn;t cover most of the territory)
3)agree you need to do something about hotels ASAP - esp if you are trying for any ocean resorts (many resort hotels will only do multi-night stays in the summer)

Thanks for all of the tips. You have really been a great help. This is a last minute trip and I am usually more organized. Big Russ and NYC traveler thanks for letting me know that I would do better to rent a car rather then rely on Amtrak. Paula1470 thanks for your suggestions as well.

If economizing is important, check car rental rates and dropoff charges. It may be better to take a train/bus to Boston and pick up a rental car there, since you're flying home from Boston.

djkbooks-That's what I was going to suggest as far as the rental car but then the OP said they wanted to stop in CT and that's much harder to do on the train/bus. When we did our trip into Vermont, NH and Maine, we did all of that using a rental car from Boston. The OP says they also want to see Rhode Island but really they are trying to do too much in a short period of time. I'd save CT and RI for another trip if you take the train between NYC and Boston. Or go ahead and pay the drop-off fee and concentrate on CT and RI on the way to Boston.