<p>Hello, west coast mom here. We want to take a trip to look at Syracuse, Ithaca, and Bard. While we are there we are thinking of driving up to Niagra Falls for the day. Is it best to fly into Syracuse, drive up to Niagra falls, then drive down to Ithaca, then drive to Bard? I have no knowledge of the east coast at all. Or could we fly into Ithaca first? Help needed fast. Thanks fellow parents! :)</p>
<p>Syracuse to Niagra Falls is about 2.5 hours and it is in the opposite direction of Ithaca and Bard. Ithaca is about 1.5 southwest (mostly south) of Syracuse and Bard is about 3.5 hours southeast of Syracuse. If you really want to see Niagra falls you may want to look into flying into Albany (just north of Bard) and out of Buffalo. Syracuse and Ithaca are right in the heart of the finger lakes though, and there is plenty to see and do in that area.</p>
<p>thank you for your input. I really appreicate it. So there are programs at Ithaca and at Syracuse on April 12, 13, and 14. the program at Ithaca is on the 12th or 13th, but the program at Bard is on the 13th and 14th. Would it make sense to fly into Ithaca, then drive up to Syracuse, then drive down to Bard, then go to Niagra falls? how far is Niagra falls from Bard? Thank you.</p>
<p>Your other airport alternative if you want to see Niagara Falls (btw Niagara is spelled with three As) is to fly in to Buffalo, a bigger and busier airport than Ithaca and Syracuse.
Syracuse to Niagara Falls is a 2 1/2 hr drive. Bard to Niagara Falls is 5 1/2 hours. </p>
<p>I would concentrate on the colleges and do Niagra Falls on another trip to NY state. If you pick any of those colleges, you’ll be making a few trips back! According to google maps it’s over five hours from Bard to Niagra Falls.</p>
<p>thank you so much crepes and walkinghome. :)</p>
<p>Since you are essentially driving a giant circle regardless of the airport, I would check flights and car rentals to Buffalo, Syracuse, and Albany and plan your extra days accordingly. Even Newark would be a reasonable option (maybe 4 extra hours) if it is a lot cheaper.</p>
<p>Good point @Magnetron, flights from the West Coast to Newark are not only cheaper, you’re also more likely to find a nonstop, whereas with Albany and Syracuse you could end up changing planes 3 times.</p>
<p>Which leads me to another suggestion–why not throw in a day looking at NYC? I know that time is a consideration but if it were my teen and I, and we had never seen NYC before, it would be high on our list. We would even cross out Niagara Falls in favor of NYC. We’ve seen them both many times, and as a tourist destination, for us NYC wins hands down. Of course your interests may be different but I have to say that while Niagara Falls is beautiful, there’s much more to do and see in NYC including many colleges.</p>
<p>There is no way I would fly into Newark. I live in NJ and have made the trip to that part of “upstate NY” many times. You don’t want to have to deal with Newark/New York with all its craziness and then look and tour 3 colleges. The town of Ithaca is lovely and the Corning Museum is fun. I happen to love Niagara Falls it is majestic. The Finger Lakes have many wineries.</p>
<p>If you’re going to Niagara Falls, don’t forget to bring your passport. The best view is from the Canadian side, and you can’t get there without your passport. It seems to me you’d do better to fly into Buffalo, go to the Falls, then south to Syracuse, to Ithaca, and then to Bard, and fly home from one of the NYC airports. To drive all the way back to your original airport is madness. </p>
<p>It’s just a suggestion. I prefer direct flights and a little driving over the specter of missed connections. I was guessing @losinginla would mean Los Angeles area. Newark traffic is a refreshing break by comparison; it was significantly better than our Seattle area traffic. My wife is from NJ, not far from Newark, I went to college near Albany, and I grew up not far from Ithaca. Our last east coast trip we hit all 3 places.</p>
<p>The smaller roads around Ithaca are a real pretty piece of American landscape, so take a few extra minutes on the drive between there and Syracuse. See if you can work in ice cream at the Frosty Cow. Also, bring passports so you can see the Falls from both sides.</p>
<p>Hi. I am new here, but live in Upstate NY in the Albany area. You can fly into either Syracuse or Albany and do an easy enough circle to visit all three of the colleges on your list. Southwest Airlines does fly into Albany, so you can often get good fares and typically only one connection from the west coast. Bard is a little over an hour south of Albany. You could do that on the day you arrive and then from there drive out to either Syracuse or Ithaca. The drive back to Albany from Syracuse is about 2 1/2 hours, so very doable if you decide to fly in and out of Albany. FWIW, Albany is a very easy airport to get in and out of by car and has easy access all major highways. Incidentally, if you happen to have extra time (which you may not!) Union College in Schenectady, NY is only 20 minutes from Albany Airport. It might be worth a look. </p>
<p>Finally, I would definitely say Niagara Falls is too much work and too far of a drive to do on this trip. The areas around Ithaca and the Finger Lakes near Syracuse are really lovely and will give you a nice overview of how pretty Upstate NY is! Good luck!</p>
<p>Don’t know much about Niagara Falls but I just wanted to chime in to say you will certainly get your fill of natural beauty in Ithaca - the gorges are spectacular</p>
<p>^sounds like you’re thinking of the “Ithaca is gorges” bumper sticker and t-shirts
<a href=“http://gorgesgear.com/”>http://gorgesgear.com/</a></p>
<p>You’re talking about the week before Easter and Niagara Falls will be even more crowded than usual. If you want to see both sides you have to cross the boarder into Canada, so in addition to all the driving you may be sitting in traffic for a while. Unless this is a side-trip that your student is really excited about, I would agree with previous posters who recommend saving Niagara Falls another time. </p>
<p>I suggest sticking to your current route and looking for interesting things to do that aren’t so far out of the way, and focus on really researching not just the schools but the local area so that you and your student will confident about making the final decision about where to spend the next four years. </p>
<p>Finally, enjoy your time together and celebrate your child’s great accomplishments! You’ve got some wonderful schools to select from and must be very proud. It will bring you a lot of satisfaction down the road when you remember making this trip together. </p>
<p>Thank you Mondut for your kind words. 
and thank you everyone for the advice! :)</p>
<p>Just one travel thought to add to everyone else’s, which is to consider flying in or out of Hartford airport which is much more friendly than Newark and reasonably close to Bard.</p>
<p>We can’t leave LA until late Friday night or early Sat morning. We need to be in Ithaca for an accepted student day on Sunday, and in Syracuse on Monday for an accepted student day. But if we can catch a red eye on Friday or a really early flight on Sunday, we want to catch the LaCross game Syracuse vs North Carolina because our son is a LaCross player, and he is interested in Syracuse for college. (he will be in college in 2 years, oh boy!) Anyways, Bard will be later in the week. So I guess we need to fly into Syracuse, correct? We will drive to Bard. Can we take a train from Bard into the city. (NYC)?</p>
<p>Yes, here’s Bard’s page with train directions:
<a href=“Maps and Directions to Bard”>http://www.bard.edu/visiting/directions/</a>
Interestingly the airports for which they give sample travel itineraries are Albany and JFK in NYC. They also mention that Stewart Airport in Newburgh is the closest to their campus but from what I know of Stewart it’s hard to mke connections from there.</p>
<p>Thank you so much Crepes!!! That is really nice of you to go out of your way and give me that info. Very cool!</p>