Miami to New York City (short) Roadtrip
 

Hi!

I created my account and am writing this post hoping of finding some help/tips about a short road trip my friend and I are planning on starting on March 23rd. We leave Miami on Wednesday and have to be in New York City that Sunday (27th) so we only have a few days. We are not from the States and know almost nothing about where to go or what to do, or if it is even possible/worthy to do this trip is such short time. So any type of suggestions on where to stop or anything at all would be helpful.

Thank you!, Gabriela

That's over 1200 miles, so a good 3 full days of driving. That would leave you just a day to stopover someplace (or of course a couple of half-days if you want to break up the trip in a couple of different places).

Given that you will likely have to pay a large drop-off fee to do the one-way car rental, I'm not sure it's the best investment unless your main objective is simply to see something of the US. (If you do the drive, I'd avoid I-95.)

For example, if you flew from Miami to Charleston and spent a couple of nights and then perhaps took the train to Washington, DC for another night, then at least you could get a look at a couple of sights before heading to NYC. You'd get to spend a bit more quality time in Charleston and not have to drive. I'd prefer that over driving myself, but I see the allure in seeing the scenery.

Yeah, it's doable. I drive to Orlando pretty regularly from the DC area and it takes me about 12 hours. We drove to Miami I one shot once and it was 16. Add another 4-5 to NYC and you're looking at 20 or so hours of actual driving (assuming you don't get caught in a traffic jam). I like road trips so I'd definitely do it. Places I enjoy stopping are St. Augustine, FL, Savannah, GA, Frederick, MD (or Shepherdstown, WV), and DC. I usually take a train to NYC, though the bus is much cheaper and very comfortable (husband likes trains...), so don't have any recommendations for DC to NYC. Honestly, I wouldn't want a car in NYC- crazy traffic and expensive parking.

If you decide on any stopping points, let us know and I'm sure people can give you neat suggestions. Enjoy your trip!

Twenty hours is very optimistic - that assumes you take the fastest highway, don't hit any construction, heavy traffic, bad weather or accidents. that also allows for minimal it stops and eating fast food in the car.

You can certainly do it in 4 days but will have minimal time to stop in one place.

If it were me I would fly to DC, spend a couple of days there and then take the train to NYC. (And this is from someone who loves road trips and does them all the time. But one of our rules is no more than 4 or 5 hours on the road each day - as well as allowing time to sightsee - and days in place between driving days.)

Just to clarify- I'm not suggesting you actually drive 20 hours straight through. That would be a really long, awful day and you couldn't possibly stop anywhere. I'm suggesting you drive 5 or so hours a day. Obviously, with that plan, you wouldn't be skipping bathroom breaks or scarfing fast food. I just mentioned driving DC to Miami as an example of why I know how long it takes...and, believe me, I'll never do that drive in one shot again!

I do remember driving from Melbourne FL to Mifflinburg PA in 17.5 (1103 miles) straight hours. I'll never do that again.
If you can get a flight from Miami to Washington for less than a train ticket, by all means fly and take the train from Washington to New York.
There are 2 "Silver Service" trains that leave Florida and go through Washington to New York.
They both travel overnight when you would not be driving anyway.