<p>I am a naive West Coaster. I need to plan a trip to visit a school 80 miles north of NYC and then travel to UVA. We are interestd in seeing the scenery along the way and spending a few days enjoying the journey.</p>
<p>Can I drive from Poughkeepsie (sp?) to Charlottesville? What are the best routes? Is it smarter to take trains? On the west coast, I could not do it without a car, is it crazy to rent car in the east?</p>
<p>This would be the end of March.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Driving would allow you to easily visit some interesting cities and to see some beautiful mountain scenery in Virginia (though the East Coast mountains aren't as impressive as are California's, they still are lovely!). If you are lucky, it may be warm enough for you to see some spring flowers.</p>
<p>The Hudson River Valley is beautiful--near Poughkeepsie is the FDR home at Hyde Park with beautiful views. Amtrak train ride down the Hudson is beautiful too--don't know how it is from the highway--you can get to NYC, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington fairly efficiently with Amtrak--but it's a long haul to Charlottesville. Shenandoah National Park is beautiful too. Maybe rent the car from Washington--if you were planning a visit there?</p>
<p>The view from the highways, except the brief moment when you're passing New York City--if you can see over the trucks--is very boring. Parking is very expensive in New York and difficult to find in Washington. I like the idea of using AMTRAK to get as far as Washington and then renting a car.</p>
<p>I agree with the previous poster - the drive is quite boring. However, it will probably be the most time efficient. Total driving time from Poughkeepsie to UVA is about 8 hours; by the time you do all the connections to get you onto the main Amtrak service you'll spend more time (and much more money) than that. Plus, you'll want a car at both endpoints anyway.</p>
<p>Virginia will be nice; I'd also recommend a stopover in DC as there's some great stuff to visit.</p>
<p>Enjoy your trip!</p>
<p>If Pougkeepsie is your only destination in New York and then UVA with no other necessary stops beyond pleasure, you might try to fly into Stewart airport in Newburgh, NY instead of the metro NYC area. It is about 45 minutes from Vassar/Marist and will be less of a hassle to rent a car there. From Vassar there are two primary ways to get to UVA. The first is going south through the NYC/New Jersey, DC area and than west through Virginia. The second is to head west on I84 or I80 and pick up I81 which takes you through more central Pa, western MD, and the Shenendoah Valley. The second route is more scenic, the first is much closer to major metro areas and major urban attractions in DC and NYC. If you plan to fly out of Stewart, you can always make the big loop. March is iffy for weather so you might want to at least rent an AWD vehicle.</p>
<p>Amtrak is ok but making the rentl car connections can be difficult.</p>
<p>Too true. The ride on the highway is not very scenic. I agree that perhaps you should take the train to DC. That should also save you some time, which might allow you to either do some DC sightseeing OR for a more scenic route, drive to Charlottesville in a roundabout way by cutting over to the Skyline Parkway, drive south for awhile, then cut back over to Charlottesville. Have a great trip.</p>
<p>I can't comment on the UVa part but in NY you have two train options from NYC to Poughkeepsie. One is Amtrak, which goes from Penn Station (under Madison Sq. Garden), and the other is on the Metro-North Hudson Line from Grand Central Station. The latter is cheaper (it's a commuter train) and also, I think, runs more frequently.</p>
<p>We did this drive this summer, unless you have a burning desire to see NYC, if you avoid the metro area by taking I80/I81/84. I don't have a map and we were coming from Albany, not Poughkeepsie, but you take the Tappan Zee bridge and then cut west. It is an OK drive, although lots of trucks, and you not only miss NYC, but Wash and Baltimore and Philly, so it is much faster.</p>
<p>The mnetronorth is definitely cheaper . When you get to NYC purchase an unlimited metrocard $7 for day pass, $21 for a weekly pass an jump on the subway as NYU, Fordham, Columbia, Barnard Parsons, FIT, Eugene Lang are all assessible by subway.</p>
<p>You can take the NJ tranist train fom Penn Station to Princeton.</p>
<p>If you choose Amtrak as an option, I would suggest going to <a href="http://www.campusvist.com%5B/url%5D">www.campusvist.com</a> </p>
<p>because they have promotions with amtrack </p>
<p><a href="http://www.campusvisit.com/amtrak/%5B/url%5D">http://www.campusvisit.com/amtrak/</a></p>
<p>where if your child is visiting colleges and taking Amtrack it is buy a ticket, get a ticket free (7 day advance purchase, not valid on the Acela or Metroliner) . Blackout dates are FEBRUARY 18-21, 2005; MARCH 24-28, 2005; MAY 27-30, 2005; JULY 01-04, 2005; SEPTEMBER 02-05, 2005; NOVEMBER 22-29, 2005</p>
<p>Through campus visit you can also get discounts on various hotels. Some even allow you to comine discounts (AAA).</p>
<p>Just map our your trip and have a good one.</p>
<p>I would add to check out southwest airlines for some great east coast deals. My D & I flew LA Philly (direct) for $99 but it is now about $139. All these odd or dinky airports served by SW; sometimes just what you want.</p>
<p>I'd also recommend the train. If you have weather or trouble with directions, train is easy. If you plan to meander & make a few stops, NYC & DC are great. If you are interested in Vassar & UVa, you'd have lots on this route in their general academic ballpark if your kid is not already a senior....</p>
<p>It is the transfer from the NYC area airports to the train, whether it be Metro North or Amtrak, which can be difficult to navigate. I don't know if there are trains to Charlottesville so you may have to rent a car anyway. Don't know how the transfers are from the Philly or DC airports in terms of train connections.</p>
<p>navigating the train in to NYC is now easier than ever. I
If you take a taxi from LaGuardia or Kennedy Airports there is a flat rate into manhattan.</p>
<p>There is also mass transit form both airports into manhattan</p>
<p>the train to the plain from Kennedy to manhattan
the Airtrain from JFK with a link to the LIRR (which takes about 5 minutes) The LIRR to manhattan (17 minutes from Jamica station to Penn station )</p>
<p>There are also buses from JFK and LaGuardia in to Manhattan, which will drop you off essentially just across the street from the front entrance of Grand Central Terminal (GCT). Cost is about $12 as I recall. You can then walk into main concourse of GCT and get latest schedule at the info booth or go directly to the ticket booths and ask for train to Poughkeepsie. The MetroNorth trains on the Hudson Line run every 20-30 minutes, and some are "local" and some are "express" but basically you can plan 90-100 minutes to Poughkeepsie. (I've done this many times but not all the way to Poughkeepsie -- rather to Croton-on-Hudson, which is only about half the distance -- but using the same connections and same MetroNorth train line.)</p>
<p>Here's a link to bus services from LGA or JFK to either GCT or PennStation (or to the Port Authority). <a href="http://www.nyairportservice.com/fares.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.nyairportservice.com/fares.html</a></p>
<p>Wait-- wait. Some of the most beautiful scenery is the drive down from Poughkeepsie on the Taconic Parkway. I believe you can take it down to Chappaqua (go say hello to Pres Clinton :) ) . I think the Taconic becomes the Saw Mill River Parkway or the Bronx River parkway. I grew up up there and attenned Vassar, but drove from Westchester to Vassar usually from the Hutchinson River Pkwy to 84 to 684 except when I wanted to se the fall foliage-- then definitely took the Taconic. Spectacular. I am a little rusty on the route #'s of all the roads there, but I believe either Rte 9 o 9A goes along the Hudson River-- a very pretty area. You can stop at West Point, at the stately mansions along the river (someone above mentined Hyde Park-- there are others as well), or even go across the river at Newburgh south of Poughkeepsie and visit some of the wineries (very different from the Calif wineries). Lots of opportunities to enjoy your trip.</p>
<p>Lots of great ideas, thank you.</p>
<p>I was thinking to fly into Albany, if I rent a car, and simply avoid the hassle and confusion of NYC. I can drive in LA & San Frabncisco, but don't know the unwritten rules in NYC...thoguh I'm sure other drivers would be grlad to tell em anything I needed to improve!</p>
<p>If I went with a car would Albany make sense? I am trying to look at Southwest routes, as those are the frequent flyrer trips we earn</p>
<p>If your most northern point is Poughkeepsie, Albany is about an hour or more drive north. Consider the Westchester/White Plains airport as well-- a closer drive to Poughkeepsie. You can fly into Laguardia, as the drive north to Poughkeepsie is probably only about 90' if the traffic is light, but it can be confusing around La Guardia if you don't know where you are going .....</p>
<p>SB mom, kid is grade 12 and visiting coaches at those two schools. She had not wanted to go east, but due to her sport is considering those two schools, and has to visit over spring break, even though we won't know if she's in or not until April 1.</p>
<p>oops-- error-- I think the Taconic becomes the Sprain Brook and then the Bronx River Pkwy, but it goes right by Hawthorne and Sleepy Hollow, if you are interested in old literature (the Headless Horseman, by Washington Irving-- go see where Ichabod Crane was..) Here are neat old mansions and its just a charming area...
Last thought-- the drive and area from NYC north is nice, but the drive south of NYC to Charlottesville,with the exception of the DC sites is, shall we say.. less attractive. The Williamsburg, Richmond area is filled with historic stuff, though. Consider flying on Airtran from La Guardia to Richmond/Newport News, if they have direct flights (yes they do - I just checked for you)- or explore other inexpensive airlines. But you can get flights for like $59 from LaGuardia to Newport news on Airtran. I love that airline!</p>