ziptravel

Hey there! New to the forum and have read a lot of threads but am now looking for advice.
I am thinking of a 4–5-day trip and wanted some advice. I am located in the PNW.
I have solo travelled before to Chicago and LA, but wanted to do a better job on planning. I need help deciding which city to check out next.

The following cities I am considering for a trip. I would buy the plane tickets and hotel reservations in advance. Budget would be $2000-3000 depending on which city gets picked or if I can add multiple cities that would be good too. Also because of location of these cities I would plan to fly out overnight and back overnight if possible.

New York
Boston
Philadelphia
Atlanta

So, at a baseline budget looks like for 4-5 nights
Flight: $300-$400 Roundtrip
Hotel: $100-$120 per night
Food: $100 per day
Transportation: $25-50 bus pass

Things I want to do:
Explore the city, take public transit, try different foods.

This is where I need help - to give me some guidance on things I can do depending which city I go to. If any place has comedy shows I would be interested in checking them out. Also if it's NYC I will go to a Michelin star restaurant.

laurie_ann

You might choose a city based on your available dates and your budget. A general website like booking.com or trivago.com will give you ideas of what kind of hotel room you can get in your price range. Noting that your price range for hotel is very low for most big cities in the US.

J62

You can get an overnight flight heading east but not west - it's a 5hr flight from PNW to any of those cities so you're not going to get a restful sleep but ifthat works for you then great.

PHL,NYC, and BOS are all connected by frequent train service you could fly into one and out of another if you wanted. I can't see filling 4-5 days in PHL or BOS, but since we only know about your interest in comedy club and Michelin stars it's hard to say if there's enough for you to do. NYC is much larger than the others & no shortage of options to fill the time. I can't speak to Atlanta.

As pointed out above, the biggest problem with your budget is hotels. I think you need to plan for 2 to 3x that...

janisj

Welcome to Fodors.

ditto that you can fly red eye west to east but not the other direction.

Your budget for accommodations isn't at all realistic. (could you get a hotel in Seattle or Portland for $100 / night? Not likely and rates in places like NYC and Boston are even higher than in the PNW) Sorry, but you wouldn't have a prayer of finding a hotel in NYC or Boston anywhere near $100 per night. 3X that could be doable - depending on exact dates since rates can vary a LOT. You might find something in/near Atlanta or Philly for maybe $150-$200.

PrairieHikerI

Washington, DC would be another good option. Plenty to do/see there and there is the Metro subway system (which is being upgraded) which is easy to use. There are over 20 free Smithsonian museums includinng the Space and Science Museum and the Museum of the American Indian. There are four restaurants with MIchelin stars of 2-3.

Daniel_Williams

Hi ziptravel

in my opinion, 4-5 days would not be too much for either Boston, Philadelphia or NYC. Even if you began to get antsy in the heart of any of these cities, you could always take some public transport and do a day trip somewhere nearby and it could work out nicely (from Philadelphia, you could visit Princeton or even check out a historic suburb like Manayunk, from Boston you could make a day in Providence and Cambridge and so on—lots of options). You might not run out of things to do even centrally, depending on your interests. Atlanta is the one question mark I have; I had a lovely 2 day visit there exploring Midtown and Downtown sights but never a 4-5 day visit so not sure how I would plan that in order to make a longer visit more interesting—I would definitely want to expand outside those areas if there for several days.

I agree with others that your hotel cost estimates are too low, especially in a more touristed season and centrally-located.

Have a great trip! Daniel

Madam397

You can easily spend four or five days in any of these places but you seriously need to up your budget for housing. Even a hotel room for $250 a night is hard to come by these days pretty much anywhere you travel.

tomfuller

My Amtrak plan: Fly to Atlanta, spend 1.5 to 2 days there. After 11PM board the Amtrak Crescent. A coach seat will cost from $118 to $186 depending on when you want to travel and how soon you book. The train is sometimes late but you should be out of Atlanta by midnight. Roomette sleepers range up to $525 for the 17 hour trip to Philadelphia. If you still have some budget left, you could take the train to New York from PHL and spend a night there after seeing a show. Flying home from Philadelphia is probably easier/cheaper than flying out of New York. The Amtrak Crescent also has a long stop in Washington DC if you would rather stop there.

tom_mn

Suggestions:

These cities aren’t of equal interest or historical importance.

NYC: A person could spend a month sightseeing here.

Boston and Philly: Both have 3 busy days of things to see (but then skipping the good museums in each city). You could combine these 2 into 5 days of sightseeing but it would be highlights of each only.

Atlanta: Not in the same league as the others.

Since I just spent a week in NYC:
Look for cheaper hotels in Long Island City or Astoria, both in Queens but very close to Manhattan. Probably not that much higher than your range and Mid-Town where the popular hotels are isn’t the best place to stay IMO.

Airbnbs are legal in NYC if a bedroom in an occupied apartment. You might find something in your price range. Full apartment Airbnbs are technically illegal but it’s being appealed so the law is not currently being enforced. Still these will start at $200 for a studio in a good area.

Your food and transport budget is probably high if that helps, if you stick to bus/subway and no taxis.

Not sure what your time frame is but 2 Chase credit card bonuses will get you there for a $99 annual fee. Look at the Southwest Visa and the British Airways Visa (BA avios can be used to book American and Alaska flights),

Michael

In NYC, try this hotel:

https://carltonarms.com/

TDudette

Welcome, ziptravel! My vote is for New York City. So very much to do. Not knowing anything about you, but have you looked into the YMCA? No first hand experience but I've read about it. A friend of mine stayed at the YWCA when she visited her new grandchild in a too small place in NYC.

tom_mn

My first visit to NYC was at a Y, which is now condos. I think it was $20 for a private room, no AC, shared bath.

Anyway checking out the West Side Y there are private rooms for $120 with shared bath, apparently still no AC because they offer "temperature checks." Deluxe rooms for $145 show an AC unit in the window and provide "semi-private" bath.

Christina

It's hard to say as Atlanta has never appealed to me in the slightest to even go there, so not sure why you want to. I would not do this just to stay 5 days in Philadelphia. Not sure I'd choose to spend 5 days in Boston, either. NY is the only one of those where I could spend 5 days.

NY is super expensive. You could conceivably spend 2 days in Boston, take Amtrak to NYC ( about 4 hrs) and then spend 2.5 days there.

If you really only have 4 days, out of those, I suppose Boston or NY for 4 days. But as I said, I have no interest in Atlanta so you must have an idea of things you want to do there for 4 days. It's probably a bit cheaper but that's just speculation.

I think that budget is a challenge for your RT air fare. Depends on your dates and if you are flying rock bottom class, you can probably do that RT on Jetblue or Alaska Airlines to JFK or ATL (assuming you are in Seattle). I think BOS not quite as cheap. I don't think you'll get anything that cheap to PHL< either, unless you go a real off period, like early November or something.

KTtravel

I have enjoyed my visits to all of the cities you have mentioned and hope you can eventually visit each one. I agree Washington DC should be added to your list. I was surprised how much I enjoyed visiting Atlanta and could have easily spent more time there. There is quite a lot to see and do and I barely scratched the surface with a two day visit. I hope to get a chance to return someday.

However, of the places you've mentioned, NYC is the standout. We took an excellent food tour of Greenwich Village. I think it may have been this one: https://www.foodsofny.com/foods-ny-t...enwich-village.

I hate overnight flights as I am then too tired to enjoy my arrival day but perhaps you are better at getting by on less sleep.

ziptravel

just some thoughts
-I have been to Washington D.C. I will never go back.
-Some people have recommended 3x budget for Hotel for NYC and Boston. This is a hard NO. Not gonna spend $700 a night for a hotel.
-If trip total goes over $7000 I'd rather not go at all.
-Not flying first class or business, I know which airlines to pick that have decent seats
-Trip split between Boston and NYC and vice/versa sounds interesting

General sentiment I'm getting is:
Do 1 city
Atlanta or PHL / 2-3 days
Boston or NYC / 4-5 days

Do 2 cities.
Boston to NYC or NYC to Boston - 2 days each. Probably 6 days total.

revised baseline budget looks like for 4-5 nights
Flight: $400-$500 Roundtrip
Hotel: $125-$156 per night
Food: $100 per day
Transportation: $25-50 bus pass

janisj

OK -- I have no idea what you're talking about . . . "-Some people have recommended 3x budget for Hotel for NYC and Boston. This is a hard NO. Not gonna spend $700 a night for a hotel."

Where did a single person mention $700/night? Your OP laid out a budget of $100-$120 per night. Even math challenged wouldn't figure 3X your stated budget equals $700 per night.

Your new increased budget of $125-$156 is still tight. You need to figure in the various taxes and fees that many city hotels must levy. NYC for example:

8.875% NY state tax
8.875% NYC tax
$4 NYC hotel tax
$1.50 NYC per unit fee

So a $156 hotel room (still cheap by NYC standards) would cost almost $190 per night

ziptravel

It's called hyperbole...and with all due respect you don't have to post...

bradshawgirl1

I've spent time in all of the locations you're considering, save Philly.

What time of year are you thinking? You will broil in Atlanta in the summer (though I disagree with other posters - there's plenty to keep you occupied there for a few days), so if it's a summer trip, maybe pick something further north. Whereas if you're thinking a winter trip, Atlanta will be temperate, while these other destinations will be freezing.

ziptravel

Fall or Spring, probably won't do winter or summer.

k_marie

Are you willing to stay in a hostel? This one has dorm rooms, family rooms and private rooms. It has earned good reviews on TripAdvisor and is located in Philadelphia’s Old City. It’s close to Independence Park, Chinatown, and the Reading Terminal Market. Bus and subway transportation are nearby.

https://applehostels.com