New York and .........

[outofmydepth2]

We are looking for a special holiday next year to celebrate 18th and 50th birthdays. We have never been to America and I am looking for some inspiration.

We would like to go to New York and see the sights for a few days then have a week somewhere more relaxing. I have always fancied New England but where is the question?
In addition to the 18 year old we have a 13 year old who's main interests are shopping, sitting in the sun with a pool and wifi and eye rolling if long drives or sightseeing are suggested!!
Thank you in advance

Boston! It's lovely. Take a day around Cambridge where the Harvard campus too.

You can get a train from NY to Boston and then hire a car and go to Cape Cod. Boston is worth a visit and in the summer there are large catamarans that go out whale watching. Beaches galore in Cape Cod and plenty of properties have pools. Be prepared for lots of traffic getting to Cape Cod though. It’s busy! Don’t let the 13 year old dictate what you do. There’s plenty to see and shopping is expensive with the exchange rate so dire at the moment. Window shop in NY. Tiffany, 5th Avenue stores like Saks and Nordstrom are good.

Amtrak to Boston. Book and reserve a seat well in advance. It's not cheap. Be prepared to spend thousands!

Also worth saying 'a few days' in NYC is never enough. You could do much more. It's so great

Thank you. Train sounds a great idea and whale watching. Will have a look at Boston. 13 year old won’t dictate but nice to give everyone something they will enjoy. Window shopping sounds good as well

Another Boston vote - great city! Or how about a train to Toronto? It's a very different city to NY & more laid back - the 13 year old could swim in Lake Ontario in the Beaches area & you could do a quick pit stop at Niagara Falls on the way?

we did what Bubbles suggested - train from NYC to Providence RI, and then drove to the Cape. If you don't want to drive you could get the same train all the way to Boston and then a ferry over to the Provincetown at the tip of the Cape. The train was cheaper and nicer than for the equivalent journey in the UK.

We did find holiday rentals were really expensive compared with what we'd pay in Spain/Italy. This mean that we didn't go for a place with a pool, but got somewhere walking distance to a beach.