beyond New York - ideas?

[cinematic]

Where would be worth adding to our trip to NYC in August? Family with kids 16 yrs+, our 1st US trip. We'll spend 5 days based in eg Lower East Side or Chelsea. We'd like to add 2 or 3 days to experience something different beyond the (hot!) city. I know we can do day trips from Manhattan like the beach/Tarrytown, but I'd love insight on our ideas for a side trip. Hudson Valley sounds lovely but now think we want coastal, Long Island (Greenport/Sag Harbour?), Newport RI, Mystic or where else? 5 x train fares are pricey, so we'd hire a car, maybe one way flying back from Boston. We don't want big tourist attractions/aquariums, malls, swanky resorts etc, but more pottering around local area, nice scenery, small shops, small town high street, street food, lobster rolls, music, film locations, historic buildings, people watching, maybe a kayak around a coastal area or harbour and I'd love to see whales. Prefer not to focus on another big city, so not Boston? Cape Cod sounds lovely but maybe not with so little time/limited budget? I can't quite get a good understanding of these areas and where would be "worth the effort". And thoughts on a good base for 2 nights? I'm going round in circles so thanks in advance!

Long Island sounds like a great bet. The area around the Hamptons (Southampton, East Hampton, Montauk, Sag Harbour etc.) is great to explore in good weather. You already have that in your head, so check it out and walk google maps to get an idea what it looks like, but I'd say all your criteria are there, markets, lobster, people watching (they are RICH there!) and so on. Plenty of maritime pursuits also. Around a two hour drive from NY, which is nothing to Americans! Only thing is, it might be expensive to stay there in August.

If you want to go native, there is a coach that goes from JFK to the Hamptons, various pick up points, called the Jitney. Brilliant service and well used. Check it out for information, the tickets are not expensive for the length of the journey IMV. You might be able to pick up your car in NY and leave it in LI and get the Jitney back or something like that.

Hampton Jitney - Official Site

The other suggestion I have is Pennsylvania Dutch /Amish country. Fascinating and so interesting. Cute little towns (you cannot miss the Amish town called Intercourse!). Markets with Amish food and other goods. Lovely landscape etc. Then you could take a flying visit to Philly and fly home from there. Not much lobster or sea there for sure, but it has other charms.!

Thank you that's great to hear re Long Island, as it was one of my first ideas, I just wasn't sure if you could do it reasonably affordably etc. And so much of the available accommodation seems to be motel/hilton type places just off big roads - do most people end up doing that and tour the scenic bits? Or maybe day trips with Jitney is the way to go. Amish country does look interesting (I was just thinking recently about Witness with Harrison Ford!) but I think we do fancy more coastal area. Thanks again.

Check out the Southampton Inn. It has free shuttle to Cooper's Beach in Summer and can arrange a shuttle to the nearby Jitney station for getting back to JFK. I stayed there a few years ago and it is charming, not motel style at all.

Hotel Southampton Inn, Southampton, United States of America - Lowest Rate Guaranteed! (hotelsone.com)

That's really helpful - thank you. That does look lovely!