East Coast Twixtmas

June 2, 2009 12:29 PM

Seeking suggestions for winter break within four hours drive of NYC. Love me up on your favourite destinations!

My family is keen to get away all together in the period between Christmas and New Year. We've got a bunch of people living in NJ, Manhattan and Brooklyn, and genghis and I will be flying in from Ireland for the holidays.

We're all grown-ups, from 25 - 65. Typically we've all spent summers in places like South Hampton, Shelter Island, Fire Island and Montauk but we're coming up short for winter vacation ideas. Our plan is to go somewhere we can rent a large house for a week, read a lot of books, read lots of MetaFilter, and go out for a lot of dinners.

Criteria are:

* A town. We have people who do not drive but do like coffee, newspapers, restaurants and beer and would like to be able to get to those things on foot.
* Open in the winter; some place pretty but closed is obviously no good.
* No more then 4 hours from NYC by car. (Vermont is too far.)
* Pet friendly, and not completely hostile to smokers.

We thought of Cape May, which is pretty and charming and has lots of character and the houses are great. It would be ideal except: a) you are forbidden to take dogs pretty much anywhere, including the beach and the main street, and b) you apparently cannot smoke inside any hotel within the city or state limits or something.

So, Pennsylvania? Rhode Island? Delaware? Somewhere fabulous on LI? Where can we go within 4 hours of NYC that's got a real town worth spending some time in and has a reasonable supply of house rentals?

posted by DarlingBri to travel & transportation (13 comments total)

The Poconos! I'm not sure about availability of rentals to smokers, but it's worth a look. Mount Pocono is gorgeous.
posted by rachaelfaith at 12:33 PM on June 2

I like New Paltz, NY for its groovy feel, wintery activities, nearness to NYC.
posted by Pineapplicious at 12:35 PM on June 2

Yeah, agreeing with rachelfaith - try the Poconos.

I am from the heart of the Poconos - lived there for 30+ years - The Poconos IS a superb place to go in the winter: snowmobiling, sleigh riding, skiing, tobogganing, ice fishing, ice skating, snow ball fights, you name it.... Winter Sports = The Poconos.

I can say everyone I know in Northeastern Pa smokes, but I haven't rented a hotel room there in over 12 years... seriously, everyone I can think of that I know there is a smoker, so you shouldn't be shunned too hard for it. And to my best recollection, you shouldn't have any problems finding a pet friendly place to stay with a nominal security pet deposit.

The towns of the Poconos are very spread out, so a car is an absolute must for traveling between them, but once in a particular town you can pretty much get around by foot, taxi cab or public transit (slim pickings though on PT, IIRC).

BON VOYAGE!
posted by goml at 1:05 PM on June 2

Lake Placid. You can ski Whiteface, you can go to the Olympic Village and ice skate out doors, you can ride the Olympic bobsled track, you can hang out in town at coffee shops, you can take a horse drawn carriage ride, you can take a dog sled ride around the lake, etc etc. House rentals are plentiful...I've gone every year for the past 5 and had great places.

Woodstock or New Paltz are also great and are close to ski resorts, have great little towns, but house/condo rentals will be more scarce.
posted by spicynuts at 1:23 PM on June 2

Thanks for the ideas so far. I would appreciate suggestions of specific towns in these locations; the Pocanos is kind of big and I'm not familiar with it except for a hilarious week we spent at the Nevele in the 80s, and I have no idea what's in Northeastern PA.

I think the New Paltz thing is probably closer to what we're looking for than the Pocanos because I don't think we're really going to be big on winter sports. Sleigh rides and ice skating, sure; skiing and snow mobiles, not so much.
posted by DarlingBri at 1:23 PM on June 2

Consider Ithaca. It's just within your 4-hour driving limit. It's a lively small town surrounded by beautiful hilly country, with lots of great coffee houses, bookstores, restaurants, bars, and wineries. You can look on craigslist or contact the visitor's bureau for vacation houses (I think there are plenty of lake houses available in the winter, since summer is the more standard tourist season here). There's a skating pond at Taughannock Falls, and non-strenuous and very scenic winter walks at parks all over the area. Dogs are fine here, and the smoking restrictions are no worse than the rest of the state (no smoking in restaurants, but private residences and designated hotel rooms are fine). Especially if (as it sounds like) you'd like mostly town activities with only a sprinkling of country, I think Ithaca might be a great choice.
posted by ourobouros at 1:53 PM on June 2

Have you considered the Pioneer Valley (Amherst and Northampton, specifically)? I don't know too much about house rentals there, but they are lovely and beautiful in the winter, with lots of great food, used book stores, coffee houses, museums, etc etc. It's about a 3 hour drive from NYC to the Valley.
posted by telegraph at 1:56 PM on June 2

Yes, the Poconos is very spread out and has no major urban areas, nor does the rest of NEPA have much to offer but sports and shopping and scenery and more scenery.

If you are not into winter sports, you are right - You'll be bored to tears and there isn't much else to do but drink beer and shop at the outlets.

If you look around and find a specific Pocono Mountain town you are interested in, please feel free to mefimail me for the details. Check out Jim Thorpe- that's a pretty cool little town.
posted by goml at 3:13 PM on June 2

Phoenicia is a cute tiny town about two hours upstate. There is a old style hotel, bar, some cute restaurants and shops, all on main street. I've stayed there with a dog before, but I stayed at a nearby motel that accepted dogs, but mainly because it was a last minute thing and we didn't know we would be staying overnight.
posted by newpotato at 5:00 PM on June 2

This sounds like a great trip...

As someone who recently moved to New Paltz, I'm not sure I'd recommend it. There really aren't many great restaurants/bars/coffeeshops to choose from, and it'll probably be a bit of a ghost town during winter break when all the SUNY kids are back home. Woodstock sounds like a good idea...or another Hudson Valley town I've enjoyed is Rhinebeck.

Have you thought about Western Mass? Northampton is a great little town.
posted by pilibeen at 6:24 PM on June 2

Jim Thorpe is exactly the sort of place we're looking for - that looks like a fantastic little town. Sadly none of the B&Bs appear to take dogs, which would put us at a Hampton Inn 8 miles away. (Err, does anyone know anything about Lehighton, PA?)

Woodstock would be great, and Phonecia sounds appealing; newpotato did you stay at the Cobblestone? They don't say anything about dogs but Phonecia sounds cute.

Ithica, Amherst and Northampton are sadly out, because members of our party have either attended or taught at universities in those towns, so it wouldn't be new. But good suggestions!
posted by DarlingBri at 7:55 PM on June 2

Jim Thorpe is a cool little place, but it is LITTLE. Like you'll walk the whole thing in 10 minutes. Phoenicia is the same way. It is about 20 minutes north of Woodstock on Rt 28. If you want to be in that area, I'd suggest either Woodstock proper or Saugerties, both of which are bigger and I'd argue more interesting, and you can still get to Phoenicia from there. Also, you can get to New Paltz in 30 minutes, so best of all worlds.

If you are more interested in Phoenicia, I'd also suggest Mt Tremper. There is a Zen Monastery there, it's 10 minutes down 28 from Phoenicia, it's a lovely 15 to 20 minute ride on 212 into Woodstock and it has a couple of bed and breakfasts.

From Phoenicia/Woodstock/Saugerties etc you could take a day drive (maybe an hour) across the Hudson to Rhinebeck, mentioned above. Also, you could cross the river to Hyde Park, south of Rhinebeck, and go to the Vanderbilt mansion and to FDRs house. That's probably 90 minute drive.

One thing to remember though..these aren't exactly cultural hot beds like Amherst might be. They are pretty, small, Catskill/Hudson Valley towns that have a lot of charm and a few good restaurants/cafes, but they can be 'done' in a day.
posted by spicynuts at 7:23 AM on June 3

It's 350 miles to Montreal.
posted by Zambrano at 9:00 AM on June 3