Best way to get from Manhattan to the Catskills?

[Bet01]

Hi everyone,
DH, DS12 and I are very, very excited about visiting New York in October. It’s part of a multi-centre holiday so we’re doing 4 nights at the Wall Street Hotel and then driving to the Catskills before heading to Cape Cod and then home to London from Boston. I think I’ve worked out all the logistics except getting from the Manhattan hotel to the Catskills.
Would it be better to rent a car in Manhattan (there’s a SixT really near the hotel so we could walk to pick up a car) or would it be better to get the train to somewhere like Albany and drive to our Airbnb from there?
Although renting a car in Manhattan seems most simple, I have to admit to being slightly nervous about driving through it. We live in London and drive through central London sometimes, is it basically on a par? Or is it much crazier?
Hoping someone local can help!
thank you.

I’m wondering if it may be worthwhile heading to Newark Airport & picking a car up from there? You can get the train from Penn Station direct to the airport & would have the benefit of choosing which rental company to go with & hopefully reducing costs too.

Then you would avoid driving through Manhattan completely.

I’d say driving in NYC is easier than in central London but the directions heading out of the city through bridges and tunnels can be confusing. And the traffic can be shocking.

Depending what time of day you go, getting the train out of the city isn’t a bad idea although I wouldn’t go as far as Albany.

But if you drive you’ll be fine, just make sure you have GPS.

I wouldn’t go to Newark airport, it’s not in the right direction and you have to get a bus from Newark to the airport.

Rent the car in Manhattan. The drive is beautiful at that time of year. I would leave Manhattan mid morning for the least traffic. At that time most people are driving in - you are opposite.

I just reread your post about where you’re staying. From the financial district you are very close to either the west side highway or the FDR drive, big roads that go up the weat and east sides of the island. Your drive will be completely straightforward.

Driving through Manhattan is actually very easy. Much more straightforward than London and in my experience far far less traffic

I would get a train or Uber to White Plains and pick up a car there. The drive out is then spectacular and you’re not going to find yourself stuck in traffic or having to negotiate tunnels and bridges out of the city. I am here now and there’s roadworks literally everywhere with blocks closed and detours.

I did the White Plains trip last year and it was $70 in an Uber.

We picked up a hire car from airport (mid trip, but were flying back home from the same airport anyway) to avoid driving through Manhattan, we got the subway and air train there, it was fine getting out of New Jersey not too painful, but driving back to the airport towards Manhattan was painful, I think it took us like 2 hours to do 10 miles.

Thanks everyone, very useful info! Seems like the drive out wouldn’t be too bad if we did just hire a car in Manhattan, other than roadworks. I guess it might be worth making a call nearer the time, based on what the roadworks situation is…
really like the White Plains idea too @DibbleDooDah

Enterprise car rental is usually the cheapest for a one way drop. You could even rent a car from their depot at Fort Lee near the New Jersey side of the George Washington Bridge and either get there by bus, subway or Uber/Lyft (easier as you will have baggage).

You may wish to go to the outlet shopping at Woodbury Commons on the drive up to the Catskills. Coaches take (many Chinese) tourists up there from the Port Authority bus station near Times Square. I have a lovely tablecloth which I purchased from Williams Sonoma there (high end kitchen store)

www.premiumoutlets.com

Thank you @Roaminginthegloaming that is useful. The main issue with car hire somewhere outside of Manhattan is that many don’t allow you to drop off at a different location (Enterprise in White Plains was a no, unfortunately) so maybe I’ll try the Fort Lee depot instead.

@Bet01 - Hmmm, my friend rents out an AirBnB in the Catskills at Hunter Mountain. It will be beautiful as the leaves change colour in the Fall. It’s very quiet in the evenings there, tbh. It is where a lot of people of Ukrainian heritage take their vacations/weekends and own properties up there.

If you have no look with Enterprise at Fort Lee for a one way rental (or from a car rental depot in Manhatten) my suggestion would therefore be to actually rent a car from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) as most airport locations offer one-way drops.

I did a dummy booking for Enterprise and they definitely allow EWR-BOS rentals. Also if you are travelling with a spouse/partner and collect the car together they waive the daily $15 additional driver fee. I have no idea if other car rental companies do this but I know that Avis charges 20 pounds per day for an additional driver at LHR!

The www.newarkairport.com website will show you the various options of getting from Manhattan to EWR. I used to live over there and as three of you are travelling with baggage, I would definitely consider taking a car service to the airport, otherwise go to Penn Station in Midtown and take a train or even go to the Port Authority bus station just west of Times Square and take a bus.

However, if you choose a car service, they pick you up at your hotel and unlike the NYC Yellow cabs (which can’t pick up a return fare from NJ) the car services constantly go to and from the area airports. If you see guys with a sheet of paper with someone’s name at the international or domestic arrivals halls they’re usually from a car service. It’s a fixed fare plus toll for the Holland Tunnel…..plus tip (15% to 20%).

Car services include www.Carmellimo.com and Dial7 - or you could try Uber or Lyft to get to the airport.

Now, if you do choose to go to EWR, alight at Teminal B or C, (B is the nearest) and go inside the terminal and take the Airtrain (Monorail) free of charge to the Airtrain stop P3 which is where the car rental depots are located. The ones at EWR are:

Alamo
Avis
Enterprise
Hertz
National

Hope this helps!
Btw; Cape Cod is lovely too! You could even go whale watching :)

Thank you @Roaminginthegloaming that is all so useful! We are going to be near Hunter Mountain too. Quiet evenings are just what we’ll need after a few nights in NYC, can’t wait for some hiking and early nights!

@Bet01 Try the car rental places at Westchester Airport. It’s basically White Plains.

Oh thanks @DibbleDooDah will look that up. Great tip!