Oct 6-14 Travel NYC to Maine to finger lakes
 

Traveling from DC to NYC up to Maine & over to finger lakes. Would like information on American Museum of Natural History. Where to stay all Hotels $300 & up?? Should we stay outside NYC and travel in by? Places to check out & stay along the way up to Maine. Best travel routes to Finger Lakes. Places to see & stay around Finger Lakes. Thank You in advance for all suggestions. Travel dates Oct.5-13. Very overwhelmed with such a big trip;/

Well you have 2 different sets if dates but either way it looks like 9 days. This is a lot of territory to cover in 9 days.

How many days in NYC?

Then a full day drive to Maine - even not stopping to see anything. Then long day drive to Finger Lakes and another drive to DC. So of your 9 days you have 3.5 on the road - assuming you get an early start and bet DC traffic to get to NY.

And you want to stop on the way up to Maine. So now you have 4 (at least) places to visit plus 4 days driving. So - 1.5 day in NYC, 1 in Finger Lakes, 1 in Maine and 1 someplace on the way up - Newport? Mystic?

It would help to know who and how many you are. Kids. Seniors?

Hotel in NYC will be $300 likely at that time of year - and it's lat to reserve hotels in New England for leaf season - especially on the weekend.

If you provide more info on who you are and interests people can give better advice.

There is just the two of us, 50 years young. We want to explorer the east coast. Maybe we should skip NYC and head up east coast. We have been to Boston and NJ long branch. I have heard of talk Portland, Bar Harbor, Bethel, Acadia, Oqunquit,Lincoln, St Johnsbury. Where would be a place to see the fall leaves changing? Is Cape Cod a nice place to visit? Want to try good lobster! Are there any wineries or brewery places?

If you've never been to NYC, don't skip it. It's a definite must. Use Priceline and book a hotel near Times Square. It's definitely worth it to be in the city at night. During the day, head down to the southern end. Spend some time in Chelsea and So-Ho, visit the park that runs along the river. Take a walk in Chinatown and Little Italy. At night, visit the Times Square area.

After leaving NYC, visit New Paltz, NY. Pay the admission to get onto the grounds of the Mohonk Mountain House and walk some of the carriage trails and visit the gardens. It's absolutely gorgeous there, and would be perfect if the trees were changing colors. If you don't want to spend the money to visit Mohonk, visit Minnewaska State Park, which is really close to Mohonk. New Paltz is a cute town to walk around in as well.

After New Paltz, you can go north just a little bit and catch 84E to head to the coast, or continue north to the Adirondacks. If you go to the coast, Provincetown, on the tip of Cape Cod, is a great town to visit (although I don't think it's a great place for fall colors, but I've never been there in the fall), as well as Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. All three of them are "must-sees" on the east coast.

Acadia is definitely worth a visit.

If anything, i would drop the Finger Lakes. I've traveled all over the northeast area, and I was totally unimpressed by the Finger Lakes. I think that the Adirondacks (especially driving route 30 through them) are much nicer than the Finger Lakes.

By the way, I've stayed in NYC two times during early October for around $150-$200 a night.

Boothbay Harbor and Bar Harbor are really cute areas.

You might also want to consider visiting the New Hope (PA) and Lambertville (NJ) area. The two towns sit right next to each other on either side of the Delaware River. They are both really nice towns that cater to tourists, but not in a "touristy" way. There are some wineries in the area as well. Frenchtown and Stockton, NJ sit just north of Lambertville and they are very nice towns as well. All four towns are nice to stroll through to visit the art galleries, antique stores, restaurants, unique clothing stores, etc. Bikes can be rented in Frenchtown to bicycle along the river, or you can walk on paths along the river from any of those towns.

I have lived in the Finger Lakes area for the past ten years and think it is beautiful. However, I recommend you eliminating it from this particular trip. Too many other places to see that you have mentioned.

Just returned from our New England Leaf Peeping experience and want say what a great trip we had. Wanted to share our route incase others were traveling this way.
1.Norwalk Ct. Hiked Godfrey Pond in Devil's Den Preserve, Calf Pasture Beach beautiful sunset.
2. Mystic Ct. ck out Seaport area, drove to Newport RI walked the Cliffs walk.
3. Portland ME Allagash Brewery Tour, Spring Port Ledge lighthouse, Bug lighthouse, Portland Head lighthouse. Lunch Artemisa fresh food, Map Store Delorme
4 Bar Harbor Acadia park, downtown lots of restraurants and shops
5.Gorham NH Auto drive Mt Washington, lots of covered bridges and water falls, Saalt Pub homemade food, The Flume
6. Stowe VT Stowe Maple store, Ben & Jerry ice cream, Heady Topper Brewery, Sterling Pond hiking, Corp good food
Wanted to Thank Fodor posters in helping me make a great vacation.
Did Finger Lakes trip separate weekend, which was a great trip too.