Town an hour North/West of Newark Airport

[Skippii]

We're travellin in spring, and landing late @ Newark, NY, heading to Niagra Falls by car. Can anyone recommend a nice place to overnight, no more than 1.5 hours from the airport?

Actually, now I'm thinking either stay in an airport hotel or in New Jersey city, see the Statue of Liberty next morning, then head towards Niagra. We have 4 nights in total to goto Niagra Falls and return to NY, then three nights in NY.

Its a lot of driving to be doing in such a short space of time, these places are about 400 miles apart.

Is it necessary for you to drive all that way to Niagara Falls? (which are also better seen from the Canadian side). Will your hire car have to remain on the US side of the border?.

We have 4 days to drive up and back, intend to stay on the Canadian side. I have some places picked out to stop each day.