David Henderson

I am visiting Hunter in June then travelling down to Allentown PA. Anyone recommend an overnight stop, either a destination or a hotel.

Willing to give info on Amsterdam, Jo'burg, Nairobi in return, having lived in all three in the past few years.

Owen O'Neill

Do you Mean Hunter Mountain NY in the Catskill Mountains? Please note that when you post in this forum the location you selected when making the post (e.g. New York) is applicable only to the search function and doesn't appear when the post is made. If it is Hunter NY, it's only about a 3 1/2 hour drive and it wouldn't seem necessary to stay overnight. I can't think of any scenic places in between the two that would warrant staying over just for the sake of being there.

david

Owen,

Thanks, appreciate it is only a short distance but we leave Hunter NY Thursday and have to be in Allentown Friday night so were looking for something to do in between.

Hope you have a suggestion

BTilke

Well, you could stop overnight in Bethlehem at the Ramada in Historic Bethlehem (used to be the Hotel Bethlehem). The historic Bethelehem area is interesting to visit (check out the Sun Inn, God's Acre, and a few of the local museums). There's also a brewpub up the block and some surprisingly good shopping. The Moravian Book Shop is the oldest bookstore in the US; the adjacent cookshop is a good place to try local foods like Moravian cake (best coffee cake I've ever had but goes stale in about 36 hours) or locally made chocolate non-pareils. If you arrived on Thursday, you'd have all day Friday to wander around, sightsee and eat, without having to get back in your car until you head over to Allentown.

nyer

BTilke and David, Bethlehem is about a 15 drive to Allentown, so there would be no need to make a special stop along the way if you wish to visit there.

David, you could of course stop in NY City, spend the day there (but stay overnight somewhere in NJ before or after if you're economizing). On the way to Allentown from NYC, there's a few nice towns in NJ if you want to see historic houses, gardens or small museums for a couple hours, nothing really major, but then again it's only a straight hour and a half drive from NYC to Allentown on I-78.

Owen O'Neill

Having been to Allentown I can easily understand your desire to do something else for evening and day. I moved to the north Jersey/NYC area about three years ago and got good suggestions when I posted looking for weekend day trips in NJ. I'll find that post and bring it to the top for you (title mentions weekend day trips in NJ). If your preference is to explore the Hudson valley you might find a nice B&B or inn in the Rhinebeck area, then tour the Rockefeller estate, Roosevelt's Hyde Park estate or painter Frederick Church's estate the next day. Any of those might be combined with lunch at the Culinary Institute of America. They have several restaurants, at least one of which is highly rated (reserve in advance). There are several recent threads in this forum on thigns to do and place s to stay in Rhinebeck and the Hudson Valley. If that interests you just say so and I'll top those for you also. Lambertville NJ / New Hope PA is a fun destination but only for a few hours. I'd be more inclined to get a NYC hotel room on Priceline, have a small overnight case with essentials, leave the car and luggage at the ferry stop in Weehawken and go into NYC. You could even have lunch or an early dinner at Arthur's Landing (restaurant located at the ferry dock). Food is good and view of NYC skyline is spectacular.

BTilke

Nyer, I'm a Lehigh Valley native, believe me, I know the distance between Allentown and Bethlehem! However, there really isn't an especially noteworthy place to stop between Hunter and Allentown, so why not drive down to Bethlehem, sightsee on Friday (without having to drive anywhere) and then hop over to Allentown at the end of the day? That way David has spent Friday seeing and doing a few interesting things and doesn't have to worry about driving on Friday night.

xxx

I'd caution against New Hope. There is no direct route from New Hope up to Allentown and David would be driving out of his way and fighting Friday night traffic. Doesn't seem practical for this trip.

nyer

Sorry, BTilke--to me it sounded like you were suggesting Bethlehem as a stopover part of the way from Hunter To Allentown!
I guess I assumed that David didn't want
to drive down in one shot, because as someone metioned, we're only talking about a few hours. Bethlehem is certainly worth a visit, but I figured that someone who would be spending time in the Allentown area would visit it while they're already there.

MikePA

Why don't you stop in Scranton? No I'm serious! It's about half way. There's a nice hotel (Radisson) in an historic train station with a pretty good restaurant. There's a great National Park called Steamtown which is only a couple of blocks from the hotel. The park focuses on railroad history. (There's a large downtown shopping mall next to that if that's your cup of tea). Next to that is a movie theatre. The Scranton Cultural Center also gets shows (Stomp! was a recent one), and has a philharmonic. There's also an excellent tour of a coal mine across town. Montage mountain which offers skiing in the winter and is only 10 minutes from town has summer activities too and there's a Triple A baseball team (the Red Barons) which plays at the new stadium.
From Scranton you can easily get on 476 the PA Turnpike going to Allentown. See? There's lots to do.