Pgh to Boston and Jersey or PA locales w access to NYC

[hallettm]

Hello wonderful travelers.

I am trying to give my family members some advice on their Pittsburgh to Boston road trip. They are flying in to Pgh from Texas and originally were going to take the train for the east coast road trip but opted for renting a car. Except they wanted to train from Pittsburgh to NYC, back to Pittsburgh and then start the journey north by car. That is a lot of money and the train takes 11 hrs so its not making any sense (2 long travel days and 2 days in NYC) . But they don't want to drive and park in Manhattan. Do you have any suggestions for a place to stay in either New Jersey or possibly PA where they could stay and park at a hotel and take a train or bus easily into the city? And then I can suggest that they just go north with no back tracking!

Thanks so much!!

[glc]

I would look at Tarrytown NY. There are several somewhat reasonably priced hotels in the Tarrytown/Elmsford area along I-287, and there is a direct Metro North train to Grand Central every 30 minutes from Tarrytown, it takes about an hour. This will also keep you out of a lot of the commuter traffic when you leave there to head north.

[BillyGr]

I would look at Tarrytown NY. There are several somewhat reasonably priced hotels in the Tarrytown/Elmsford area along I-287, and there is a direct Metro North train to Grand Central every 30 minutes from Tarrytown, it takes about an hour. This will also keep you out of a lot of the commuter traffic when you leave there to head north.

Could probably pick just about any of the towns that is served by Metro-North. The further out from NYC will increase train time (but not anywhere near the 11 hours from Pittsburgh - I remember Poughkeepsie, which is the northern end of one line being 2 hours or so train ride) but may be offset by slightly lower pricing on lodging (or it might not).

To some degree, it may depend on what the plans are for the trip from NYC to Boston - are they looking to follow the coastline through CT, RI into MA, or are they looking to go north in NY then across either MA, or even further north across VT and NH then south into the Boston area? If they are staying close to the coast, a station further south (there are even some Metro-North lines that run into CT itself) might be advantageous, if going more north then east, the stations further into NY would make more sense.

Also, are they looping back to Pittsburgh to fly back (in which case two separate routes would be sensible to/from Boston), or just going one way?

And finally a length of time, for the trip total, to see how much time they have to work with to cover whatever distance is needed might help some suggest better options as well.

[glc]

I looked at Danbury CT, but there's no direct train, requires a change and takes 2 hours+. Hotels along the CT coast are expensive or are in sketchy areas. Tarrytown is convenient, I-287 goes to the coast.

[AZBuck]

The other problem with taking the train between Pittsburgh and New York and then back to Pittsburgh is that they'd then have to cover all that distance between Pittsburgh and the Hudson twice again for a total of four times! Much better to do it all in one go by car from Pittsburgh to New York (Tarrytown is a good option) to Boston and back to Pittsburgh. They could, of course, go the other way: to Boston and then New York before going back to the start.

The main problem with getting out of Pittsburgh is that the airport is on the west side of the city and you'll want to go east. Depending on the time their flight arrives, they might want to just find a restaurant near the airport and sit out rush hour before continuing on. In any event they're going to have to spend an overnight somewhere on the way to New York.

So let's look at what would be the three legs of your trip: Pittsburgh-New York, New York-Boston, and Boston-Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh to New York is relatively straightforward. Just take I-276 through the heart of the city to US-22 which is four lanes, often controlled access. Continue on this to I-99 north and then I-80 east. Finally, in the New York area, I-267 will take you north and east into Tarrytown.

New York to Boston is a heavily traveled corridor and although I-95 goes through both cities that is not the way to go. From New York/Tarrytown continue east on I-287 and take I-684 north to I-84 east until it joins the Mass Pike (I-90, toll) east into Boston.

It's on the Boston to Pittsburgh leg that they can really take their time and do a scenic RoadTrip. This leg could conceivably be done in a single hard day's drive (575 mi) but would be much more enjoyable if they too two days and some roads less traveled. I would suggest taking MA-2, the Mohawk Trail out of the Boston area through the Berkshires to NY-2 and Albany. From there I-88 to Binghamton would set them up for NY-17 along the Susquehanna River to Waverly NY/Sayre PA. Next US-220 south to I-180 and I-80 west. At Bellefonte switch over to I-99 then from Altoona US-22 will get them back to Pittsburgh.

AZbuck

[hallettm]

Thank you everyone for your advice. I think I've convinced them that coming back to Pittsburgh is an insane idea and waste of money. Its 450 for 2 for that round trip train and that first night in NYC is a wasted 350-400 dollars because they get in at 9 pm and aren't "night on the town" people. But because of your advice I think they've found places to stay and will do a scenic road trip back down. Thank again!