Washington D.C. and NYC. Summer. What to do in between??
 

I would really appreciate any suggestions or feedback on my itinerary.

Summer travel for me and my family (wife and two kids -9 and 11-). We will be traveling to East Coast from 07/ 5 to 07/18, and the plan is to combine city and nature.

TRAVEL ITINERARY
07/05 - Lands at JFK approx. at 6 AM. And move towards Washington D.C. by car.
07/06 - 07-08. Washington D.C.
07/08- Leave Washington D.C.
07/14 – to 07/18 NYC.

We have no hotel reservation yet from 07/08 to 07/14.

We are interested in Philadelphia and Atlantic City, and to stay in a campground (tent camping) or a hotel-motel, near nice places to visit or trails in the woods, lake or beach to spend the day there. We will rent a car for those days.

My Questions:
1.- Would you suggest any particular place in Maryland (Ocean City), New Jersey (Cape May, Wildwood) or Delaware (Rehoboth or Dewey Beach) to stay with Kids.

2.- Is it worth to go to Philadelphia and Atlantic City, or we better stay in NYC and D.C. and then head to the country side?

Thanks for all the inputs you guys going to provide.

A few ideas:

Take the train or fly from NYC to Washington, don't drive. Bad traffic, not scenic, and you absolutely do not want or need a car in Washington. The Metro system is excellent, and most of the attractions are within walking distance of each other or easy to get to on the Metro. You will be there for the Fourth of July holiday, so the city will be packed.

I don't believe you have time to go to any of the beaches you are talking about and still give any time to NYC. if you insist, rent a car, drive to Lewes, Delaware, and take the ferry to Cape May, New Jersey. Spend the night and next morning there, then drive on the Garden State Parkway and New Jersey Turnpike to NYC. Turn in the car.

But I strongly recommend against this. Take the train to NY. If your kids MUST have a beach, take them to the iconic American beach, Coney Island: beaches, hotdogs, roller coasters! And all accessible by subway.

I agree about taking the train from NYC to DC, then getting a car when you leave DC.

I would spend at least 1 more day in DC - with the current plan, you will have only 2 days, which is barely enough time to see a few things. If you have 3 or 4 days, it will be so much better.

It looks like you have 5 days in NYC, so that is good.

For the time in between, if you spend an extra day in DC and leave on the 9th then arrive in NYC on the 14th, you'll have 4 full days in between plus the travel days. I think that is enough time to visit a beach area along the way. I like Cape May a lot.

I wouldn't try to add Philly, although it is a great city and very interesting to visit, you just don't really have time with NYC and DC. And forget Atlantic City all together unless you want to gamble.

You've already gotten great advice. I'll add my voice: Do NOT get a car to go from NYC to DC and do not plan to use a car in either of those cities. Add at least a day to DC. Give yourselves at least 5 days in NYC. Don't go to Atlantic City unless you want to gamble.

Have you already purchased your airline tickets? If not, consider flying into DC and out of NYC.

I happen to like Philadelphia very much and think it can be a great place for children, with Independence Hall, etc. Adding it to this itinerary would, however, make your trip very "city-heavy." You know your family, so you can decide whether that makes sense.

Hope that helps!

We're planning nearly the exact same trip.
Flying into DC July 4 & out of NYC ~ 2 weeks later with our 2 teens. No desire to camp though!

Staying downtown DC then hope to rent a car & spend a few days on the beach (Jersey Shore?) before ending our trip in NYC.
Would like to ditch the car before hitting NYC & take the train into the city. My dilemmas:

1. Want beach side accommodations, but not a full week rental (cottage with a gap in their rental schedule or a resort) What beach?
2. Where to drop the car & catch the train into the city?

Finding beach side accommodation for less than a week - esp in a family area - will be a problem, although there are a lot of places not far off the beach - IF you reserve early. (Many people have already reserved by March).

Not sure about camping.

And do forget AC - it's really only for hard core gamblers nothing for kids and not a pleasant place.