New York to Montreal via Boston - need some ideas please!

My husband and I are flying from Australia into New York in July, and meeting friends who will be driving in from Montreal. We will be spending 5 days in New York City before heading north on a road trip that will end in Montreal.

We have 11 days to get from NYC to Montreal and below are our places of interest so far:

- Long Island (The Hamptons)

- Cape Cod

- Martha's Vineyard

- Plymouth

- Boston

- Burlington VT

- Lake Placid

Having never driven this area before, we are not sure how to tackle this itinerary. We are not sure where to stay overnight along the way, how long to stay for and what is worth seeing and what's not.

We considered leaving New York City, heading out to Long Island for a night, then catching the car ferry from Port Jefferson to Bridgeport and continuing our way up the coast line. Would we miss out on much along the way if we did the ferry trip across instead of driving?

We are stuck on where to go between Boston and Burlington also.

Any suggestions of where to go and places to stay are welcome!

Thanks :)

I should also mention that we will be travelling in our friends car so travel by road (or car ferry) is our only option. :)

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

You've got plenty of time to explore one of my favorite areas of the country, an area where, once you get away from the major urban areas, just wandering down a country lane is its own reward. That general area has been written abut often with some of those discussions gathered up here (although not all the recommendations will fit on your itinerary. With that in mind, let me address your specific questions.

Yes, I would highly recommend that you take a ferry from Long Island to southern Connecticut rather than beat your way back through New York City and around Long Island Sound. But not the Port Jefferson-Bridgeport ferry. Instead take the Point Orient-New London Ferry which makes much more sense once you're as far out on the Island as the Hamptons.

Between Boston and Burlington, I'd suggest that you first head up along the coast with possible visits to Plum Island, Strawbery Banke, the Nubble, and other sites, and then use routes like ME/NH-109 and NH-11 through the Lake Winnepesaukee region, followed by a drive through Franconia Notch, followed by a stop in the Barre/Montpelier area before continuing on to Burlington.

And just a note. One of the reasons that your post(s) received a delayed response is that you 'bumped' it twice. That makes it looks to others as though you ARE getting responses. From the outside, no one knows that both 'responses' were your own.

AZBuck

Thanks for your reply AZBuck and for the links to posts relevent to our trip. I will definitely check these out.

The ferry from Orient Point makes good sense and we have looked into it however until now we were unable to make a reservation online, but using your link has let me get further with my reservation, so thank you.

On your way from Connecticut to Boston, you might want to visit Newport, Rhode Island and Cape Cod, Massachusetts, but be forewarned -- they will be crowded with tourists in July.

After you leave Boston, you might want to consider visiting Portsmouth, New Hampshire before making an overnight stop in the charming oceanfront village of Ogunquit, Maine. I would then head north on Interstate 95 for another overnight stop in the Boothbay Harbor region of Maine. From Boothbay, I would backtrack a bit toward Portland and take US Rte. 302 to the resort village of North Conway, NH. There is plenty to see and do in the White Mountains region. From North Conway it’s a short but very scenic ride mountain on State Route 112 to Lincoln, New Hampshire in the Franconia Notch region. No visit to Lincoln is complete without a stop at the Common Man restaurant. From Lincoln, it’s an easy one-day drive to Burlington on Interstate 93, Interstate 91, US Rte. 2, and Interstate 89. If you have extra time in Burlington, you might want to check out the Champlain Islands just north of the city. South Hero Island is only about a thirty-minute ride on Interstate 89.

Enjoy your visit.