uameen

I am planning to travel from Washington DC to NF by Car and this is my First trip to States. Anybody who has recently traveled on this route and has a good Idea of the roads. Which will be the Best route to take ? which Navigation App will be the best to use ?
Any information will be much appreciated as I have no idea of this route.

janisj

Is there a reason you want to drive? It is a very long distance and will take about 8 hours plus stops. You can fly in less then 90 minutes.

Bur without knowing the rest of your itinerary it is hard to give advice.

janisj

Oh that flight would be to Buffalo . . .

uameen

I guess if to save time the best way is by Air but I need to explore and got time to do that so I guess best way to do it by Road

uameen

I will be staying at NF for 2 Days and then will be traveling to NY by Road

Christina

If you have plenty of time, why not. What time of year is this? Presuming it is not winter so no possible weather problems, you have two major routes -- up the middle of PA on route 99, or go over on rt 68 to WV, then up 79 to Lake Erie, then over to Niagara Falls. Some people may go on the PA turnpike over to 79 but having done that two times too many, I'd avoid that, take 68 through western MD and VA if you choose that route.

I'd lean to the western route myself and I think the roads are better. Partly personal preference, as I said, I don't like a lot of PA roads.

I don't use apps, just printed maps or I get a route map from Google for planning and print it, so can't say the best app.

IMDonehere

Are you from Oz?

uameen

Thanks Christina for your valuable input !!

uameen

I will be travelling this route by the end of this month

washingtondc

We just did the drive from DC to Niagara Falls and it is very doable. About 7 hours. I was with my elementary aged daughters, so we split up the trip with stops along the way but you wouldn't need to do that. We took a route through Harrisburg, Williamsport PA, then stopped in Corning NY (lovely!) and turned west to Buffalo.

It sounds like this is too late to be of use for you in planning your trip that already took place, but I wanted to put this out there for those that are researching a trip and wondering if they really NEED to go to the Canadian side, as many many previous posters have stated. We did both, and if we had to get passports for all our family and spend hundreds specifically for this, I wouldn't. We found the falls from the US side to be spectacular, you get right on top of them viewing the Horseshoe falls from Goat Island (Goat Island was a highlight, really nice place to bike and picnic), we did the Maid of the Mist and the Cave of The Winds, and with Maid of the Mist you go right up to the entire falls. There isn't a need to go to the Canadian side, unless you can easily do it and you have the time to continue on to other areas in Canada (which I am sure are wonderful!).

We waked across the border which I highly recommend, bc the wait for those in cars was very very long. There is a lovely little garden area right when you get over the border, where you can sit and eat and see the falls, or you can continue walking and go all the way down to where the vendors are. There is no reason to go up to Clifton St because it is a god awful mess of tacky wax museums and chain restaurants. In fact, we were so disappointed to have to look at all that while we viewed the falls from the NY side. On the NY side, the area around the falls is wooded and a green park, originally designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, with no highrises or unsightly vendors. (Except for the Niagara casino farther back which shamefully does mar the view from the other side). We stayed at the Comfort Inn Pointe right across the street from the park entrance, so did not use our car at all. Walked down to the falls. Ate at Top of the Falls which had great views and food and reasonably priced. You could do it all in one day, or stay overnight and take your time as we did. We also went to NY Power Authority and Niagara Falls a]Aquarium as they were free. There is a free shuttle through town that takes you to all the stops, including Fort Niagara which we didn't get to. Highly recommend the Power Authority stop if you have kids into science. All is set up really well.

sf7307

"we were so disappointed to have to look at all that while we viewed the falls"

Reminds me of the combo KFC/Pizza Hut you could see if you were standing with your back to the Sphinx - fortunately you could turn around and blot it out!!