Short vacation in the East Coast

Parent Cafe
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<p>thumper 1, you are dead accurate in understanding the confusion in our minds! Our last vacation was in 2011. We need to be away from the routine (quite monotonous, to say the least) and enjoy a relaxed vacation :)</p>

<p>Yes, as others have mentioned, 2 day for Niagara Falls may not be an intelligent idea, though we would like to keep it in our itinerary. Given our interest to visit Niagara and the fact that we have 4 nights/5 days with us, what would be your recommendation?</p>

<p>We intend to start from NYC, on 14th. morning, and return by 18th. evening. I am also looking into the logistics part of it to ensure that we don’t waste our day time, on long travels.</p>

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<p>If you are bound and determined to go to Niagara on this trip, fly there and back in one day. Or fly there, then fly to Boston and fly back to NYC or take the more expensive, faster train.</p>

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<p>If you’re dedicated to seeing the Falls, think aout how to get quickly across the state to enjoy the rest of your time. </p>

<p>What if you flew into Buffalo, rented a car for one day just to see the Falls, return car at airport that same evening, then take a late nonstop shuttle flight into either Boston or New York? </p>

<p>Note that in New York, there is time and expense involved for ground transportation from airport to city. For this reason, I began using train and bus, not air, from Buf to NYC but I was not pressed for time. The train and bus pull right into Manhattan, so you can begin your New York experience immediately from Penn Station or Port Authority Bus Station. </p>

<p>Or, research taking the Amtrak train from Buffalo to Penn Station/NYC using a “roomette” to sleep overnight with horizontal beds on the train ride, private (tiny) bathroom. By sleeping during the train ride across, you save a night of hotel cost and use that time to cover ground at night. As I recall, though, the departure times don’t work very well. I recall departure times of 4:35 a.m. arriving in NYC around noon, or other early morning options (7 a.m.-ish, 9:30 a.m.) so you arrive in NYC in time for the evening only. </p>

<p>Bus service includes Trailways or Megabus. The Megabus leaves from the Buffalo airport and pulls into midtown Manhattan. Trailways has an occasional bus from airport but mostly leaves from downtown Buffalo, far from that city’s airport.</p>

<p>If it doesn’t frustrate you too much to spend an entire day looking out the window at upstate New York, take a bus or train in. If you want to move faster, find a shuttle flight nonstop, but you’ll need to add on the cab ride/ time from airport into NYC, plus the obvious chance of delays on flights.</p>

<p>Consolation, we cross-posted!</p>

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<p>As others have said, half a day at Niagara is enough. But it is worth seeing, IMO.</p>

<p>I’m going to second lia-b’s suggestion of the Finger Lakes. The beautiful small town of Skaneateles is roughly 2.5 hours from the NY side of Niagara Falls. DH and I had a wonderful vacation there years ago, our most relaxing ever. There are several places to stay directly across the street from the lake, we stayed at the Sherwood Inn. Mirbeau Inn and Spa has beautiful grounds, we spent a good half hour just walking around and taking pictures, even though we weren’t staying there. </p>

<p>Just a few miles from Skaneateles is Auburn, NY - home to the Willard Memorial Chapel, which according to their website has the "only complete and unaltered Tiffany chapel known to exist. "</p>

<p>The Finger Lakes have beautiful scenery, and many wineries to visit. We also enjoyed a very nice dinner/sunset cruise on the lake with Mid-Lakes Navigation. </p>

<p>A side trip from the Finger Lakes could be the Corning Museum of Glass, about 2 hours away.</p>

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<p>We used to live near the Finger Lakes. Lovely area! You could combine it with Niagra Falls trip. I suggest you not try to combine Niagra Falls with Boston. For a short trip, pick one or the other.</p>

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<p>I am just back from a business trip to a conference in Niagara Falls followed by vacation in Toronto/Niagara on the Lake in Canada…so this discussion is really fresh on my mind. Because I was going to vacation afterward I drove from Long Island to Niagara Falls with DH. It is about an 8 hour drive. All our traffic was getting out of the city and over the Tappan Zee but no news there. We saw beautiful foliage in the Catskills which were at peak. Further north the colors were changing but much green. So Niagara Falls, NY is a little run-down and has a giant size Seneca Nation casino/hotel but the park itself on the NY side and the falls themselves are quite nice. I was at the Sheraton which is the one business hotel. I think a full day is sufficient to explore the falls and either take the Maid of the Mist boat or do the Cave of the Winds. I had a nice dinner at Savor which is actually part of Niagara Community College Culinary Arts program and another nice dinner at small Italian restaurant that is located in the super 8 motel…can’t remember the name, but starts with a z. We visited the falls during the day and went back again at night to see the lights on the falls. I did see people walk across the bridge towards Canada as midpoint is a great spot for photos. I did see the falls from the Canadian side. There are more hotels and also lots of touristy attractions. You can also take the Maid of the Mist from the Canadian side. I think the falls are a great attraction and worth seeing at least once in your life. There were people from all over lined up with us on the boat ride, people who came from Texas, from Europe, from Israel and so on.
While I was at my conference, my husband took a nice drive and spent a few hours at Fort Niagara, historic fort from War of 1812. Easy drive about 20 minutes, quaint and picturesque town also.
To me it makes no sense to drive to Boston-you would spend so much time driving, I would save that for a different trip. There is plenty to do in NYS including Buffalo, the Finger Lakes, Corning Museum or stopping in Rochester to tour the George Eastman House and museum, or visit Seneca Falls…or Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame and so on. It is also a lovely town beautifully sited on the lake.
Now… Niagara on the Lake… that is a really lovely destination. I had always wanted to go and this business trip gave me a great excuse.</p>

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<p>Ah Niagra Falls and Toronto - that combo makes sense.</p>

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<p>Rintu…you have 4-5 days. You are starting in NYC. You will spend TWO full days of your trip traveling to Niagara Falls…and back to NYC. To be honest, that is a poor use of vacation time unless your family views riding in a car for eight plus hours twice as a vacation. </p>

<p>Pick EITHER Niagara Falls area OR NYC area OR Boston area and have a nice 4-5 day vacation. Combining a trip to Niagara Falls with a trip to NYC, or anyplace else on the real east coast is NOT a good use of a 4-5 day vacation window.</p>

<p>Yes, they both NYC and Niagara Falls are in NY state…but look at a map. They are on OPPOSITE ends of a VERY long state. </p>

<p>If you want to be on the east coast, fly to the east coast and do things based out of some city there.</p>

<p>If you want to go to Niagara Falls, fly to Buffalo, and go from there. Or fly to Toronto and take the drive to Niagara Falls.</p>

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<p>Rintu…would love to know what you actually DID the week of October 14th??</p>

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<p>Sorry, for the delay in posting my reply. Let me wish you all a very Happy New Year. Is it too late:) We did follow some of the advice we received. Flew to Buffalo, then a couple of days at Niagara. Back to NYC. Followed by a number of short travels within the NY State. Back to Virginia. Spent a weekend at the Virginia Beach and ran out of funds! . Overall, it was a very well spent time. Thanks to all of you for your advice. </p>