tigerboys

Going to New York for eight nights in October this year. Looking for reasonably priced clean accomadation. Central location. Travel agent suggested Hotel Edison??. Would like to see New England as well. Is this possible in time frame? Is this a day trip or overnight? Will have to use public transport or book tour bus. Open to any ideas of what to see/do. We are a couple in our 50's.

tchoiniere

Rather than a "day trip" to New England which is not possible even if we knew which part you were interested in, why not take 2 nights away from NY and spend it in Boston, that would give you some time. However, if you want to see Maine, NH, Vermont, you would need more time. Maybe do another trip.

speckles

Check out Radio City Apartments for NYC.

New England is a large area. The bus tours I've seen are usually about a week in length. As tchoiniere suggests, you could choose one location in New England to spend a few nights.

Brush Hill Tours offers a daytrip by bus through the NE countryside during late Sept - late Oct for Fall foliage. However, this is run from Boston.

Anonymous

You do need to narrow down your tour of "New England."

New England encompasses 6 of the 50 United States, and covers over 70,000 square miles; old England is 50,000 square miles.

Since you have 8 nights, you might want to spend a couple of them in New England; during parts of October, we have wonderful brilliant foliage.

Anonymous

Somebody just handed me my can of troll spray.

tigerboys

Sorry for my ignorance.I am an Aussie!! Going to Boston and seeing the autumn foliage sounds great.Is 2 days enough? What are the travel times between NY & Boston? Leaving JFK 3.00pm Oct 25. Is it possible to leave Boston in the morning and get to the airport by this time?

wliwl

Driving from Boston to JFK sounds like a miserable vacation day.

Boston is a great city, but I don't think in 8 days you can do both it and NYC justice.

How about a couple of days doing the Hudson Valley? You'd see nice foliage, not be too far away and you can just rent a car and go. There are lots of historic homes, museums, etc.

Google it or try these links:

http://www.hudsonvalley.org/

http://www.travelhudsonvalley.org/

tigerboys

Thanks for ideas. We have know idea of locations or distance other than looking at a map in the US. Never been there before. Concerned about driving (other side of the road for us) can anyone suggest an 8 night itinerary for NYC and Hudson Valley.

TwoFatFeet

Tigerboys, to familiarize yourself with distances in the U.S., use mapquest.com or google maps.

esd

Would a 5 or 6 night cruise out of NY going to NE and Canada(?) be an option? Royal Caribbean has a 5 nighter and Norwegian does a 6. Yes, either will eat up a lot of your 8-day visit but then any trip to up to New England would and a cruise is certainly more relaxing than a bus tour. I don't know how much you hope to see in NY itself or if 2 or 3 days there would be enough. Just and idea. I really enjoy cruising but I realize it's not everyone's thing.

We're staying at the Comfort Inn Midtown next month which - like the Edison - is in the Times Square area. However, it's cheaper and gets better reviews than the Ediaon so you may want to check it out too.

That's it! I'm telling Comfort Inn to add me to their payroll for as often as I've been mentioning them lately! In fact, I think I'd better cease untill I check them out personally in a couple of weeks.

esd

oops, I'm sorry. The 5 night cruise (which by the way sounds very nice!)is out of Boston...the 6 night on the Norwegian Spirit is out of NY.

wliwl

I hope you get a SERIOUSLY good rate at the Edison, as it is a fairly nasty hotel. I mean if it was super cheap, it would be fine, but if it's over say $170/night it's a rip off.

nytraveler

If you have 8 nights you could spend 5 nights in NYC, then take the train (about 4 hours) to Boston and spend 3 nights there. To make a plane from JFK at 3 pm you would need to leave Boston very early -since you would have to take a train to NYC, then get a cab or shuttle bus out to the airport, arriving by 1 pm.

In 5 days you could see quite a bit in NYC. And then you could do some basic sightseeing in Boston as well as a day tour to see some of the Revolutionary war towns. But- Oct 25 is kind of late for best leaves in Mass - they'll be down near NYC by then.

So if the only reason for New England is to see leaves you're better off doing the HUdson. The only problem is that while the train runs up the Hudson valley - once you get off you really need a car - there is very little public transit.

Places you might want to see:

West Point (US Military Academy)

Bear Mt State Park (yes, there are wild bears)

Tarrytown - with some Dutch padroon houses

Kykuit (sp?) - Rockefeller estate

Hudson - a cute old industria town that's been gentrified with restaurants and antigues shops

FDR's house at Hyde Park

(The above trips are an hour or two on the train - but - you need to do cab or car rental to reach most places)

TwoFatFeet

If you do FDR's house, the Vanderbilt home is nearby and worth a peek, as well as the Culinary Institute of America. All within a few miles of each other.

speckles

You could try flying in and out of Boston. That way, on your return you would already be in the airport (assuming you pick the same one) for your flight out of NYC.

Not all Aussies are ignorant, by the way. It just takes a little research. My trip is not til August, but I have learnt some things about the US through this board.

My friend and I are flying between all of our destinations and we're not going to rent a car either.

tigerboys

This is my first try at any sort of chat.I am here to be educated!!Thanks everyone for your help. We have traveled several times to Europe an have found the most valuable information comes from locals and friends at home with European backgrounds. We rarely meet Americans let alone New Yorkers here in Melbourne. We are traveling to Europe in Sept and ending our trip in NYC Oct and this is the start of my research.
You will be hearing from me lots over the next few months so anything to help will be welcomed.

Anonymous

If you'll be carless, then of course it's easier to see cities rather than countryside. If you decide that you want to divide your time between Boston and New York City, that will work out fine; you can take a bus or train fora 5-hour ride between the two and see countryside then; with colorful foliage if your timing is right.

Check the other threads on this board for hotel recommendations; the Edison is sleazy. Most of the hotels in the Apple Core group are good; we liked the Red Roof Inn.

bmw732002

tigerboy:


First off welcome to our friend from downunder!

october is the perfect time to see NYC! The weather should great!

Place to stay: Check out the Red Roof Inn on 32nd street. Clean and usually a good price

NYC is a big town you can use up 10 days quickly. What are your interests? That could help the FODORITES to narrow down some spots that you should see.

Foliage is a great viewing but the car would make it easier. You can rent a car for the day, take a trip to the outer parts of NYC and get a good peak at the leaves...........or you can walk around Central Park! (which you should any time of year!)

Get back to us with your age and interests

John

peggy_bauer

If you want to go to Boston, take one of the Chinatown bus lines for $15 a person each way. Goes from Chinatown NYC to Boston South Station express (w/ one rest stop in CT). I personally prefer Lucky Star.

http://www.luckystarbus.com/

peggy_bauer

Oh, and if getting to JFK by 3pm is a concern, consider taking JetBlue airline from Boston's Logan Airport to JFK. It's $59 one way, you can take the 11:35 flight, it gets in to JFK at 12:47.

www.jetblue.com