shahlabbb

Hi,
I'm planning a trip to the east coast from the west coast.. I have 10 days and was hoping ot see NY city and washington DC..and a maybe even a day trip to Portland Maine if there's time..

I need help figuring out where to stay.
Stuff I sort of wanna see in each city..

Ny== 4-6 days
Museum of natural history / modern Art(moma) / metroplitan museum / guggenheim / metropolitan opera house / Central park / botanical gardens / empire state building / rockfeller center / statue of liberty, ellis island / ground zero / broadway / times square / wall street / soho / greenwich village /
hoping to walk around a few neighborhoods... take a harbor cruise... see a broadway show... walk on a bridge or two.. a sports stadium / something to do with Yankees... shopping...

Washington DC==4 days
national monumentS / smithsonian / three houses of government / georgetown /

is there a central location to stay in order to see most of these?? not sure I can see all so what should I skip..

tchoiniere

"maybe even a day trip to Portland Maine if there's time."

Thats at least a 6 hr drive from NYC without traffic. Forget about it. Its worthy of a trip on its own.

There are a lot of threads on here about each city that should help you group them. FYI, the Smithsonian is a group of 19 museums so you need to be more specific in which ones you are interested in. You cannot do all of them in 4 days. Here is my trip report from 2009 when I went for 4 days

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...-sox-games.cfm

When is your trip? Have you booked your flights? Id book it to fly to NYC and home from DC. Then just take Amtrak / bus in between the two.

tchoiniere

For NYC, I would skip ESB and just do Top of the Rock. Fewer lines and you get a great view of the ESB which is what you generally want. I believe the only bridge you can walk is the Brooklyn Bridge and the posts here favor walking from Brooklyn towards Manhattan for the views.

Heres my trip report from NTC last year (2 day trip)
http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...rip-to-nyc.cfm

Yankees tickets are very expensive and hard to come by so you will want to plan ahead for this. Again, we need the dates to look to see who they are playing to really comment on the availability. If you just want to see a new stadium and don't want to pay exorbitant prices or if they are on the road, maybe look at a Nationals game for DC but the new Yankee Stadium is a great stadium and worth the trip (as a Red Sox fan, it does hurt me to say that). There are a lot better people on here to comment on where to stay as I generally do day trips into the city from Connecticut.

For DC, I would definitely try to stay within the heart of the Mall or in Arlington near a Metro Stop. What is your budget and we will be able to make specific recommendations. I am coming to DC in August and staying at the Americana Hotel in Arlington for a price of $70 per night plus taxes.

I do think you have the right division of days for the split of the 2 cities. You cannot see everything in each city but can accomplish a lot. Then come back to each one later...

nytraveler

For NY you neet to get advancetickets to the Statue of Liberty - it sells out far in advance. Also get Yankees tickets asap - most of the good ones are sold as season tickets or packages - but depending on the game the yankees web site may have tickets left. Other wise go to hubstub.com.

There are plenty of central places to stay in both cities - so some sights are within walking distance and others an easy subway ride. The key is what you are willing to pay and when you will be here - since prices vary considerably by time of year.

If you provide that info people can make recos either on specific hotels or discount sites to search.

tchoiniere

The link NYT was trying to provide for tickets was stubhub.com...

shahlabbb

thank you for all the suggestions..
tchoiniere-- I loved the trip report you did..
I've been reading a bit more about the two cities and I hope to have a rough plan ready to post later this week..

the trip is for mid august. Our Yankee fan had to drop out due to family reasons, so we can cross that off. Unless you can see the stadium without actually going to a game???

budget?? don't really have one.. hoping to stay under $200/night for hotel.. also looking at condo rentals..

there's 4 of us 40-50 yrs... first time for all... love gourmet food, art, photography, sightseeing, and shopping..

btw-- might be flying into newark airport.. rates look better from vegas...

thanks again for all the info..

janisj

The vast majority of condo rentals are illegal. . .

Clarification - Do you mean $200 a night total, or $200 per night per room for two rooms?