lthomas6

We will be having a family get together in Ohio, Cleveland this summer and wanted to drive to Niagara Falls (I hear it takes only 4.5 hours). Stay there with fam and then drive to DC and then fly out of Cleveland, Ohio. any ideas on timeframes and how it will be renting a car with 2 toddlers in tow? Is it possible to be done in 3 days? If not, would you suggest only going to NIagara?

nytraveler

No - you absolutely cannot do this in 3 days - even without toddlers.

From Cleveland you can visit Niagara Falls and then return to Cleveland in 3 days.

To drive from Niagara Falls to DC by car is about 10 hours - one way - then perahps 13 to 14 more hours to get back to Cleveland.

Also, it seems from your post that you are not US citizens. Most of the good stuff to see in Niagara Falls is on the Canadian side - so not only do you need to leave time to cross the border each way - you need to be sure that your visas allow for entry into Canada and multiple entries into the US.

amelie

We get to Niagara Falls in 3 hours from the east side of Cleveland. We have gone for day trips before, so yes you can do this in 3 days even with two toddlers.


Oh wait is driving to DC part of the 3 day plan? All my Cleveland friends tell me it's a five hour drive to DC. I never believe them, but I've heard that from multiple people so it must be true?

Why do you want to go to DC at all? Skip it.

lthomas6

We are us citizens and now will only do niagara. I figure the kids will like it more than DC.

Christina

You can't begin to do that in 3 days, but I live in DC and frequently drive to Ohio and it wouldn't take 13 hrs to get there. Probably more like 8. It takes me about 7.5-8 hours to drive from DC to near COlumbus, and I've heard that going up north from Pittsburgh to Cleveland ends up about the same time, or even a little less. Now that is going fast and not wasting time stopping. But still, it's only about 400 miles.

PaulRabe

I wouldn't even recommend spending three full days in Washington, simply because there's just so much to see there. Two days bare minimum for the Smithsonian museums, at least one day for the monuments around the Mall, then there's a lot more to see.

Skip DC unless you can give it the time it deserves. If you just want to drive there, take a photograph of the Washington Monument, then immediately leave, fine -- but that's pretty much all you'll get to do. And that seems like a lot of time and driving just to get a couple of photos.

Christina

I just noticed Amelie has Cleveland friends who claims they can drive from DC to Cleveland in 5 hrs? I'd like to know how, as it is 400 miles. It takes about an hour just to get out of DC to where you can go faster, also. So heading up I270 is not even at the speed limit for a while and there can be congestion around Frederick. That just isn't really possible given the distance which can be checked on mapquest or yahoo maps, etc. Now you can take the turnpike from Breezewood PA (north of Frederick MD) across to Cleveland area (becomes OH turnpike) but even that part is 250 miles and would take about 4 hrs. You can't get to Breezewood PA in 1 hr from Wash DC because it is over 100 miles.

I don't know why multiple people say that, but it can't be true.

amelie

They most likely go on the Ohio turnpike I'm guessing, since they are Westsiders of Cleveland. I know I don't believe it either but I've heard it from different people who don't even know each other. I'll have to check it out for myself sometime. When I put my zipcode into google maps it tells me 382 miles and 7 hours.

tomfuller

Possible but very tiring. The whole circle is 1022 miles in 19 hours. Cleveland to Niagara Falls New York. The best view is on the Canadian side but the border might be a problem with toddlers and no passports. Leaving Niagara Falls, head for Corning New York and head down US 15 through Williamsport, PA.
You still have about 6 hours from Williamsport to Wash DC.
I don't know how much time you want to spend in DC before heading back to Cleveland.

lthomas6

We will be in cleveland ohio for 2 nights (coming in Friday night and checking out Sunday morning), is it possible to drive to niagara that Sunday (stay sunday night in Niagara) and then drive back to Ohio on Monday and take a flight back home Monday evening? We are US citizens so should have no problem entering and exiting canada.

tomfuller

The days of answering the question "Where were you born?" are long gone. At least the people over 18 need US Passports to get back into the US. Why can't you fly into or out of Buffalo or Erie? Some states drivers licenses are accepted for crossing the border-others are not.

amelie

Ithomas6, yes. We just drove to Niagara Falls yesterday from the east side of Cleveland, takes us 3.5 hours with about a 5 min boarder wait. We had a 30 min boarder wait going in to Canada this time though, probably because it's summer (we usually go in Sept.). On the way home we had a 5 min wait. We came back last night, so we did it in one day this time. And no you have no problem going to Canada with a passport.