New York City in October and.....?

[SJane45S]

Any suggestions welcome. Next year is my DH’s 50th & he wants to go to New York to celebrate & take our DD with us who’ll be 11. We’ll go October half term, probably flying out the Friday night & coming back the following Sunday so will have slightly over a week. We grown ups have been to NY before a couple of times & are thinking of a 2nd trainable city. Any good suggestions? My DH fancies Boston or Washington. I’ve been on a whistle too tour of Boston & ideally would like to go somewhere new but the impression I get of Washington (from the media & probably 100% wrong!) is that it’s s mixture of politics & rough areas. The DH doesn’t fancy Chicago. Are Philadelphia or Portland do-able? Or Vermont? Confused so any advice welcome!

Grr - whistle stop not whistle too!

Portland Maine I assume? 8 hours by train each way sounds too much to me. I'd go for Philadelphia or Boston. All US cities have bad areas, Washington also has the Smithsonian which is on my list of things to see when I'm next in the US so I wouldn't rule it out.

:-) Portland’s out then - my fault for not googling! We’ll fly back from the 2nd city. Have you (or anyone) been to Philadelphia? The only thing it makes me think of is the Tom Hanks film and the Fresh Prince of Belair!

Washington for tourists is wonderful. You really don’t go near anywhere unsafe. The Mall and all the museums is fantastic. It’s great to see the iconic White House and the Congress building. We also found it moving to see the war memorials and those to Presidents. Arlington Cemetey is a must too as well as Georgetown.

I also think Boston is great so choose the one that suits your interests best. Both have good transport systems and great food!

Philadelphia is a very easy train trip away from NYC and has plenty to do for a few days. It's very walkable.

I don't love DC but the Museums are fantastic. It's definitely worth a couple of days of your time.

Why not nip up to Toronto? Niagara Falls, CN Tower etc?

Thanks all - Washington is sounding more appealing.i used to live in Toronto Ginger1982 & my DH’s Dad is from Toronto so a visit there while lovely isn’t going to be something special birthday different. Good suggestion though -have done this journey numerous times on Greyhounds, usually at night time with s bus load of odd people!

Sorry about typos earlier!

Washington is a great city to visit. We thought the American History Museum and the Museum of Flight were world class, totally fascinating and not to be missed. We also went to the Native American Museum and the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. The American History Museum paints a superb portrait of American History with fantastic exhibits and we nearly spent a whole day there!

As the President Obama portrait has just been unveiled, you can see all the presidential portraits in the National Portrait Gallery. There are some other great portraits in there too. I vividly remember the one of Katharine Hepburn and her three Oscars next to it.

The Congresss building is a must. We stayed in Georgetown on both visits and it is easier to find restaurants there. It is also more atmospheric. I recommend Washington very highly.

I liked all the museums in Washington, but if you're going to fly back from the second city why limit yourself to the train? Internal flights are cheap and sometimes you can just include as a multiple stop ticket for no or very little extra.

A few years ago we flew London to New York to Vegas to London and it was cheaper than a return to New York.

We also did London to Vegas to San Diego to London for £10 more than a return to Vegas.

(We're not massive gamblers - Vegas have good country music festivals.).

I've just come back from Philly and loved it. I got the greyhound from port authority in NYC and was only $20. The food there is fantastic.

I just prefer direct flights. In and out. Makes life easier for a relatively short holiday. Didn't like Las Vegas and San Diego was a disappointment.

I'd pick Boston top, then DC, then Philly for things to do, but all are fun. Philly and DC are close so you could do a day in Philadelphia (Liberty Bell, Independence Hall and a cheesesteak!) en route to Washington maybe?

Those flights were direct @BubblesBuddy, also I wasn't recommending Las Vegas or San Diego just giving examples of multi stop flights that were good value. (Since OP was already thinking of an open jaw ticket.)

I think Vegas can be great but I've only ever been with loads of concerts and other stuff planned for while I was there. I wouldn't blanketly recommend it esp not for a family holiday.

I liked San Diego too, but not top of my list at all.

Indeed going that far west is probably a bit much for OP's short trip, but I was suggesting casting the net a little wider than cities you can travel to by train.

I would recommend New Orleans and Miami. Great, totally different cities and you can do a lot in a few days.

Sorry! Misread the flight info Clare. Just a lot of flying for a week!

No worries. I'm maybe biased, I'd always rather fly than get the train - too much like commuting!

Thanks all - I think it's going to be NY & Washington, my DH is keener on that and there seems to be lots to do in a couple of days.Cheers re the Georgetown tip - will definetely take a look! I did alot of backpacking in my twenties by train and like train travel and passing through the scenery and sights of a country but good point about travel time given we've one week! Re the other cities, I liked Miami when I went but DH not keen (and very unkeen on Vegas!)

If you do settle on DC then the museums are all fantastic. My favourite day was walking around all the monuments from Jefferson to Martin Luther King.