1

Personally I think the that itinerary seems a little packed. Six destinations (counting Miami and Key West as one), plus Niagara (which, unless you’re rich, is definitely not a day-trip from NYC) in 23 days. On top of that you want to do both the eastern and the western portion of the Carolinas.

Let me come up with some ideas and get back to you.

2

My favorite places on the east coast are:

The Springs of Central Florida. Mostly natural areas of tremendous beauty and great (though cold water) swimming and snorkeling. See how brave you are! Ocala National Forest has two of my favorite: Juniper Spring is the most beautiful and Salt Spring has the best snorkeling. Just north of Orlando, Blue Spring State Park and Rock Spring at Kelly Park have very good swimming.

Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. Over 88 building restored form Colonial times. A large, open-air museum. Very beautiful and great interaction with the people who work there.

3

Thanks for all the prompt replies!

@longislandbob: we included Key West really because of the "Miami to Key West Scenic Drive" that we've read about being one of the top 10 scenic drives in the US. We do not know how true it is but judging from the pictures it sure looks exceptionally beautiful. Feel free to give your opinion on this!

4

Alright how about this:

You said your point of entry and exit is NYC, but you want to start in Florida and make your way north.

So fly to NYC, get your connection to Miami and skip Key West. Nights 1, 2, 3 (two full days) in the town of Miami Beach (not the same as Miami.)

Rent a car, drive the ~4 hours to Orlando and spend 2.5 days (3 nights in Orlando).

Drive 6 more hours to Charleston, having done the beach thing in Miami, skip Myrtle Beach. 3 more nights to ensure 2 full days.

Drive 5 hours to the Smoky Mountains, hike around spend the night (this is your 10th night in America your vacation is almost half over)

Another 8 hours of driving gets you to Washington DC. I’d divided it into two days, each consisting of 4 ours driving, and arrive in DC on night #12.

Night 13 and 14 each in DC giving you two full days there. Now switch to public transportation.

Night 15 is spent in Philadelphia giving you a 1-1.5 days there.

If you still want to do a beach public transportation from there to Atlantic city NJ is easy peasy so night 16 will be spent either in AC or NYC.

Night 17,18, 19, 20 and 21 are for NYC, giving you 4 full days (plus the flex day mentioned in Atlantic City above, which could be used to see Toronto, Canada))

Fly to Buffalo or Niagara or Toronto, spend nights 22 and 23 there giving you one full day.

Wake up in Niagara, fly back to NYC and make your connecting flight home.

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There ya go.
Skip Key West and you have 23 nights including a flex night, (because traveling sometimes requires one), and you’ve seen everything else you wanted to see.

PS yes Williamsburg, Jamestown etc. are great, but they are on the other side of the state from the mountains you said you wanted to see. You could re-route, but I don't think you have time to do both.

5

Yes.

Are you able/willing to rent a car? ("Road trip" generally means you'll have a car, but some people come here and say "road trip" but insist on transit only.)
No. 3 can easily be a week or more.

To steal and augment a post from poster zeldasdad:
General consensus:
If you feel you absolutely must go, then go.
If you are on your way to Toronto, go.
If you are making a random side trip to see it because it is there, you're crazy.

How much do you like to hike?
How many theme parks you think you can handle?

The last Monday in May is Memorial Day. That weekend (Fri-Mon) is the unofficial start of the summer travel season. Places get crowded, especially parks.

6

bzook gives good advice . . . again.

7

It seems to me that you are going out of your way to spend money on nothing.

You are flying into and out of New York City.
You are then flying to Miami, FL
You are then renting a car, one-way, and driving back to New York.

That is both an extra flight and a one-way charge on the rental car.

Why can't you fly into Miami and out of New York? Then you only have the one-way, drop-off fee on the rental car.
You could also fly into and out of New York, rent a car, drive to Miami, and drive back to New York. That eliminates both the internal flight to Miami and the one-way car rental.

The drive down I-95 along the coast is 22 hours of driving time. With as many as 5 potential drivers, it should be a piece of cake. I�ve driven this route by myself in a day or so. Those �alternate drivers� under 25 will pay a premium for being younger than 25 but you will pay that in any case. The interior route along the Appalachian Mountains takes a few more hours but you have three weeks. This gives you two separate routes to travel with plenty to see in both directions without the extra flight between New York and Miami and without the drop-off charge on the car.

Have a great time.

8

Sorry, I missed that you said you're renting a car.

9

@zeldasdad: return tickets from NY is even cheaper than a one-way ticket to Miami, that's why we got the return tickets. and we thought that since the cost of the internal flight to Miami is almost the same as car rental and saves much more time, we would fly there instead.
we need some suggestions on how many days to spend on each place
How much do you like to hike? --> we don't mind but not into whole day hiking, unless the place is really highly recommended
How many theme parks you think you can handle? --> for Orlando we intend to do 2 theme parks

from longislandbob's schedule, it might then be impossible to cover those places if we "rent a car, drive to Miami, and drive back to New York. That eliminates both the internal flight to Miami and the one-way car rental"

10

Additionally,
since there are 5 of you, the DC-Philly-NYC stretch MIGHT be cheaper by car, (instead of public transport), but you don't need a car in an of those cities. Once you arrive, you jut pay to store it, so I'm not sure.

11

Ok, figure something like this:
2 nights Miami
2 nights Key Largo
3 nights Orlando
3 nights Charleston
2 nights Asheville
1 night Lexington
1 night Charlottesville
3 nights Washington DC
1 night Philadelphia
4 nights NYC (skip Niagara)

The car question in DC and Philly #10 notes is a good one. With it, you'll be able to stay farther out, likely saving money on both hotel and parking, and you might keep the longer (and likely cheaper) weekly rates. But you won't really use it for exploring the cities (if you're smart), so you're paying extra to get to transit, and traffic in those areas can be awful (DC was just named #1 worst traffic). It's up to you.

12

I would forget Key West, not cheap and a dead end, hardly any time for relaixing.

Focus on the gorgeous areas of Charleston, Colonial Williamsburg, Wash DC, and Smokeys/Asheville area.

You dont need to drive from Philly, take the train. and for sure, skip Niagara...

13

How much I like hiking is irrelevant. The two major national parks you mention, and Everglades which is near Miami, would be my recommendations for "hiking." "Hiking" in the Everglades requires a canoe or a kayak (and a 55 gallon drum of DEET.) The National Park Service websites for all three parks have trail maps so you can plan your own hiking schedule. Great Smoky Mountains and Shenandoah are well inland from the other sites you mention. Pay attention to drive times and distances if you decide to visit them. The Great Smoky Mountains are well worth as many days as you can squeeze out of the rest of you itinerary. Be aware that the Smokies contain some of the greatest and steepest elevation changes in the eastern half of North America. Be aware of the elevation change on any given trail as well as the length of the trail.

Two Disney parks in two days are about my limit. You should realize that a "day" at a Disney park is from the time it opens until they throw you out after the fireworks. Those can be very long days with kids.

14

They were responding to my question, ZD.