CC parents, please help me out. I need to figure out the best place to book a hotel as part of a driving trip from Boston to to the upper east side of Manhattan. I’ll be leaving Boston early evening and would like to get as close as possible to NYC so the drive into the city in the morning will be as easy as possible. I could drive into the city the first night but would prefer to book a cheaper room with free parking. I’m from the opposite side of the country and unfamiliar with the Boston-NYC corridor, but am a very confident driver.
Why are you driving to NYC? I wouldn’t recommend it. Amtrak is much faster than driving (trains go up to 125 or 150 mph). If you are driving, I’d drive to Stamford, CT and park there, and would take Metro-North (commuter train) into Manhattan. If you want to drive the whole way into Manhattan, driving into town in the morning will be challenging; I’d drive into Manhattan mid-day or at night if possible.
I’m helping DS and his GF move from Boston to NYC. We’ll be driving an SUV with a bunch of stuff and need to meet the building superintendent and the moving van driver at the apartment at 10 am. Normally I would only fly or take a train into NYC, but this time is different. We have an exit strategy for the SUV and I’ll be flying out of LaGuardia.
My hope is we can find an affordable hotel an hour or so north of the city. Is this an unrealistic goal?
I’d look for a place to stay in White Plains. It’s closer than Stamford. There are several different routes you can take into the city and if you have Waze it will route you to avoid the worst traffic. It takes about 50 minutes to get into the city from White Plains.
Thanks everyone. We took your area advice, booked blindly on Hotwire.com, and got a great hotel in Rye Brook at a very good price. I’m glad we’ll get most of the drive done at night and have a relatively short morning trek. Hopefully traffic will subside before we go. Thanks again.
As @HRSMom said, it may take longer than you think, especially if the apt is anywhere near a business district (as opposed to Upper East or Upper West). It sounds as though there will be three of you, which is great so that you do not need to leave the car unattended.
In case the recent Bostonians are used to driving in Boston, I must caution you to NOT run the red in NYC. If you stop for the red in Boston, you run the risk of being rear-ended by the person behind you who intended to run the light after you. If you run the light in Manhattan, you will be struck by the guy who took off the second his light turned green. No one ever started off the second the light turned green in Boston as there was often some guy ready to turn left across three lanes of traffic from the far right lane.
And do not block the box as the tickets are expensive. It is much easier to drive in Manhattan than in Boston. Good luck with the move! You are so good to help out.
@ChuckleDoodle - I’m competent, confident, and can be as aggressive as conditions warrant. Would you recommend polite aggressiveness or “turn indicators are a sign of weakness” aggressiveness?
@Waiting2exhale – my observations after moving from Boston to Manhattan. Boston drivers are kind of like NYC cabbies of decades past.
Owned a car in both cities, but only drove it in and out of Manhattan, whereas in Boston, I would drive within the city and find new parking (silly waste of time given how compact Boston is).
It also took me a while to realize that Right on Red was illegal in NYC.
Be aware that a fully loaded car could be a target for thieves if left overnight in a hotel parking lot. A black moving blanket that covers everything completely really makes a difference.
As for driving in NYC, I learned to drive in Boston but have lived in the Pacific NW for twenty five years. Driving in NYC is not that big a deal. You may take a extra light cycle to get through an intersection, but so what?
@CT1417 - The apartment is in the vicinity of 88th and Lexington. Shouldn’t take too long and apparently is a very nice area (as a parent I surely prefer that to a bohemian dive). And Boston drivers…yes, they’re pretty bad. I’d assumed NYC drivers would be worse. No right on red? Thanks for the heads up.
@sherpa – 88th & Lex shouldn’t take too long to reach from the 96th St exit of the FDR. And while a very nice neighborhood (Carnegie Hill, I believe), I still would heed @dmd77’s advice and not leave a car unattended for even a minute.
I found Boston drivers more aggressive than Manhattan drivers. Also, Manhattan is a grid north of 14th Street, so you just drive straight and follow traffic signals. It is really quite straight forward.
I rarely drive into Manhattan these days, so I don’t know if the advent of Uber has resulted in more bad drivers on the roads. Also, if your SUV is large, you will be charged a surcharge in parking garages. I paid $60 for perhaps four hours up near Columbia University last spring.
Oh–the very first time I drove from Boston to NY, I was not in the far right lane coming from the Triborough Bridge to the FDR, and could not merge over in the Friday rush hour traffic, so I went to Queens instead of Manhattan. Had the opportunity to cover all three boroughs that evening.Talking GPS will keep you from making the same mistake, and the bridge is now named the RFK bridge, but some of the signs may say Triborough.
@sherpa : Why in the world are you driving from Boston to stay in Rye Brook overnight? Boston to NYC is a 4-5 hour drive – not something you have to break up – and if you are worried about traffic in the city you will do much better in the evening after 7 than you will at 9 in the morning. There are small hotels on the UES at which you can stay that won’t cost much more than you will pay in Westchester. Parking will be more expensive – you could probably find street parking, but I wouldn’t recommend it with a full truck – but it should be significantly more secure than a hotel parking lot in Rye Brook.
Driving in NYC does take some atty-tood, but I find it a lot easier than driving in Boston!