Hi all! Planning a summer weekend up at the wineries in the Finger Lakes, specifically the Seneca Lake area. We're not huge fans of long car rides, and I'm wondering what would be the best option: 1. driving--how long from NYC? We're about 35 minutes east of Manhattan on a good day 2. Flying to Syracuse, Ithaca, or Rochester and then renting a car to get around or 3. Amtrak to Syracuse and then, again, renting a car. Is summer weekend traffic in the area a headache?

35 miles east of NYC puts you around the Freeport area doesn't it?

you can check time and mileage at freetrip.com

Well - if it's a Friday to Monday weekend you'r going to run into tons of traffic leaving the city on Friday and returnng on Sunday night. It makes much more sense to go up eithr Fri am right after rush hour - or returnng on Monday after rush hour. Otherwise it could easily take 2 hours just to get to the suburbs on the other side of the city.

Google maps shows a drive time of 5.5 hours - without any time for traffic built in - so quite a long drive unless you're making it a t least a 3 day weekend.

Train won't help a lot since it's about 5 1/2 hours from Penn Station to Syracuse- and you would still have to get into the city before that - then rent a car and drive on the other end.

I suppose you could fly - perhaps investigate from Islip - but it seems a long way to go for just 2 days.

Best option? If there are just 2 of you, flying Jetblue.com from JFK to Syracuse and then renting a car sounds like the best plan for a weekend. Still a 1 1/2 hr. drive from the airport to Seneca Lake.

You'll spend more time getting to the airport, sitting around before your flight, flying, renting a car and then driving to Seneca Lake than it would take you to drive there. That's one way to look at it.

True about airport waiting time...but I just dread being stuck in traffic! I'd rather be relaxing at the airport with a beer than driving though! I don't mind the 1 1/2 hr. drive to Seneca--I think we might check out Jet Blue, and we'll probably make a 3 night 4 day trip out of it.

If you are planning a weekend in the summer in the Finger Lakes you should book your accomodations soon. It is very busy that time of the year and there are lots of special events and races in Watkins Glen and mostly smaller hotels, Inns and B&B's around Seneca Lake.

Definitely fly into Rochester, it's much closer to Seneca Lake than Syracuse and Jetblue does direct flights. Continental out of Newark is cheap too.