Have finally got my holiday itinery sorted (after numerous changes!!!) and had settled on stoping in Mystic for last day/night.

We would have to leave Mystic on a Monday midday ish to get our flight back home to the UK, (it leaves JFK about 8.45 pm) so allowing time to drop hire car off and get to airport about 2 1/2 hours before flight are we possibly TOO far away, I see its about a 2 hour + drive to airport and we would like to stop off on the way to any nice towns we come across.

Our dilema is this, should we stay nearer the airport or is mystic doable, obviously we don't want to get to the airport for our flight home overly tired from too much driving.

If Mystic is too far can anyone recomend a nice town with shops etc to wander round, not too bothered about beaches etc.

Years ago, I used to summer in the Mystic area and the drive to midtown Manhattan used to run us close to 3 hours..non-stop.

You are taking a big chance stopping off on the way as you will not have any idea of delays on the road...paving, accidents, detours...etc.

When we lived in Groton (right next to Mystic) and flew out of JFK, we allowed at least 3 hours driving time.

If you want to arrive at JFK by 6pm that means you'll be heading throgh the Bronx and Queens at rush hour. Three hours from Mystic is fine during off hours - but if you run into bad weather/accident/extra traffic it can be stop and go for miles. I would leave longer than that.

To be safe, I would honestly leave no later than 1pm.

My parents live 30 minutes away from JFK, and the last time we drove from Mystic to home it took about 3 1/2 hours. This included being stuck in rubbernecking traffic from an accident. This is probably a worse case scenario.

In your rental car, do you have GPS? If so, then your GPS should be able to give you alternate routes should the route you're planning to take be jammed with traffic.

I agree with luv2fly...we have driven that stretch of 95 more times than I can count (most recently a couple of weeks ago) and there is ALWAYS some delay driving through Connecticut. I could not find what day of the week you would be returning, but unless it's a Saturday there will also be rush hour/returning weekend traffic to consider.

So I don't think Mystic is necessarily too far, but if you are planning to stay there through midday, it might be nicer for you to just have a late lunch there and drive to the airport without trying to make other stops.

Years ago we used to avoid a lot of the unpleasantness of 95 by taking the Merritt Parkway, which parallels 95 through southern Connecticut. I don't think it saves much time, and there is quite a bit of traffic there too, but it is a bit more scenic than 95.

Many thanks for reply's, It does seem quite a drive even before we get to the hassle of the airport.

Might be better to stay overnight nearer JFK in Fairfield area, then we won't be too far away, and maybe try and avoid the I95.