Boston, New York, Surrounds & Elsewhere in April & May

wandererz

I am looking for some advice for the above areas for the last week of April & first & second week of May 2019.

We fly into Providence on 25 April (evening) & depart on 08 May 2019.

I was thinking of a few days in Boston to begin with, perhaps 4 days in NYC and the rest of the time elsewhere (in no particular order).
We are open to renting a car, flying or using trains.

The plan for the moment is:
25th April: Arrive at 17:00 & stay in Providence
26th April: Tour Boston during day & then Red Sox Game at 7pm.
26th April PM: Stay in Boston? - Perhaps best option
27th April:
28th April:
29th April:
30th April:
1st May:
2nd May:
3rd May
4th May: NYC
5th May: NYC
6th May: NYC
7th May: NYC
8th May: Flight from Providence at 19:00

The options in between include (by means of rental car):
- Towns in RI
- Towns in Massive2Shots
- Towns in NY
- Vermont
- Niagra
-Columbus, OH (via Niagra & perhaps Pittsburgh)
- Return to NYC

Happy to hear of suggestions.

Many thanks

Fr Tod Umptious

Go straight to Boston from the airport no need to stay in Providence

After the few days in Boston (2 full days should be enough)you could head north to the mountains in New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine.
The Kangamangus (sp) highway between Lincoln and Conway NH is fantastic

Montreal Canada is only a 4 hours north of Boston so that could be an idea also.

I'd recommend it over the likes of Pittsburgh or Columbus.

You could also get to Niagra that way.
Spend no more than a day in Niagara, feck all in it really.
The Catskill mountains in western NY are also good

South of Boston you could go to Cape Cod or put to the islands Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket.

A must visit in my opinion is Newport RI.

With regard to the baseball game.
If you don't already have an interest in the game make sure you understand the game before you go.

Paying a lot of money to sit for three hours in a cold stadium (it can still be chilly at night in late April) without knowing what's going on is not a good idea

Nigel Fairservice

I made New England/NY/Canada trip a few years ago. For the New England part I based myself in Boston. From there I visited New Hampshire (Concord, don't bother), Maine (Portland, lovely), Vermont (Burlington, ok), Connecticut (Mystic, nice spot) and Rhode Island (Newport (lovely) and Providence (nothing special)). I then went up to Montreal via Burlington, VT/Lake Champlain, went across to Toronto, then down to Niagara Falls, made my way through New York state before ending up in NYC. Rockport, Massachusetts and Cape Cod are lovely as well. The whole area was lovely really, plenty to keep you going for 2 weeks. I was there in October so had the great Autumn colours.

I did this via public transport but if you're driving you'll have a more freedom. It's a bit of an alternative loop. The diversion north to Canada was well worth it and would be more interesting than Columbus and Pittsburgh.

Sundew

Definitely try and base in the White Mountains for a few days if you can. I visited The White Mountains for the third time last year. On previous trips it was just for day trips from another N.H location but last June we decided to base in Jackson for a good few days, but Nth Conway is probably a better place to base.
If you are in to scenery and the great outdoors “The White Mountains” are a great place to experience some things such as the iconic Covered Bridges. Lovely one in Jackson Village which you can drive through and another one at The Flume Gorge
https://www.visitwhitemountains.com/attractions/flume-gorge

Definitely check out “ The Christmas Loft” whilst there,to see their all year round Christmas Shop. It’s amazing just to walk through and see the displays.

Also the Conway Scenic Rail Roaad is worth doing. It’s a good time of year as it’s not too crowded. We only did the short trip as we had an impatient small person in tow, but they have longer trips.

I wouldn’t advise renting a car in Boston. We rented it from Manchester Airport in NH and then drove up to the White Mts at our own pace.
Portsmouth is worth a nose around, and my hubby enjoyed this quirky submarine museum!
https://www.portsmouthnh.com/visitor-info/
http://www.ussalbacore.org/

Some of our best experiences were getting lost on back roads andd finding this tiny cafe in the back of beyond full of old dears and Santa Claus lookalikes. My 4 year old was enthralled!

The Holiday Show is on in the RDS next weekend and it might be worth going along to get to the USA and New England section for free maps and stuff!

Nigel Fairservice

Nigel Fairservice wrote: »

....... (Concord, don't bother).............

+1, stayed there for 3 weeks for work once. Nice spot but a place of nothingness. Relative proximity to Boston was the only reason I picked it.
Sportsfield or the lake are the local highlights iirc.

Nigel Fairservice

Augeo wrote: »

+1, stayed there for 3 weeks for work once. Nice spot but a place of nothingness. Relative proximity to Boston was the only reason I picked it.
Sportsfield or the lake are the local highlights iirc.

That's a good summation. I remember one of the reasons I went to Concord was to check out the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Centre. I remember walking for ages and ages out of town and the footpath on the road I was walking just came to an abrupt end. Didn't fancy continuing on the road without a footpath as it was very busy. Smart phones weren't really mainstream at the time so I couldn't find another route and I had limited time. Anyway, my trip to Concord was a failure Pleasant enough town otherwise, lovely state house, but there's definitely more interesting places to check out.

Fr Tod Umptious

Augeo wrote: »

+1, stayed there for 3 weeks for work once. Nice spot but a place of nothingness. Relative proximity to Boston was the only reason I picked it.
Sportsfield or the lake are the local highlights iirc.

That's the thing with a lot of US towns and cities for that matter.
Seems to be very little in them other than businesses.

That's why I'd advise against the OP going to Columbus Ohio or Pittsburgh

I can't think of a single thing that would attract me to either place.

If you are interested in history OP a town like Concord Massachusetts may interest you as it's where the revolutionary war started.

I suppose to be fair we are spoilt in Ireland with all the medieval remnants etc