New York/Boston trip
 

My Wife & I are going to New York (from Ireland) on 30 july for 5 nights then flying to Boston & Hire car & drive around for two weeks (probably going up to Canada.... nothing booked) Where would be a good place to stay in New York,Central & reasonable ($130-$160 per night). Also any tips for car hire in Boston & must see places on road toward Canada. Looking forward to your experienced replies.
Thank you
Joe

For a couple I would try Priceline first to see what you can get (that's a very modest budget for NYC). Try Midtown West, Midtown East, Central Park West and Upper West side. Be sure to pick only 4* - since some of the 3* are not that pleasant.

Other than that, there is the Applecore group of budget hotels which get not bad reviews. Affinia is a group of moderate hotels that get good reviews - and you can check to see if they have any specials - but I don;t think they will in your price range. (And don't forget that the 18% tax is on top of the price you are quoted by the hotel.)

There are many ways to go from Boston to Canada, and many many stops along the way - what do you want to see - the coast? inland Vermont? a bit of both? museums? shopping? national parks?

If you could give an idea of things like those of interest to you, it would be easier to make some route suggestions - plus, are you returning to Boston? which means you could go up one way and back a different way - or are you then flying home from Canada?

sorry for lack of info. I'm flying into Boston on 4th august & flying home from Boston on 20th august.I would like to see national parks, shopping, history museums, coast, inland,I want I want I want but what will I have time to see in two weeks?

Thanks
Joe

Do you already have flights from NY to Boston? Its generally much more expensive than to drive the 4 hours, especially when you are getting a car anyway. National car is a company that I use when doing one way car rentals.

Boston to Canada: what types of places are you interested in? beaches, camping, hiking, history? If you stay just outside the larger cities, you can get less expensive accomodations, a clean Motel 6 is good if you are just sleeping at a place and heading out the next morning.

Definately stop in Salem, MA which is where the witch trials took place. Salem is about 45 minutes north of Boston, and it would take less time if there was a bigger road into Salem.

If you are looking for outlet shopping on the way, then about an hour north of Salem, MA is Kittery, Maine with all the outlets. Very easy to get to, all right along the coast.

How much you can see and do depends on many things - do you like a slower pace where you savor spots and have time to wander or do you like a tighter itinerary and to be constantly on the move like the "if it's tuesday it must be belgium" travel ?

Do you drive fast/slow in new places and are you good with road maps?

It is summer so you will hit some traffic here and there, esp on weekends.

Will you be seeing any of Boston?

Do you want to arrive in Boston and head straight out in your car?

You could do this since it is such a short flight from NYC and only drive an hour or so and stay the first night say in Portsmouth, NH which is a nice stop - or some similar location and then head up the coast, seeing some of NH coast, Maine Coast, Acadia Nat'l Park (and there is shopping along this coastal route) - heck , there's shopping everywhere today !!

Do you have a destination in Canada? Are you heading for a city? A stop in Niagra Falls? Interested in hitting say, Sarasota Springs area (summer theater, etc) or the Hudson Valley area?
Or Nova Scotia/ Bay of Fundy - and area I am particularly fond of.

I think you might like to look into destinations along the way and see which ones have the things of most interest to you (are you a Hudson Valley person, does West Point area interest you - etc)

I'd think it would be nice if you did coastal one way and inland another -

I am a big fan of the mid Vermont area and the Berkshire area of Western Mass too - for mountains, lakes, history, shopping, etc. Here is a link that has some info and web links for that area, if you scroll to my screen name I list the historical, museums, sights that are some of my favorite:

http://tinyurl.com/sytjh

In the Bershire area/ Williamstown, North Adams, - that entire Western Mass area is lovely - you could zip right back to Boston on the Mass Pike from there or take the more scenic Route 2, which is lovely and stop off at Sturbridge Mass at least for 1/2 a day and a nice lunch/early dinner before hitting Boston.

Also decide if you want 2/3 days in Boston when you arrive or before your flight home, or if you want one night or so in Boston on either end. Might be nice to be settled and in one place (Boston) for a few days before your flight back to Ireland.

For Boston info, if you put Boston into the search bar, you will see many posts on how to spend several days in Boston with web links to all sorts of activities, historical, museums, shopping, etc.

There are zillions of places to stop along the coast and inland, so i would suggest looking at a map,, searching the web and trying to narrow down the areas that hold the most interest for you, and how much time you would want in each area, and then itmight be easier to help you decide exactly how much time for each one, to get to each one, etc.

Search the state tourist web pages through google and the historical sites links, etc and it will help you choose some and then everyone can help you narrow it down based on their particular experiences too.

You can drive to Canada in a few days from Boston if you are so inclined, or you can take five to get there and five to get back.....decisions, huh?

I just plugged into google.com
"scenic drives from boston to canada" and there are many pages listing potential routes mapping out spots along the way -
you could even consult some of the new england foliage scenic routes and get some ideas from those also, b/c even though the foliage isn't an option, they often have good routes and ideas.

One thing you don;t mention. Double check that the rental companies will let you take the car into Canada - some don;t - and what the drop off charge might be. Also be prepared for high insurance rates - since you aren;t US nationals (we have our own car insurance or credit card coverage so don;t have to take insurance - but I believe you will). So make sure any quotes you get include insurance for foreign nationals.

It may not fit into your schedule, but you mentioned national parks --- we have visited Acadia National Park in Maine several times. It is a lovely national park.

(We always camp and always during the month of August. Beware the biting black flies in July.)

It's a shame you're skipping Connecticut and Rhode Island, if you drive from NYC you'll go through these beautiful states. Guilford and Mystic are nice in Connecticut and all of Rhode Island is very pretty, especially the beach towns.

If you go inland, Burlington, VT is a great town and the Shelburne Museum (in Shelburne, VT just south of Burlington) is very historical, touching on the Pre and Revolutionary War periods, and also focusing on the arts and crafts of the area. Just driving the roads of VT will be beautiful.

As for Canada, if you head north from Burlington you'll go directly to Montreal. If you go through Maine, the Maritime provinces are the easiest for you to reach. Nova Scotia and Price Edward Island are great.

A good map will get you where you need to be!

That is so funny, amaclise. I was just posting about the Shelburne Museum to another poster looking for places to visit in Vermont. We loved this place.

The web site is www.shelburnemuseum.org

It is 7 miles south of Burlington, VT. It has a very eclectic collection of buildings and art, spread out over a large property. We found the buildings to be fascinating: a 1-room schoolhouse, a blacksmith, a jail, an apothecary, a 220-foot paddlewheel riverboat, a locomotive, a circus building, etc.

Thanks a million for all your help.

Joe