Train or Car Hire for North East USA

[snabzter]

I am thinking of going on a 3 week trip to North East USA later on this year. The current plan is:

- fly to Washington and stay a few days
- head to Philadelphia and spend a couple of days
- maybe spend a night somewhere between Philadelphia and New York (or maybe Baltimore before going to Philadelphia)
- spend a few nights New York
- stay a few nights in different places between New York and Boston
- finally stay a few nights in Boston.

It's purely in the idea stage just now so nothing is certain and we might head up to Maine for a couple of days as well.

My questions are, has anyone done something similar? Can anyone recommend whether hiring a car or doing this by train would be better?

For going to Maine we would hire a car in Boston so that bit is ok for us.

[Matt Harper]

Amtrak is no Orient Express-like experience, that's for sure. Rail travel in the US is, in the main, a pretty miserable experience - unless you have a serious aversion to driving, that's what I'd recommend.
This is for a holiday, right? If so, scratch Baltimore. Would you fancy spending leisure time in Middlesborough? Baltimore is similar, only a lot nastier.

[davepoth]

Matt Harper said:

Amtrak is no Orient Express-like experience, that's for sure. Rail travel in the US is, in the main, a pretty miserable experience - unless you have a serious aversion to driving, that's what I'd recommend.
This is for a holiday, right? If so, scratch Baltimore. Would you fancy spending leisure time in Middlesborough? Baltimore is similar, only a lot nastier.

However, the Washington-Boston corridor is the only bit of the USA that does have a proper railway. The Acela Express is actually pretty good, comfortable too. A car is always nice though.

[LostCroc]

Personally I would not bother with a car in DC or NYC. The Acela train connection from DC all the way to Boston is actually pretty good and I take it regularly between NYC and Dc as it is more consistently quicker than flying or driving. I have used it for NYC to Boston from time to time and it is surprisingly good. I would not recommend train if you are not going on the express Acela trains.

The hassle of driving on your itinerary is that you just use the car to get to a city and then you park the car to explore it. Philly, NYC, and Boston are good walking cities. Amtrak stations are in the centre of NYC and Boston within a short walk of a range of hotels - easily mangeable with rolling luggage. In Philly it is just a 5 min taxi ride to the centre. NYC and Boston parking is pretty expensive. Navigating the traffic in those cities is frustrating at the best of time (e.g my 8 mile drive to work taking 3 hours yesterday in the NY metro area!)

I would Amtrak Acela the trip to Boston and hire your car there for going up to Maine.

Matt has it right - skip Baltimore. If you have a car then a nicer stop might be to head into Lancaster County PA to have a stop in at some of the Amish towns or the Harley Davidson factory nearby (surprisingly interesting even though I am not a biker). Another overnight stopping point might be Newport Rhode Island (between NYC and Boston).


BTW - nice choice of visiting Maine - it is a beautiful place. I spent a few years living in Portland ME and go back regularly to see friends. If you want suggestions of places to see let me know.

Edited by LostCroc on Wednesday 6th March 09:28

[snabzter]

Thanks for the replies and suggestions.

I think we will be avoiding Baltimore now. I am thinking that getting a train from DC to Philadelphia then on to NYC is the way to go. Then maybe hire a car from NYC and drop it off in Boston. There are a few places we would like to visit that would probably be difficult without a car.

Having a car parked up in cities for a fair few days at a time costing a lot to both hire and park doesn't sound appealing or sensible to me.

LostCroc, I might just take you up on that offer of suggestions on places to see in Maine . I've always really fancied visiting Maine.

[LostCroc]

Maine is all about the wild natural beauty. Everyone focuses on the coastline but there are some gorgeous forests and lakes to enjoy inland.

My list of places to see in Maine:

- First stop north of Boston could be Kennebunkport. Good lunch place, wander the town and then back in the car heading north to Portland
- Portland is a good overnight stop. About 1.5 to 2 hours by car north of Boston that gives you the rest of the day to explore. During the day I would suggest going out to Cape Elizabeth to Portland Head Light and then a little further down the road to Two Lights State Park for lunch on a picnic table overlooking the ocean at the Lobster Shack (at the end of Two Lights Road). Many a long Sunday lunch was spent there with friends in summer with a lobster lunch and a few bottles of wine or beer brought in. That night I would stay downtown in the Old Port somewhere as it is a great little walking place. Plenty of restaurants (Street & Co, Fore Street Restaurant), bars and places to browse.
- Heading up the coast, at Freeport you can stop at the LL Bean store. Skip the rest of the shops though.
- Just past Brunswick, turn right onto Rt24 and head south out to Orr and Baileys Islands. This is a classic scenic drive of Maine scenery. It is a dead end road and you will have to trace your route back to Rt1 once you get to the end. there are plenty of lobster pounds for lunch operating in summer (after Memorial Day holiday). Look for the classic lobster fishing boat shack that is on post cards just after Hugh Road on the water side as you head south on Rt 24.
- Back on Rt 1 heading north you pass old villages - Wiscasset, Damriscotta. Pemaquid Light is a nice detour but you may have seen enough lighthouses after Portland.
- At Rockland, the Owls Head Transport Museum is worth a visit. Try to time it so you can see them flying the vintage planes. Their website posts the schedule in advance.
- Camden is a nice town to stop at for a coffee and a stretch the legs. Mt Battie just to the north is a good vantage point to see the coastline made up of all the islands.
- A good overnight stop is Bar Harbor. Allow time to do the scenic drive loop through the Acadia National Park and Mt Desert Island and go to the top of Mt Cadillac.

Now at this point you can keep heading north but I would head inland towards New Hampshire. It will be a long detour but if you take Rt 4 to Rangely Lakes and then branch onto Rt16 to keep heading west into New Hampshire you have a very good chance of seeing a moose in the wild. Every time I have driven Rt16 in the Rangely Lakes area I have seen a moose from the road. Even though they are big they could be half down in a bog feeding and their brown coats do disguise them well.

In New Hampshire, look at staying around the Bretton Woods area. Visit the old hotel for a walk through the ground floor and grounds, even if you are not a guest. You can take the steam train to the top of Mt Washington or you can drive yourself - not sure if they permit rental cars on the road - would need to check that.

Not sure how you work it in but the Kancamagus Highway is one of the nicest driving roads in the US, especially in Fall when the leaves change colour.

From NH it is a fairly easy run back to Boston - so you should be able to construct a loop itinerary from this information.

[miln0039]

I used the train. I would FULLY recommend the train. Driving the east coast main cities can be a slow and expensive experience - plus one way hire fees will bh all over you.

The train was absolutely great when I took it, much better than anything over here, if a tad slow. I always headed for the very back of the train (quiet coach - so not many takers in the USA!) and found a huge arm chair of a seat, power point and just chilled out watching the scenery. Best of all is that you then end up in the middle of the city you're aiming for!

[snabzter]

Thanks a lot for all that info LostCroc. It is very very useful!

I will use that as a good starting point to plan our time in Maine. It's actually really got me in the mood for planning the trip now, despite us having a couple of trips already planned before this US trip.

[chazola]

Like others said you don't need a car for your city trips- NYC is like London in that it's much easier, quicker & cheaper to use public transport. Philly has a decent public transport system too, and the actual city centre, or 'center city' as they call it, is quite compact- so you can walk one end to the other of the interesting bits easily enough. Philly is drivable compared to NYC, but they drive like mentals.

Using Amtrak was expensive last time I was there, but you can use local trains like NJ Transit if you want to cut down on costs a bit.

Where you will want a car though if you plan on visiting anything interesting out of town (Philly has some nice 'burbs and shopping complexes) and exploring places between cities.

[ninja-lewis]

We did Washington-Philadelphia-NYC a few years ago. In Washington we just walked and used the metro. We then hired a car from Union Station at the end of our stay in Washington. Drove to Philadelphia for two nights where we mainly left it in the hotel garage (took it out one night just to drive up to the Museum of Art/Rocky Steps). Otherwise we walked everywhere in Philly - the centre was only two miles long. We then drove on to NYC, returning the car at Newark Airport and catching the train from the station there to Penn Station in Manhatten. Again everywhere was within either walking, metro or ferry distance.

Hire car was probably more convenient for us as there was 4 of us with large luggage.

[seadragon]

You can't beat a roadtrip, I would definitely do that. I did 2 during the time I lived there, from MN south to OK and then West through all the states to CA and then back through Utah, Colorado etc. The other was east from MN, through WI, MI, into Otario and then circled back to MN.

Amazing and you get to see the real USA, much of it like you see on tv, the rednecks and all, especially in Kansas, I would drive through it as quick as you can :-)