18 Easy NYC Getaways With and Without a Car

I love New York City. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. (Except for maybe Barcelona, London or Rome.) But as much as I love New York, there are plenty of weekends when I just want to get away. All New Yorkers do — getting out of town is a sport we take seriously. I’ve covered a lot of day trips and weekend getaways on Travelogged. Here’s your guide to easy trips with and without a car for those days when you just have to leave the skyline behind. All 17 of these destinations are perfect for summer and early fall, and most of them are great all year round.

NYC Getaways Without a Car

New Yorkers, myself included, are frequently car-challenged. Renting a car in Manhattan on a weekend is laughably expensive. All of these destinations are easily reachable by train or bus (except for Sandy Hood, NJ, which is reachable by ferry), and once you get there you don’t need a car. Of course, you can drive to these places too. Here they are, in order from closest to furthest.

1. Sandy Hook, NJ: A 45-minute ferry ride from Manhattan.

2.Cold Spring, NY: A one-hour train ride from Manhattan.

3. Bay Head, NJ: If you drive here with no traffic, you can get here in under an hour-and-a-half. But the train will take you two-and-a-half hours.

4. Philadelphia: The train will deliver you in about two-and-a-half hours.

5. Atlantic City, NJ It’s a two-to-three-hour bus ride from NYC’s Port Authority.

6. Providence, RI Approximately a three-and-a-half-hour train ride.

7. Boston A four-hour train ride.

8. Washington, DC A four-hour train ride.

Getaways With a Car

Once you have a car, the sky’s the limit — unless you have one of those flying cars, in which case the sky is no longer the limit. Here are some of the getaways that are close enough to New York that you could go for just the weekend. Again, I’ve listed them in order from closest to the city to farthest away. These driving times are approximate — you can often expect plenty of traffic.

1. Ridgefield, CT A one-hour-and fifteen drive.

2. The Poconos, PA Less than a two-hour drive.

3. Lakeville, CT At least a two-hour drive.

4. Hawley, PA A two-hour-and-fifteen-minute drive.

5. Finger Lakes Region of NY You’ll arrive in the area within four hours of driving.

6. Manchester, VT A four-hour drive.

7. Portsmouth, NH A five-hour drive.

8. Kennebunkport, ME This is a five-and-a-half-hour drive if you’re lucky.

9. Lyndonville, VT At least a a five-and-a-half-hour drive.

10. Montreal: It’s about a six-hour-and-fifteen-minute drive from NYC to Montreal. The good news is that you’ll have the gorgeous Adirondacks scenery to distract for an hour or two. Don’t forget your passport!