East Coast Winter Vacations?

January 16, 2019 3:40 PM

My SO has spring break off and we where thinking of spending it someplace “wintry” and “local”. What can you tell us about visiting Provincetown for a week in March? Or what upstate NY winter resorts/towns we could chill at for a while? We’re two dudes, based in NYC, one of us can drive but we’d like to avoid it as much as possible. Cozy, small towns, queer content, historic mansions with tours, rural curiosities, and natural wonders are all pluses.
posted by The Whelk to Travel & Transportation (6 answers total)

We spent a week in P-Town last April. It was cold but things were slowly starting to open for the season. In March you might see less things open (shops, restaurants, etc). The Cape Cod National Seashore is worth a visit, although the shutdown closes the facilities of course.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 4:01 PM on January 16, 2019

I've been up in the mid-Hudson Valley for a few months now, therefore I leave the True Knowledge & Advice to longer term residents, but hey! Grain of salt.

(Not knowing how much time you have to spend, but...)

IMO, not driving would be tough if your main goal is to see lots of stuff.

But I mean, Amtrak goes to Hudson, which is super walkable and adorable, but you'd still have to cab to the historic houses and whatnot, which seems a bit of a pain? But Hudson is one of my favorite places on earth, if you just want to chill, read books while drinking beer, staying in this bomb-ass b&b that somehow has Andy Warhol's couch, having wine by a fireplace at this cute bar, or shopping.

Or, if driving is not-the-worst-but-also-fine, you could hit up a whole bunch of places without feeling stressed out about time. Dutchess County alone has some mad-cute towns, like Millerton, Millbrook, and Amenia. You could pick up a car in Poughkeepsie, toodle through those for as long as you want, get an AirBnB/farmstay/whatever in the middle of nowhere for a few days, still hit up Hudson for a few days, and/or cross the river and hit up New Paltz, Woodstock, and Kingston. All of which have at least one or two attractions on offer, relevant your interests, but maybe not enough to warrant a week or two's stay alone.

But yeah, if no driving is Firm, I would recommend Hudson. There's enough stuff to do in a walkable radius without a car that you won't feel bored.

(Shoot me a MeMail if you're up there, maybe I'll be around to grab dinner!)
posted by functionequalsform at 4:11 PM on January 16, 2019 [2 favorites]

With Provincetown, it really depends on just how low-impact of a week you want. You could probably rent a pretty cozy place at a discounted (though ptown is never cheap) price for a week in March. A lot of the popular bars and restaurants will be closed, but there is definitely some fun to be had. If you do go, try to see Billy Hough play the piano at Gifford House or Grotta Bar- he’s a national treasure. If you want to check out the really nice beaches or explore the rest of the Cape, you’ll need a car (though I think you’d need one to get there in March anyway, right?)
posted by cakelite at 5:00 PM on January 16, 2019

If you don't mind a longer Amtrak ride: Buffalo. You can get by without a car in the city. Plenty of cool architecture and old industrial stuff to see, and plenty to eat. Rent a car a head 30 minutes north for the natural wonder of Niagara Falls (gorgeous all-year round), and head 45 monies south of Buffalo to Ellicottville, a quaint skiing town with lots of neat little shops.
posted by jonathanhughes at 7:20 PM on January 16, 2019

Response by poster: the car stuff isn't a hard no (We used to vacation a lot in rural Maine, which ...car) but peference is for as little car as possible.
posted by The Whelk at 8:48 PM on January 16, 2019

Hudson is absolutely great (welcome to the area, functionequalsform!), and you can totally take the train up here and just get a taxi or Uber if you want to visit Olana or even rent a car from Enterprise in town for a few weekday trips to attractions further afield.

(One of my favorite things is to take a lazy afternoon drive throug the back roads of Columbia County, stumbling onto architectural wonders and book barns, etc. And I love hiking Bash Bish in the winter, for example, and Art Omi and Opus 40 are both magical in the snow.)

I also want to make a plug for Middlebury, VT. I spent a long weekend up there last winter and was utterly charmed.
posted by minervous at 7:25 AM on January 17, 2019 [1 favorite]