Hotel off New Jersey Turnpike
 

Hi, folks. We are driving Boston to Virginia..In our 80's, so we would like to stay overnite halfway, which would be ear the New Jersey Tpk. Are there any good hotels/motels near the turnpike we could check out? Thank you!

There are major chain motels nearly every exit along the way. Many of the exits anywhere north of Edison have convolusted highway to highway interchanges, so I'd look for something south of the Raritan River, anywhere south of New Brunswick, or exit 8A or 8 or a lower number.

Pick a chain your are either a rewards member of or know what a typical room is like. For us, we often look at Holiday Inn Express or Hampton Inns for travel like this. Not necessarilly as cheap as you can get, but typically clean and comfortable, parking, breakfast, and wifi included.

I also typically scope out hotels at various exits along the way before I travel, tag them on google maps and see how the trip is going. That strategy didn't play out well on my last long trip as all hotels for 100mi were booked up due to widepread power outage along our route. Kept searching on the internet and calling to book, but had to drive an extra 2 hrs when tired.... Hence, we now plan to book ahead regardless.

There’s a very nice Marriott and a Hampton Inn (by Hilton) at the Degraw Avenue exit on I-95 in Teaneck, NJ that’s less than a 1/2 mile from the start of the NJ Turnpike - easy on, easy off I-95 makes either hotel a very convenient place to stop for the night if you want to go southbound on the NJ Turnpike/I-95 the next morning.

Keep in mind that timing is everything on a trip in this area and you have a choice on which routes to take depending on conditions at the time. If you have a smart phone, download WAZE and they will give you up to date information on what is happening on the road. They will give directions to roads to avoid problems.

Depending on where you are heading in VA, it sometimes is less stressful to head west on 84 then south through PA and avoid southern CT, NYC, NJ, DE,DC, etc. It sometimes is no longer in time even though it is a bit farther. If you are going to the shore on VA, then taking the TappanZee bridge to the Garden State Parkway to Cape May then the Bay Bridge Tunnel to Virginia Beach is much less stressful and there are places to stay along that route too.

In any case your MA transponder will work for all the tolls to VA

Although you can take a ferry from Cape May to Delaware, the Bay Bridge Tunnel begins at the end of the Delmarva peninsula, not New Jersey.

One more hint: Download the iExit App on your SmartPhone. It will give you a list of hotels, restaurants, gas stations and more for every Exit on every Interstate in the USA. You simply open the App and select the Interstate and direction you'll be traveling. The Exits and corresponding mileage (from your current location) will appear in numerical order beginning with the one closest to you and ending at the road's terminus. You can click on any Exit and find out what facilities are at that Exit. Very handy and easy to use App.

To where in Virginia are you headed? 95/ NJ Turnpike may not be your easiest route.

Very true. You might want to check out I-81 through Pennsylvania with a stay somewhere between Scranton and Harrisburg.