My husband and I have been putting off deciding this for months and now our April trip is quickly approaching, We have 4 days with a car and we enjoy seeing quaint little towns. We don't care about spending any time on the beach (surely it will be cold anyway and we live on the California coast). My husband has always wanted to "see" Long Island and he was in the Hudson Valley many years ago so he is not so interested in that. I'm afraid if we DON'T do Long Island, hubby will always haunt me with "See, we should have gone to Long Island!" I guess I am looking for a really good sales pitch for spending 4 days in Long Island! Is that way too much time? We arrive JFK at 5pm Sunday evening early April. Need to figure out the first night without too much driving. Thanks. You all are always so helpful. Wish someone would just make the decision for us because we can't seem to do it!

Have you thought of actually spending some time in The City? Long Island is a great place during the summer (especially the Hamptoms). The main reason people from The City go there is to relax on the beach. Givne that you'll be going in April, there probably won't be much going on on Long Island. If I were you I would spend my entire time in The City.

There are numerous things to do on Long Island even without the beach - but why not compromise and spend 2 days on the Island and 2 in the Hudson Valley. Distances are not so great that you can't do both.

In two days you could easily do one day closer to the city (a classic Westbury Mansion, Teddy Roosevelt's home/Oyster Bay, perhaps even the Old Bethpage Restoration) and one day farther out (Sag Harbor, East Hampton/Amagansett and a winery) and have 2 days left for the Hudson valley.

nytraveler, you would make a great marriage counselor!!!! Great idea to COMPROMISE and do both! Glad to hear you think it would be feasible. I think I will get to work on it right now!
Thanks so much!

I think you will be disappointed in Long Island. The only reason I go there is to visit family. Get a guide book and pick one or two things that are near each other for one day and then head up the Hudson.

SusieQQ - I would say not only disappointed, but mortified when you have to drive several hours out to the Hamptons to find the only couple of "quant little towns" available and spend a whole lot of money while there.

Long Island is the land of urban sprawl and strip malls. There are only a few places that would qualify as destinations. You want to go the the Hudson Vally for sure lovetotravel2.

I agree- Old Westbury Gardens is beautiful (and April is the perfect season). I love wandering around the garden- woodland walks and traditional gardens- and the mansion seems great although I can't bring myself inside on a sunny day. Jones Beach's boardwalk is long and quiet in April. These are easily done in a day. If you stay in the area you can go to the Roosevelt Field Mall in the evening (this is not a quaint town area although there are some nice spots). Oyster Bay/Teddy Roosevelt's home are great but again, not quaint towns.
Montawk is a long drive east. Maybe take a ferry to Fire Island and the dunes.
Still, it doesn't sound like the island is what you are looking for despite its attractions. Everything is a long, often crowded and confusing for non-locals, highway drive. The drives are rarely beautiful. They are commuter roads.
The Hudson Valley would be perfect for you- walking, hiking, shopping, restaurants, cafes, beautiful views, mansions, state parks, historic sites. Why doesn't your husband want to go back?

I love long island in the summer.It is great,but if you live on the coast,I suggest New Paltz,stai at Mohonk mountain house,it is beautiful,they have many beautiful parks and lakes in that area.The hotel has all amenities.If you drive to LI,stay in Sag Harbor it is a beautiful town and there are great resturants and always has something going on.Another sug. is Hyde Park,they have the best resturants and I think it is close to New Paltz.If I lived in Ca,I would check out upstate
Ny,it is beautiful and will be much different than CA.Hamptons are great but it is very quiet this time of year

I think you'll be disappointed in Long Island, coming from California. Everytime I go back to visit, I think to myself how can anyone live there? I would never consider it as a vacation destination (certainly not traveling all the way from California). It is a nice getaway in the summer months for those who live in NYC (even this is debatable as the traffic in summer months is brutal). There are some pretty areas, expecially on the North Shore, but they are not worth a cross-country trip.

I think two days would be sufficient. Maybe one day hitting the mansions/attractions on the North Shore - and the of small towns/village centers you might be interested in, and another day out east (North Fork is definitely more quaint than the South Fork).

There is a lot to do on the North Shore by the Nassau/Suffolk county border - Planting Fields Arboretum, Sagamore Hill, Old Bethpage Restoration, Vanderbilt Mansion. There are also a few small villages along the way you can hit (Cold Spring Harbor, Huntington, and Northport), that are all on route 25a. 2 out of 3 of those would probably qualify as quaint - Northport still has its original century old trolley tracks running down its main street, and a lot of turn of the century houses... If you avoid the center area of the island (by the various highways), you'll avoid most of the sprawl/traffic/strip malls associated with the island.

You will spend most of your time sitting in traffic if you choose Long Island.

OK BF lives on Long Island (Suffolk Cty) and my brother used to live in the Hudson Valley (Monroe / Harriman). Even my BF said some parts way out on LI are nice, but probably not enough for 4 days, and not that many "quaint little" towns left. Hudson Valley I would say has a lot more of this, and the area you could cover would be a lot more than you could on Long Island.

Also traffic on Long Island can be a nightmare at any given time, especially on the Long Island Expressway (LIE) or the Southern State Parkway.

Okay, enough of you have convinced my hubby to give up on Long Island!
Soooo, now we are planning on Hudson Valley and beyond for 4 days! Yea! Thank you.

HV if you love art Dia Beacon is a must

I'm so upset!!! I live in East Hampton, and honestly, I can't imagine a more beautiful place to visit - even in April. Even though a lot of people love it during the summer, the Spring is particularly special, if you ask me. Not only are the towns around here walkable, shoppable and beautiful, there are so many other things to do. Montauk is great for hiking/biking trails. And if either of you are surfers, Montauk often has some of the best waves on the east coast.

I could recommend some great, cute bed and breakfasts in EH. Sag Harbor is a great port town and has some great galleries. Southampton is really posh, and a nice relaxing drive will lead you serendipitously to some of the most beautiful scenery in New York. The North Fork's wineries are so good and so plentiful that many wineries upstate buy their grapes from down here. The tastings are mostly free, and the North Fork would take a full day to explore. By the way, there are a million great restaurants out here, most of them opened by NYC restarateurs. Some others mentioned that the arboreteum up the island (closer to the city) is great and I have to agree.

Xuliette,

Although this poster probably went to the Hudson Valley already, I must say I absolutely agree with you (I grew up in Mattituck on the North Fork). When I go "home" to visit my parents, I can't even fit all the things I want to do into 4 days! And frankly, I love the beach when it is off-season.

Alex (loves Chicago but misses LI!)