Mode of transport from Washington DC to Boston

[PumpkinCupcake]

I'm currently planning our upcoming honeymoon and I'm trying to figure out what the best way to travel between our stops.

We will be spending around 5 days driving the Blue Ridge Parkway, and then driving to Washington DC for maybe one night. From there we will then be going to NYC for a few nights, and then finishing in Boston.

I had originally planned on driving the whole way, but I'm now questioning this as when we're in NYC we won't be using a car (and I'm not even sure where we're going to be able to park it!), but when we get to Boston we will want it for 1 day driving to Salem (and I think I would prefer driving ourselves instead of booking a day trip/tour).

Should we get the car for the whole way (and find somewhere to park in NYC), and then drop it off in the airport at Boston when we're flying home.

Or should we try to Washington, and then get a bus/train from there to NYC, and then the same on to Boston, and hire a car when we get for Salem?

[mouli1]

Amtrak Acela express or north easterner will take you from DC to NYC and then NYC to Boston , I would leave the hire car in DC and then hire one again in Boston, all the major cities are really expensive to park in and you wont need the car whilst you are there.

if you register an account with Amtrak they often have offers , we are going from NYC to Boston on the Acela Express and got a 2for1 offer , also book in advance as fares go up nearer the date , our train is now double what we paid for it

[georgemac]

I drove from Washington to NYC with a quick lunchtime stop in Philly. You could look at dropping off the car in NYC - but the one way hire prices may make this expensive. You never said where you would be staring the hire from.

In NYC - like all big cities - car parking is extremely expensive at hotels and parking garages. We stayed in New Jersey because of this - with free parking and used hotel shuttle and train to travel into Penn - but on honeymoon I guess you will want to be in Manhattan.

We then drove from NYC to just South of Boston (Nantasket Beach) - and we did a single day trip into Boston on the train, although there is a quicker ferry from Nantasket. From what I saw - Boston is not the easiest place to drive around - but great city.

Good luck. Flying may be as cheap as the train - although train will take you to the centre.

[Chrissie H]

We did Boston, Washington, New York by train, and would do it again in a heartbeat. We have had 2 separate weeks in DC without a car and didn’t have any difficulty getting where we wanted to go.

[PumpkinCupcake]

Originally Posted by mouli1

Amtrak Acela express or north easterner will take you from DC to NYC and then NYC to Boston , I would leave the hire car in DC and then hire one again in Boston, all the major cities are really expensive to park in and you wont need the car whilst you are there.

if you register an account with Amtrak they often have offers , we are going from NYC to Boston on the Acela Express and got a 2for1 offer , also book in advance as fares go up nearer the date , our train is now double what we paid for it

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Thanks This is what I was thinking. I've done a day trip to Boston before from NYC using the greyhound, and thought it would be cheaper to use our own car, but it's coming up quite expensive! I'll take a look out for offers as that sounds good

[duchy]

I really liked Amtrak , nothing to stop you picking up a one day car hire for Salem.
Parking in Manhattan is ridiculously expensive and traffic often gridlocked ... don't do it ! Lol

[PumpkinCupcake]

Originally Posted by georgemac

I drove from Washington to NYC with a quick lunchtime stop in Philly. You could look at dropping off the car in NYC - but the one way hire prices may make this expensive. You never said where you would be staring the hire from.

In NYC - like all big cities - car parking is extremely expensive at hotels and parking garages. We stayed in New Jersey because of this - with free parking and used hotel shuttle and train to travel into Penn - but on honeymoon I guess you will want to be in Manhattan.

We then drove from NYC to just South of Boston (Nantasket Beach) - and we did a single day trip into Boston on the train, although there is a quicker ferry from Nantasket. From what I saw - Boston is not the easiest place to drive around - but great city.

Good luck. Flying may be as cheap as the train - although train will take you to the centre.

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That's what I'm thinking... I did a day trip to Philly last year with a friend, but future husband has not been before, so I think maybe it would be good for a stopover there, and then leave the car off on arrival to NYC! We will be starting from either Charlotte or Atlanta, once I decide which airport to fly into from Orlando

This will be my maybe 10th time in NYC, so not overly fussed on staying in Manhattan if we find somewhere better. I'm trying to organise the trip chronologically so haven't got to that part yet to decide where to stay but I think the parking is going to be too expensive now that I think about it so maybe not a good idea with the car!

I haven't researched it yet, but from what I've looked at it so far for the other parts of our honeymoon, I don't think flying is going to work out much cheaper for us because we have to add on luggage Which for the two of us seems to be at least $60 on some flights.

Just noticed your countdown, are you going to be going to the Blue Ridge Parkway? We're going to be doing VA, NC and SC as we drive along

[PumpkinCupcake]

Originally Posted by duchy

I really liked Amtrak , nothing to stop you picking up a one day car hire for Salem.
Parking in Manhattan is ridiculously expensive and traffic often gridlocked ... don't do it ! Lol

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haha, that's what I was thinking, and I don't want to be beeped at! I won't be the one driving but that would still stress me out haha.

After talking briefly about it this morning, I think the one day car hire for Salem should hopefully be okay!

[PumpkinCupcake]

Originally Posted by Chrissie H

We did Boston, Washington, New York by train, and would do it again in a heartbeat. We have had 2 separate weeks in DC without a car and didn’t have any difficulty getting where we wanted to go.

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Thank you I def think we would go with train if we're going to use public transport. When I got the bus from Boston to NYC last time I was sitting beside someone who took up all the space, and my seat kept rolling back and fourth... for 4 hours, after at least a 4 hour delay, and then an extra 1 hour on the bus as the driver drove round and round the city because he couldn't get into the bus terminal not fun!

Any recommendations for DC?

[Buzz242]

We took the Amtrak from Penn Station to Boston last summer, I would definitely recommend it. We didn't have a car in Boston as it was pretty much all walkable, we then picked up our hire car to travel to Cape Cod.