Has anyone done a really great family holiday in America without hiring a car?

[Wupity]

I am thinking maybe trains/ferry’s instead. Would like to do a mix of cities and countywide/beaches. Maybe it is not possible?

East coast has ok trains and some buses. You could do NYC and Boston and then bus (or train in limited instance) to Maine or Vermont for coast/countryside.

With the caveat that I’m coming to this with zero experience and only anecdotal information!

My friend has done several European inter railing holidays recently and has more planned, they’ve absolutely loved it, but there has been a huge amount of planning done beforehand, which they treat as part of the whole holiday plan and actually quite enjoy. So if you approached it like this, I don’t see why it wouldn’t be doable. Obviously there can be huge distances involved in the US, so you’d have to plan carefully amd not expect to be zig zagging coast to coast!

Yes, Alaskan cruise with city breaks either side

We had a fantastic family holiday in Massachusetts. Stayed in Boston for 3 nights, got a bus then ferry to Martha's Vineyard for a few nights, then back on the ferry over to Cape Cod for a week (we used Ubers where buses weren't available.

Absolutely would not do, it's so flipping vast, I would just use car hire. It works out good value against the absolute PITA of trying to get around otherwise.

Only feasible if you stay in major cities with decent public transportation - NYC, Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco. Anywhere else you'd spend more on Ubers/Lyft/taxis than it would cost to rent a car.

Amtrak is nothing like European railways. Fine for, say, NYC to Philadelphia, Boston, Washington DC, but very slow - and expensive - for most other journeys.

Where were you thinking of taking ferries?

Many years ago we thought about taking a train from Houston to San Antonio … only problem was there was one train a week that arrived at about 2am.

We’ve usually flown into a big city, had a few days there to get over the flight and look around and then picked up a hire car to do a road trip.

It would really depend on where you wanted to go. As previously mentioned, big east coast cities or Chicago have good public transport. But once you get out to “the beach” you’ll need a car. Unless you fly somewhere with a city near a beach! We visited Fort Lauderdale (beach) without a car and it was doable.

Also Chicago has pretty nice beaches around the city!! It’s just a lake, but when you’re sitting on the beach you can’t see any land in the distance, so it could be an ocean 😆

I have done city breaks in NYC, Boston, Chicago & Washington DC without hiring cars, for exactly the same reason as you wouldn’t hire a car if you were on a break in London or Paris.

BUT if I was planning to travel outside those cities, I absolutely would hire a car. It’s affordable & straightforward, petrol is ridiculously cheap and driving across the country on the Interstate is a fantastic experience, like being in a movie.

If you're in NYC in the summer/autumn the Seastreak ferries go to lots of beachy and touristy locations: seastreak.com/ferry-routes-and-schedules/

I've done two or three cities in one trip without a car, but this was pre-children and while trains were fairly decent on the east coast, anything else either took a long time or could only be done by flying.

Agree with PPs on all points, esp to manage your expectations for amtrak and stick to the northeast. Probably better if the kids aren't too young too.

Commuter trains in east coast cities might be interesting, like metro north along the Hudson from NYC, or trains from Boston to historical towns like Concord (revolutionary war sites). Greenwich, CT too maybe.

Another idea would be to take a bus from NYC to Boston (best way to do it by a long shot imo), and Boston to Portland maine and then a ferry to nova Scotia which is beautiful.

Thanks for these ideas. Yes my first thoughts were maybe ferry out of Boston to Nova Scotia perhaps. Alaska cruises look nice.

Only if its one city.

Never done it myself but have you looked at the West Coast? Pacific Surfliner?

We flew to NYC and did three nights there; train from Penn Station to Washington and did three days there and then flew to Toronto and did 5 days there. Flew back from Toronto.

If it's in the budget I would 100% vote Alaskan. Cruise ! You can spend time in Seattle first.

For Boston, you can explore the harbour islands (in summer) via ferry, they're not too far out. For canada you have to leave from maine though. Oh and don't forget prince Edward island which is an hour and a half I believe from NS for any Anne of green gables fans.

I traveled around Alaska using the state ferries and trains

amtrak miami to nyc with teens fantastic trip stopping orlando savannah washington dc nyc
But...trains are once a day and run late,
Not at all like uk
until you get to eg nyc to washington dc more like uk commuter trains
Night train great experience food included

https://www.amtrak.com/family-vacations-by-train

With toddlers, was easy

No not if you want to do multiple city’s. Maybe one or two at max. Amtrak is great but the day we looked from Memphis to New Orleans it was cancelled no alternative

did 3 states with friends. Flying looked ok but check ins etc made it a no no. We looked at hiring a car but decided to do black line cars. This was only an option as 4 separate incomes to pay for them

in your position I’d def hire a car

We did, in the summer:

NYC - Toronto - Niagara - Toronto - Atlanta - Philadelphia - NYC

We used Amtrak / buses / a couple of internal flights that were a complete nightmare - they were delayed then cancelled then we were rerouted so also ended up in New Jersey and Pittsburgh !!

I wish I wasn't so scared and was ok at driving abroad but I am a chicken!

That sounds like a great itinerary

We flew into Boston then train out to Salem for a day, train to NY and then also day trip to Philadelphia. Found it really easy.

Only thing to beware of if it's a long holiday is the stated luggage size for Amtrak isn't massive. Ours were just over and we got away with it but otherwise you have to pay a penalty fare (it's size as well as weight)

I did LA to Long Beach and the San Diego via public transport. So shuttle bus from airport to metro to Long Beach and then metro bsck to union station to get Amtrak to San Diego which goes eight by the coast. Amteak was delayed by 2hrs as they picked due people from a broken down train and dropped them off along the route and it was rammed ao I couldn't sit in business class that I had paid for, got kicked out of my window seat so a woman and her two kids could sit together even though they only needed 3 seats but insisted the two kids had window seats. Really annoyed me to be honest. So I just found a normal class seat by the window.

Otherwise it was great trip super cheap to travel this way for example LA to long beach by cab would have been $100 vs $5 i spent on metro. Used the local trains and buses in San diego to get to all the major places aswell super easy and no issues.