East Coast USA

Hello All,

I wonder whether I could pick your wealth of knowledgable V-Flyer brains for a little bit of advice for a couple of weeks trip to the East Coast USA.

We have a couple of reward seats booked to JFK on August 17th and plan to spend a week there doing the usual NYC tourist bits. (I've been several times before but it's the first time for my OH),

That leaves another week before we head home and I'm quite keen to grab a flight up to Buffallo to see the US side of Niagra. After a bit of research I don't think that we'll need any more than a couple of days there so we have a good 3-4 days left to visit somewhere else. My first thought was getting a flight down to Washington but am now also thinking about maybe Boston.

We like exploring cities but also like the great outdoors. Any suggestions or advice on anywhere that we could hop on a 1-2hr flight and spend a few days would be much appreciated.

Many thanks in advance,

Matt

[Neil]

We have visited both Boston and Washington and really liked them both.
Both cities have great outdoor spaces so tick that box for you, I guess you just have to decide which is more tempting.
Personally I would probably suggest Washington, as we felt there was more to do.

We have visited both Boston and Washington and really liked them both.
Both cities have great outdoor spaces so tick that box for you, I guess you just have to decide which is more tempting.

+1

Personally I would probably suggest Washington, as we felt there was more to do.

-1 Some great things to do in Washington, but I think we preferred Boston on the grounds of being more compact and easy to get around.

Another vote for Boston. We felt really relaxed there and the city is very 'walkable'.

Haven't been to Boston but due to family in NYC have also experienced short trips from there in the Northeast. When we did Niagara we drove and found it eerily quiet but impressive nonetheless... I would say two days is enough. (NB Good cheap flights on Jet Blue)

Our other ex-NYC short trips have included Atlantic City, NJ, Philadelphia, Washington and Chicago. From my experience even Chicago which is more mid-west than east cost is doable - only 90min flight!

Hope this has given you some food for thought. Personally my favourites of these where Chicago and Philadelphia. In particular Philadelphia was great for outdoors and casual strolls.

Another vote for Boston, love that place, so much to do and then you can always get a coach or train down Cape Cod way - Plimoth and Plimoth Plantation both fantastic to see then on a boat to do some whale watching or ferry to Martha's Vineyard..... etc. etc.

I am doing a similar trip in July to August.
My interniery is :-
Fly to Boston for 3 nights (2 full days)
Drive to Plymouth Rock & then on to Niagara for 2 nights (1 full day)
Drive to Washington for 3 nights (2 full days & 1/2 a day)
Train to Philly for 2 night (1/2 day & 1 full day + 1/2 a day)
Train to New York for 5 nights (4 & 1/2 full days)

Most check in times for hotels seem to be after 3pm - so I can time my travel around those times. For example, its a bit pointless in arriving in NY with suitcases at 11am if I can't check in until 3pm.

The drives will be a killer 8 hours each, but I have done Vegas to the South Rim & Back in the same day... so not too worried + they are in the 1st week, so I can relax in the 2nd week. Just need to stop in a supermarket & buy a polystyrene cooler box & a big bag of ice.

A big vote for boston from me , admittedly I've never been to Washington but for me boston is a lovely ,friendly and walkable city and believe me I'm not big on walking but I walked a lot when I was last there

Any of DC, Philadelphia, Boston, or Chicago are great to visit. There's certainly more than enough to keep you busy for a few days.

I wouldn't visit DC in August, it'll be a steamingly humid cesspit (maybe a bit strong ). Go inland or up the coast, or go out to Long Island. Really though if a two hour flight is OK then you could choose Montreal, or Toronto, or Chicago (a little more). I am in the camp of Boston = a little dull whereas the above are fab. So perhaps Toronto followed by Niagara Falls?

A big vote for boston from me , admittedly I've never been to Washington but for me boston is a lovely ,friendly and walkable city and believe me I'm not big on walking but I walked a lot when I was last there

Walk?
Im planning to see Washington on a Segeway
http://dc.citysegwaytours.com/

Another vote for Philadelphia which we loved, easily driveable from NYC and easily walkable when you're there.

If you are going to see Niagara then whatever you do do it from the Canadian side.

You can get an Amtrak train from Penn Station. Yes it takes best part of day but you can just look out the window and relax!

Spend the Night in Niagara falls and most of the rest of the next day then get the train to Toronto for a couple of days before going to Montreal or back to NYC.

Many many thanks for all of the replies everyone, they are hugely helpful.
Boston is now looking favorite, with maybe either a drive down the coast or up into the White Mountains.

We are also now considering Toronto as the access point to Niagra instead of Buffalo. I'm not a huge fan of trains in the US. We did an Amtrak journey from Vancouver to Seattle last August and for a journey of about 160 miles it seemed to take forever. I've been on faster trains in India!

The cost of internal flights look very reasonable, (Toronto a bit more), so will probably look to fly it rather than train it.

So many choices.... Better charge the iPad before the weekend!