New England in May 2013 (Honeymoon)
Replies: 55 - Last Post: Mar 17, 2013 7:57 PM Last Post By: ianw6705
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New England in May 2013 (Honeymoon)
Hi guys,First of all, please forgive me if some of this has been covered in previous forum posts. I have read quite a lot of the USA forum threads and found some useful information there but thought I'd start a new thread in order to gain further insights.
My wife to be and I will be honeymooning in the USA (from Australia) over May/June 2013 and have decided to spend a bulk of that time in the New England region.
Our interests lie in hiking/microbreweries/wineries/eateries/leisurely cycling and we are a little overwhelmed for choice. We will be flying into NYC and will be spending 12 nights there followed by a few nights in Washington DC before we fly into Boston for approximately 4 nights. From there, our plans are to rent a car and base ourselves in maybe 3-4 different towns in the NE region just to spend the time enjoying a few ales, doing a bit of cycling/hiking and eating a lot of seafood.
At the moment, I've prepared a draft list of places in which to base ourselves and these include:
Boston (4 nights)
Burlington, VT (3 nights)
Montreal, Canada (4 nights)
Portland, ME (4 nights)
From there, we'll drive back to Boston to drop off the car. I guess my question is whether these locations would be the best place to base ourselves and whether we have the proper day split? As we're from Australia, driving times aren't really an issue although we don't want to spend too much time in the car. I'd also like to see a little bit of New Hampshire on the way through but am unsure whether we should be staying somewhere along the way from Boston to Burlington?
Are there any other gems we may be missing out on here? Does anyone know of any "must see" events during May 2013? I am a huge baseball fan so will be definitely attending a game at Fenway.
Anyway, thanks in advance.
Scott.
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Hi Scott ... I expect you'll love it.We are also from Australia and have undertaken a couple of New England trips. My initial thoughts are: (1) 12 nights in NYC (given your total time) is a few too many, and I would limit myself to a maximum of about eight, (2) three nights in DC is about right, (3) four nights in Boston might be one too many, (4) the coast to Bar Harbor / Acadia NP in Maine is outstanding, and worth the time driving slowly, and (5) the Mt Washington area in eastern New Hampshire is great as well.
Also - including Montréal might be a one-way trip that could be better spent visiting Vermont or up-state New York - but I haven't been to Montréal yet (going in June too) - it might be wonderful.
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From Boston south to DC you might want to consider public transport. a car kinda gets in the way.12 days in NYC is quite a lot especially since that town can be a budget breaker. My half tends to do it in two night plus shoulders, the other folks spend 4 days plus shoulders and declares it "done."
I strongly urge you to consider a full day in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. It's a little pricey but worth it. Aquarium, USS Constitution, boat tour of Fort McHenry, seafood, little Italy.
2 full days in Boston proper is sufficient, but 4 days is okay because Boston has some nice side trips. I loved Plymouth, but I kinda dig history. There's also Cape Cod, Lexington-Concord and Salem, which i know less about.
June 1 is the beginning of beach season in the midatlantic (south of Cape Cod). Early June is bluefishing season (do the night trip or skip it altogether). I'd suggest wildwood NJ or Atlantic city NJ (beach is better in Wildwood, fishing is better in AC). However side-tracking to the beach is the one thing that kinda requires a car.
Rehobeth Beach in Delaware is the high class destination, but it's also gay (no kidding.) Chincoteague/Assateague is great if you are in to nature and beaches. Ocean City Maryland sits geographically in the middle of the two. It's nice, but compared to Rehobeth it's not as classy.
Going to Fenway sounds great. I'm a Yankees fan and I hate the Red Sox, but their Park has a certain ugly duckling attraction about it. The cheapest tickets in the area are for the Baltimore Orioles, second cheapest are for the Washington Nationals, but those teams lose a lot.
Edited by: LongIslandBob
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over May/June 2013
The last Monday in May is Memorial Day. That weekend (Fri-Mon) is the unofficial start of the summer travel season. Accordinly, places, especially parks, get busy.We will be flying into NYC and will be spending 12 nights there
That's a lot of time. Are you willing to trim it down a bit? Maybe to 8 days?If you do, you can tack on a couple days in xPhialdelphia and/or xBaltimore, or maybe to get out into the countryside and tour some wineries or hike at Harpers Ferry or Shenandoah, or to spend more time up north.
Portland, ME (4 nights)
I would not give this 4 nights.Spend three at Acadia. There are a number of (former) carriage paths which are open to cyclists, and bike rentals in xBar Harbor. There are also a couple of brweries up there (xBar Harbor Breweing and Atlantic Brewing).
I am a huge baseball fan so will be definitely attending a game at Fenway.
Based on the quality of team, quality of stadium, quality of atmosphere and general nostalgia, in rough order you should choose:Yankees (only because the Red Sox have been down lately), Red Sox, Nationals, Phillies, Orioles, Mets.
See FAQ 260.
The cheapest tickets in the area are for the Baltimore Orioles, second cheapest are for the Washington Nationals, but those teams lose a lot.
Both were playoff teams last year, with the Nationals having the best record in baseball.If you like sports in general, the NCAA lacrosse tournament is in Philly over memorial Day weekend.
From Boston south to DC you might want to consider public transport. a car kinda gets in the way.
Ditto. The cities are fairly easy to get around without a car.There are also a number of buses that run the routes non-stop, with some tickets as little as $1 per leg.
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Montreal has some excellent, excellent, excellent beers and microbreweries. You could also add a couple of days to visit Quebec City, which is very romantic. The Eastern Townships - the area to the southeast of Montreal - is essentially an extension of New England, though with an added influence of Quebecois culture...something to think about if focusing your road trip on Vermont...but definitely keep Montreal, I'd take it over places like Boston and Philadelphia...great city for cycling too.There are plentiful bus connections between Montreal and Boston and Montreal and Burlington, if you want to ditch the car. You won't need a car in Montreal or to get to Québec City.
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No bad mouthing the Yankees!!!
Fine. They do afterall have the second best major league baseball stadium in the city.The Eastern Townships - the area to the southeast of Montreal - is essentially an extension of New England, though with an added influence of Quebecois culture
This areas is also full of wineries.
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Scott, Congratulations! I'd try to get to Quebec City. It's a real romantic historic town with fantasticrestaurants and clubs. My wife loved it when we were there. You'll have time by borrowing a
day from Montreal and Portland.
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I vote for spending the Vermont part of your trip not in Burlington, but rather in some cute little town at a nice B&B. (And Vermont is stuffed full of cute little towns, with nice B&Bs.) Burlington is a nice little city, but the real charm of Vermont is its picture-perfect villages with white steepled churches on a town green. Distances are short enough that you could spend a day wandering around Burlington, a day hiking in the forest, and exploring various towns.12
It was an exciting pennant race this year with a number of underdogs (READ: losers) in it almost until the end. Former Yankee Wang Chien Ming seems to be rehabbing well, but age may be catching up with him.In the end a former NY team became the the world champions.
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Quebec City, the old town, is about the most European city in North America, and would certainly be a complete change of scene. Given the choice, I'd take QC rather than Montreal, for variety. If you can cobble together a few days, trimming NYC as others have suggested, there's an incredible bike trail in northern Quebec, but you'd pretty much have to reorganize your plans to do it. If you do get up that far, there's also the boreal wild animal park, unique in the world.This is probably a whole lot more than you had in mind! There's plenty to do on the US side of the border without spending so much time behind the wheel.
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Oh the best hiking in the NY area is in the Hudson Valley, second best is the Adirondacks (I've heard that Maine is better).Bear Mountain is a great hike that's not too tough. the trail is washed out in places but good sneakers will do if you don't have boots.
Breakneck Ridge is regularly voted by hiking.com to be the best hike in N America but it earned its name honestly and is on the cusp between hiking and mountain climbing.
Kathadin in Maine's Baxter State Park is the terminus of the 2,000 mile appalachian trail and thus a hiking mecca of sorts. They say it is also kind of a tough climb.
