Niagara Falls to Cape Cod

[ToddA]

Am thinking about flying into Niagara Falls and renting a car to drive to cape cod. How long does it take? What are must sees along the way? What route? Love small towns and festivals. 2 days in Niagara and a week in Cape Cod with day trips each day (Boston, etc) Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

Niagara Falls to Cape Cod is a full days's drive with only the most basic of stops for food and fuel. It should also be noted that it will be an expensive day since you'll be driving almost the entire length on the New York State Thruway and the Massachusetts Turnpike (or else taking considerably longer!) If you want to see any of the sights in between plan on taking two days for the transit.

If you're planning a day trip into Boston, be aware that there are choke points to getting on/off the Cape, it's a long way around to Boston, driving in Boston can be confusing, and parking in Boston is hard to find and expensive when you do. You might be much better off taking the passenger ferry from Provincetown into Boston in the morning and back to the Cape in the evening.

AZBuck

[Lifemagician]

Since this is posted in summer road trips, I assume that you are looking at next summer, and not late this year.

Rather than take a day to drive to the Cape, if you are interested in small towns and scenic routes, and some history along the route, may I suggest you take US20 from around Depew all the way to Boston. As you enjoy the routeand the small towns, you will come to other attractions which will take you on a side trip. The most significant of these is the finger lakes.

Massachussetts too has historical and scenic side trips off this route. They are all marked on good maps. I take it you are planning this with good detailed maps. If not, I suggest you get either some AAA maps or a good road atlas.

This paragraph may also help you.

Start with maps. Not GPS, not software, not Google, but real honest-to-god paper maps that show you your entire route, that you can mark up (and erase), that you can stick pins in, and that show something about the land you'll be driving through. Those are your essential tool in any RoadTrip planning process. Start by marking all the places you know you want to visit. Then connect the dots. Then look for more places of interest and scenic routes along the lines connecting the dots. Repeat until you've got as many sites and roads as you think you want.

I agree with Buck that driving onto and off the Cape can be a very slow and congested trip, each way. The ferry is a good idea, depending on when you are travelling. Check its schedule.

Lifey