New England area

[telstarbox]

Might be heading to New York City (staying on Long Island) this summer and would be interested in a few days in the surrounding states.

I've looked at Boston as it's somewhere we could fly to directly and then take the Amtrak to NYC without needing a hire car, but other suggestions would be welcome!

 

[dutchflyer]

Boston has its own urban transit=MBTA, with metro, light rail, a remaining tramline and untill a few weeks ago also trolleybuses. Runs also to Cambridge.
IF you have the time+stamina, a large part of the line NYC-BOs can also be done for lower price is slower speed in lesser surroundings on commuter railroads, but there is a gap then between east end of Connecticut and Rhode Island/Providence. ONly weekdays!
On the other side of the Hudson river New Jersey also offers some transit delights: the century old Newark tram, a fairly new Hoboken tram as light rail and an extensive-also mostly weekdays/peak hours commuter railroad.

 

[ac6000cw]

Going north from Boston, Rockport (a nice, touristy, town on the coast) is the terminus of one of the MBTA heavy rail routes from Boston North station.

Boston itself is well worth a wander around - a very different feel to NYC.

Over twenty years ago we flew into Boston, stayed a few days there (over Christmas) then took Amtrak to NYC, stayed over New Year, then did a one-way car rental trip (slowly) back to Boston via New Hampshire and Vermont. Lovely scenery and interesting places along the way (and things like the Conway Scenic Railroad and Mount Washington Cog Railway ).

 

[rf_ioliver]

Going north from Boston, Rockport (a nice, touristy, town on the coast) is the terminus of one of the MBTA heavy rail routes from Boston North station.

Boston itself is well worth a wander around - a very different feel to NYC.

Over twenty years ago we flew into Boston, stayed a few days there (over Christmas) then took Amtrak to NYC, stayed over New Year, then did a one-way car rental trip (slowly) back to Boston via New Hampshire and Vermont. Lovely scenery and interesting places along the way (and things like the Conway Scenic Railroad and Mount Washington Cog Railway ).

I was just about to write Rockport ... nice beaches and some really nice restaurants at the harbour: fresh chowder and lobster for reasonable prices!

On the way back you can call at Salem for the Witch trials museums.

 

[FormerBritInMe]

Another place to consider is Portland Maine, a smaller version of Boston with many good restaurants and a working waterfront from which one may take ferries to interesting islands. One can reach Portland via the Downeaster train service which leaves from North Station (not the same station as the NYC trains use, but reachable via MBTA or taxi/rideshare) several times a day.

Rockport is nice but a bit of a walk from the station to the actual town, at ;east for us Americans, probably not an issue for a Brit Another possibility along the same line is Gloucester which is still an active fishing port, although fishing has declined quite a bit from its glory days,

 

[ac6000cw]

Rockport is nice but a bit of a walk from the station to the actual town

It's only about half a mile from the (single) station platform to the beach/harbour area (and it's fairly flat, with some interesting properties to look at along the way, as far as I remember).

And anyway, don't you need the exercise to feel less guilty about the apple pie you're about to eat when get to the sea front?

 

[FormerBritInMe]

It's only about half a mile from the (single) station platform to the beach/harbour area (and it's fairly flat, as far as I remember).

This is America - half a mile is "a long walk" here

 

[SuspectUsual]

Over twenty years ago we flew into Boston, stayed a few days there (over Christmas) then took Amtrak to NYC, stayed over New Year, then did a one-way car rental trip (slowly) back to Boston via New Hampshire and Vermont. Lovely scenery and interesting places along the way (and things like the Conway Scenic Railroad and Mount Washington Cog Railway ).

We did something very similar (but the other way round) back in the early 90s. Including the original Ben & Jerry's ice cream factory

Using the local systems in NYC and Boston also means you can potentially avoid the highest accommodation prices. I've stayed in Newport NJ and Braintree MA, which are both well located for this

 

[ac6000cw]

Including the original Ben & Jerry's ice cream factory

We went there too (before Ben & Jerry's sold itself to Unilever)

 

[Merseysider]

Boston is a wonderful city - definitely worth a visit. Not far to Salem (also worth a visit in the summer, but not much going on in winter for anyone else reading) and just over half an hour on the train to Providence.

I found Boston's transport system very straightforward & reliable

 

[SuspectUsual]

just over half an hour on the train to Providence

Now there's an idea. A circular day out - train Boston to Providence; bus to Provincetown (which is great); boat to Boston

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

Depending on where you are staying on Long Island, you can catch a ferry from Bridgeport on the North East Corridor to Port Jefferson on the Long Island RR and so 'cut the corner'. The Long Island RR has just started running to Grand Central Terminal (as well as Penn) in NYC so will be worth investigating. From GCT a trip to Poughkeepsie along the Hudson is very scenic - there you can cross the river on the old New Haven RR bridge which has been restored for walkers and cyclists.

 

[67thave]

Depending on where you are staying on Long Island, you can catch a ferry from Bridgeport on the North East Corridor to Port Jefferson on the Long Island RR and so 'cut the corner'. The Long Island RR has just started running to Grand Central Terminal (as well as Penn) in NYC so will be worth investigating. From GCT a trip to Poughkeepsie along the Hudson is very scenic - there you can cross the river on the old New Haven RR bridge which has been restored for walkers and cyclists.

It's quite a long walk uphill from the ferry landing at Port Jefferson to the station and bus service in that part of the world is quite limited, so I advise against this unless you want to challenge yourself a bit.

 

[Track2012]

Since you'll be on Long Island, how about taking the original New York-Boston train route (from before the railroad bridges over the Connecticut rivers were built)? That was from New York to Greenport on the Long Island Railroad, the ferry to New London and then on the forerunner of the New Haven Railroad to Boston. That can all be done today, but the ferry now leaves from Orient Point, rather than Greenport, which is a bus or taxi ride from Greenport.

 

[Springs Branch]

Boston is a wonderful city - definitely worth a visit. Not far to Salem (also worth a visit in the summer, but not much going on in winter for anyone else reading) and just over half an hour on the train to Providence.

I found Boston's transport system very straightforward & reliable

I'll second all those points.

As well as the scenic coastal suggestions mentioned up thread, that part of New England also has some historical interest focused around the American Revolution.

I lived in the Boston area for a time and spent some of my weekends pottering around nearby towns in Massachusetts such as Concord and Lexington.

Admittedly, I did this by car, but you can get to both places from Boston by public transport (Concord by the hourly Fitchburg* commuter rail line from North Station. Lexington by the Red Line Subway to Alewife then a ~20min bus connection).


When I visited, it was interesting to experience the differences in history as taught in American versus British schools. No great surprise, when you think about it; Britain lost out, so best to keep a bit quiet about it. Visiting a couple of sites and a museum (in Concord I think) I realised I knew very little about some significant events which would be second nature to most native-educated Americans.

For example, in one place there was a detailed account of Paul Revere's Ride - a topic I was completely ignorant about, but which was so mainstream in the US it didn't warrant any explanation of the basic background at the museum.

Maybe it's like an American doing a self-guided tour of Kent and thinking "I've heard about Hastings sometime, but can't remember why. But who's this William the Conqueror guy? And why do they keep banging on about 1066?"



* Just noticed that off-peak stops at Concord station are noted as 'flag stops'. So, inform the conductor or flag down the engineer - the f indication in timetables being equivalent to 'x' in Britain.

 

[AdamWW]

When I visited, it was interesting to experience the differences in history as taught in American versus British schools. No great surprise, when you think about it; Britain lost out, so best to keep a bit quiet about it.

Also somewhat more fundamental to American history than ours.

Some time ago I saw an American ask on the web how British children reacted when taught in school that we lost the war of independence. I think they rather expected to be told that children go home and cry and take months to get over the revelation.

Of course it's not even necessarily taught at all.