New York to New Orleans

[Lizzie]

Hi this is my first post on this site, what a fantastic idea this is.

I am planning a round road trip from New York to New Orleans around the second last week of March. I was thinking I might 'train it' in one direction and drive the other.

I'll be travelling on my own and I only have about a week to play with. Any tips on best ways/routes to travel and what to look for along the way, not to mention when I get there, would be fantastic.

I will happily reciprocate with advice to any folk travelling to Sydney.

cheers
Lizzie

[fuzzypuppy]

One thing you have to take into account is that one way car rentals are way more expensive than round trips.

Second, driving from New Orleans to New York takes about 21 to 23 hours. That's 2-3 days of straight driving. Then, I looked on the Amtrak website and NY-NO trip takes about 30 hours.

I would say it's probably not advisable in a week via ground transportation, pick a closer destination if you don't want to fly.

[Tessa Heywood]

Hi Lizzie
Saw your post and we are about to do something very similar in October. We will be driving from New York to New Orleans and back again - any tips from your trip that might help us out? Thanks, Tessa

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

Lizzie and Tessa: As with any major RoadTrip, the time you have available for making it is your major limitation - often even more so than cost! As fuzzypuppy pointed out, it's a solid 2½-3 days from New York to New Orleans even if you don't stop at interesting attractions along the way or take any 'roads less traveled'. So, let's first concentrate on what you can do if you only have three days for the one-way drive.

With three days you can either take the direct route and make 2 or 3 short stops to see something. Or you can take slightly slower/roads to enjoy something than just Interstates. The former would entail using I-78/I-81/I-75/I-59 through Harrisburg (PA), Knoxville (TN), and Birmingham (AL) with stops such as Shenandoah National Park, Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, and maybe Huntsville (AL). The later option might include using US-11 as an alternative to I-81 or even using the Natchez Trace Parkway between Nashville and I-55.

If you can devote another day (or more) to the drive, then the possibilities really start to open up and you can pretty much pick any sites/roads that are even 'more or less' between New York and New Orleans and get to at least some of them on a very relaxed journey. So, the first things you have to decide about any RoadTrip are: How much time do I have? and What (sort of things) do I want to see? Once you've made those decisions, we can be a lot more help with specific recommendations

AZBuck

[Midwest Michael]

Tessa, you should know that the original poster here has not visited the forum since March, so it is rather unlikely that she will be back to offer you any tips from her trip.