Need advice on somewhere to go on the Thanksgiving weekend in the greater New York area

October 23, 2008 1:02 PM

Need advice on somewhere to go on the Thanksgiving weekend in the greater New York area.

Hello, hive mind. Me and the wife are expats living in New York City, so we don't have any family to visit on Thanksgiving. So we're feeling like doing something different that weekend - like getting out of the city, breathing some fresh air, taking a couple of days off from our ridiculously small apartment, you get the idea.

So here are the constraints:

1) It must be reasonably close to the city
2) It must be reachable by public transportation - train, bus, etc (I don't feel renting a car unless absolutely necessary)
3) It must be reasonably cheap
4) Not being crowded is a big plus
5) If we can see some nice fall foliage that's great as well (it might be too late for that, but maybe we're lucky)

That's about it. Thanks, hive mind!

posted by falameufilho to Travel & Transportation around New York, NY (4 answers total)

It's a little far away, but go to Canada! It's just a normal day up there.

Caveats: be sure to check schedules and opening times for anything, they will have holiday schedules. Also public transportation will be on holiday schedules. And, finally, make sure you check restaurant opening times, a lot of places will be either closed or totally booked!

Otherwise:
1) Philadelphia: easy to get there, easy to get around, lots to see. You can bus, train, chinatown bus, or take NJ transit to trenton and pick up SEPTA there for ye old fashioned low budget way
2) Atlantic City: will be busy and interesting and not as crowded as usual. Bus from Port Authority is super cheap and you get casino bonuses.
3) Beacon, NY - very close, foliage, scenery, but not really a weekend trip. it's a day trip. if you are willing to rent a car then you can do the hudson valley or the catskills (woodstock, kingston, phoencia)
4) Pick a Jersey Shore town and get a great deal on a B&B or inn that's open year round. Downside: it's quiet/down time, don't count on a lot to do, and your eating options will be incredibly limited without a car.
posted by micawber at 1:53 PM on October 23, 2008

My 23 year son is stuck in Syracuse for Thanksgiving. Too far to come to Texas for a couple of days. He told me he did not know what he was going to do for Tday but I bet he finds something. He is a grad student there.
posted by bjgeiger at 3:06 PM on October 23, 2008

I used to live in beautiful Ithaca NY and got back and forth to New York City on the Shortline Bus. Ithaca is not crowded, has a walkable downtown area, has walking trails from downtown to and around the southern end of Cayuga Lake, and has an array of very good restaurants for a city of 30,000 (half of which is Cornell students). The gorges in the area are renowned, leading to the city's motto of "Ithaca is Gorges," and there's one within walking distance of downtown, starting in the Fall Creek neighborhood and going up (way, way up) the hill to the Cornell campus, which is itself quite beautiful and has panoramic views of the lake. There's a handful of places to stay downtown; more are on the outskirts and would require a car or riding the bus system, which is pretty good.

bjgeiger, your son is only about an hour from Ithaca. He might want to check it out too.
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 3:26 PM on October 23, 2008

You can always go to boston. You can get there by train from penn station using amtrak.
posted by majortom1981 at 4:28 PM on October 23, 2008