<p>My dad and I want to visit Harvard, Yale, and UPenn, and we'd like to know what is the best way to travel to all these three locations. If we fly into Boston:
1. Is it best to rent a (unlimited mileage) car and drive down to New Haven and Philadelphia? Will we even need a car to drive around Boston/NH/Philly and see the sights?
2. Or is it better to go from Boston to New Haven, and then Philly, via Amtrak or Greyhound? </p>
<p>Thanks! :)</p>
<p>The car, of course, gives you the greatest flexibility. However, driving around Boston (and trying to park near Harvard) can be a challenge. Harvard is easily accessible by public transportation. I'd advise not to rent the car (if at all) until you are ready to leave Boston and head for New Haven. </p>
<p>Amtrak is also a good option, but I don't know how close the stations are to the various campuses. That's something you can check out by looking at Yale's and Penn's websites.</p>
<p>Good luck, and have fun!</p>
<p>Amtrak 30th street station in Philadelphia is within walking distance of Penn's campus (but a long walk). You can also take the subway-surface line directly from 30th street to the campus. There are also plenty of taxis outside the station; it's a very short cab ride.</p>
<p>It is extremely easy to get around Boston/Cambridge, including the airport, on public transportation, and you really won't need or want a car there. As noted above, Penn is very close to the main AMTRAK station in Philadelphia (basically about 4-8 long blocks, depending on where you are going, or one or two subway stops), and it is easy to get from there to any of the tourist sites in center city Philadelphia, either by walking (if the weather is nice) or on public transportation. (The maximum distance from Penn to anything you would particularly want to see on a short visit is well under three miles.) You can also get from the Penn campus to the Philly airport easily on a train or by cab. In New Haven, it is a bit of a hike (and not such a pleasant one) from the train station to the Yale campus, but a short cab ride. And once you are there, you would not likely use a car -- Yale pretty much IS the sights in New Haven, except for the Green which is adjacent to Yale and Wooster Square, which is fairly walkable.</p>
<p>So you don't NEED a car. But you might appreciate the convenience of having one for getting from one place to another -- the driving isn't so terrible. The train between Boston and New Haven isn't so fast, so it would be quicker to drive that leg. New Haven to Philly will be faster on the train by at least an hour. Amtrak is great, but not that cheap, especially for two people, especially if you use the (faster, more reliable, more luxurious) Acela service. I suspect when you add up all the costs, including gas, parking, and tolls, on the one hand, and extra cabs or public transportation on the other, renting a car will be more expensive than the train, but not so much more expensive that the cost alone will be a big factor in your decision. </p>
<p>If you decide to rent a car, you should probably wait until you are leaving Boston than doing it when you arrive there -- getting from Logan to Cambridge, and negotiating Cambridge streets as a neophyte, would be the most stressful part of your driving experience, and add completely unnecessary cost to your trip.</p>
<p>without wanting to hijack this, can someone answer the same question about navigating back and forth between Philadelphia and NYC? I have to take twin daughters to admitted students weekend, one in Philadelphia and one in NYC so will basically have to go back and forth between the two cities to drop off/pick up. We are flying into Philadelphia.</p>
<p>There's absolutely no reason to drive between Philadelphia and NYC unless you want to, or unless your Philly destination is out in the burbs. (Even then, most of the colleges are well-served by commuter trains, but that can begin to get cumbersome if you are making multiple trips.)</p>
<p>You actually have three fun options for Philly-NYC travel:</p>
<p>(1) Fastest, nicest, and most expensive is AMTRAK from 30th St. Station to Penn Station. Takes just over an hour, costs about $100 round trip (maybe less with some discounts).</p>
<p>(2) You can take a SEPTA commuter train to Trenton and transfer to a NJ Transit commuter train to Penn Station (on the same track). This takes 2-1/2 hours, is significantly less cushy than AMTRAK, and costs about $40 round trip.</p>
<p>(3) You can take the illegal bus from Chinatown to Chinatown for $10 plus a few gray hairs each way. (The prices may have gone up recently.) Also about 2-1/2 hours. This is probably how your daughters will visit each other if they wind up in Philly and NYC, so you may want to check it out.</p>
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You can take the illegal bus from Chinatown to Chinatown for $10 plus a few gray hairs each way. (The prices may have gone up recently.)
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<p>Gray hairs are often very costly :p</p>
<p>I think it depends on just where in Philly/NYC you need to be -- and you may just find it best to have a rental car with GPS. However, I would do the train and I'm a local.</p>
<p>for both the OP and for patient's question....skip the bus options. Aceala (sp?) is the way cool Amtrak train, but the more affordable Amtrak options are fine. For patient....the Amtrak train is much more comfortable to NYC, but the SEPTA/NJ transit is what I usually used, during the 4 yrs we lived in the Philly area. Getting back on in NYC to return to Philly on NJ transit is sometimes not unlike loading into a cattle car (i.e. don't dilly dally when they announce your train---you'll be able to tell by the hoards of people running toward the escalators!!!) .... hey, it's part of the excitement!</p>
<p>From another thread, 2 for 1 Amtrak deal <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/485252-amtrak-college-visits.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/485252-amtrak-college-visits.html</a></p>
<p>My D went from NYC, to Philly, to Boston then back to NYC</p>
<p>I did Boston, to NYC, with day trips to 3 different locations by train</p>
<p>It was soooo easy</p>
<p>I figure if my kids is going to a school that will require trains at some point, why not see how they really work and the time involved</p>