How to get from New York to Cape Cod and back

[mck]

Hi there!

We are flying into JFK from London on 16th June, returning 30th June. We have a week booked at the Manhattan Club and a week at The Cove, Cape Cod. We will want a hire car for Cape Cod. Any suggestions on how to get from NY to Cape Cod? We are happy to go via Boston if the airport there is the best place to pick up a car? Is driving back from Cape Cod to JFK an option or will the driving in NY be too scary or the navigation too difficult?
Thanks for any advice

 

[sullco]

Driving or maybe a better option...

I assume you're coming to NY first for your Manhattan Club week.

You can certainly rent a car from Manhattan to Cape Cod and the concierge could get you directions from www.mapquest.com.

However, you might consider taking Amtrak from NYC to Providence, Rhode Island and then getting a rent a car from that city which is several hours closer to Cape Cod.

The reasons are: traffic from NY along I-95 is often terrible
you would then experience American trains
rent a cars can be cheaper from Providence

You could rent in Providence near the train station and drop the car off at whichever airport you leave from. If you are flying back out of JFK, then you can choose to drive there or just reverse the trip and take the train back to NYC. If your return flight is from JFK, it is probably at night so a drive back directly from Cape Cod would be rather long, but you could skip Manhattan and drive directly to JFK.

If you have a chance, don't miss Newport, Rhode Island. It's close enough to the Cape and a treasure.

Have fun. Keep to the right!

 

[e.bram]

Take the Megabus(el cheapo and good, look up on internet) from NYC to Boston and rent a car in Boston

 

[jme]

I like Googlemaps best. www.maps.google.com.

here's your map, though: (if i didn't enter in the correct spot in Cape Cod, re-do it using more specific address.... same for NYC. )

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&sou...7806,-72.454834&spn=2.790614,7.053223&t=h&z=7

 

[Conan]

We are flying into JFK from London on 16th June, returning 30th June. We have a week booked at the Manhattan Club and a week at The Cove, Cape Cod. We will want a hire car for Cape Cod. Any suggestions on how to get from NY to Cape Cod? We are happy to go via Boston if the airport there is the best place to pick up a car? Is driving back from Cape Cod to JFK an option or will the driving in NY be too scary or the navigation too difficult?
Thanks for any advice

If you were driving all the way, it's about 250 miles and although the route is straightforward you're likely to encounter delays on the way out of the City. If you do want to give it a try, we've found it easiest to pick up a car at Budget's West 49th Street location (see the map at http://www.budget.com/budgetWeb/loc...perlink=notenable&countryName=&prevCountry=US (New York--> Manhattan--> #5). From there, access is easy to the West Side Highway (Route 9A on some maps) that runs alongside the Hudson River. Then although it's a bit tricky getting onto the Cross Bronx Expressway east (I-95), once there I-95 will take you all the way to Providence, Rhode Island where you'll exit to I-195 towards Cape Cod).

The alternative is to take the Amtrak train from Penn Station New York (a 10-minute taxi ride from the Manhattan Club) to Providence. I'm not sure there are car rental companies inside the train station (I can tell you the train station is at Atwells Avenue, Providence) so it might require a taxi to a rental car company's downtown location. If you're taking Amtrak, you can check schedules and prices on-line. http://tickets.amtrak.com/itd/amtrak The faster, european-style Acela Express costs more than the "Northeast Regional" line. The Northeast Regional is adequate if you want to save the money.

There's no reason to take the train beyond Providence. Boston is not much closer to the Cape and Bostonians are the worst drivers in America.

For the return to JFK, if you're not going by taxi there are Long Island Railroad commuter trains that run from the same New York Penn Station to Jamaica (Queens, NY) where you can transfer to the monorail service to JFK.

Good luck!

 

[DanM]

IMHO, if you are going to rent a car for the Cape portion of your trip anyway, rent it in NYC and drive to the Cape, then return the car at JFK to catch your flight home. Yes, you can hit some traffic on 95, but overall it will be simplest. It will also allow you to stop along the way if you wish. The Connecticut shore, New Haven, and Providence all have interesting sights and restaurants depending on your schedule. As some mentioned above, getting from a rental car place in Manhattan to the highways is not that bad. However, you might consider taking the bus or a cab back out to JFK to pick up a car because rental companies often charge very high drop off fees if you leave the car somewhere besides where you got it. Be sure to check for these charges when comparing rates.

 

[Bunk]

Unless you're concerned about driving or are not used to driving on the right side of the road, I would say rent a car in NYC. Make sure you get a GPS (may be cheaper to buy a cheap one or have it added to your cell phone).
Take the Henry Hudson north to get out of NYC.
Don't travel during rush hour (which let's say is 6 to 9 AM).
No problem with driving this route at night (if you have a GPS).

I don't think you should under any circumstances take a train to Boston. I think it is worse driving in Boston than in Manhattan.

 

[janej]

Take the Megabus(el cheapo and good, look up on internet) from NYC to Boston and rent a car in Boston

I second this suggestion. My parents take Magabus between NYC and DC all the day. They love it. You also don't have to book far in advance and you can change your reservation for $1.

 

[mck]

Thanks everyone! Hadn't realised Providence was an option so will look into that. Will see how my husband feels about driving in New York! I have driven in LA before - will it be any worse than that?!!!

 

[Conan]

You can plot the route from New York, New York to Providence, Rhode Island here
http://www.i95travelinfo.net/

Currently (1:45pm EST = 18:45 GMT) it shows 3 hours from NYC to Providence.

Try it at around 6pm = 23:00 GMT and you may see a different story!

 

[Big Matt]

They are totally different. If you are referring to New York as the city, it is an island with bridges connecting to the mainland. Unless you want to go pretty far from the island, I wouldn't drive at all. Take cabs and the subway. You can spend a lot of time walking too.

Many streets are one way and if there is some sort of street closure (parade, etc.) it will be tough to navigate without good directions. Parking is a nightmare and is extremely expensive.

If you are talking about areas outside of the city, it will remind you somewhat of LA.

Thanks everyone! Hadn't realised Providence was an option so will look into that. Will see how my husband feels about driving in New York! I have driven in LA before - will it be any worse than that?!!!

 

[mck]

Probably didn't make myself very clear! I am now thinking that our best plan is to pick up a car from JFK at the end of our first week at the Manhattan Club, drive to Cape Cod and drive back to JFK from Cape Cod at the end of our holiday. Our flight home is not until the evening so should have plenty of time. Just wondered how tricky the drive was? I have done plenty of driving in the States although a few years ago now and did not find it too hard!
Are there any nice places to stop off en route?
Thanks for your replies!

 

[Conan]

Will see how my husband feels about driving in New York! I have driven in LA before - will it be any worse than that?!!!

Manhattan (north of Washington Square/Greenwiich Village) is a simple grid of Avenues (north/south) and Streets (east/west) so it not nearly as confusing to the driver as L.A. (or London). Truck and taxi traffic, double parked vehicles and so forth make it challenging but you'll soon be off the City streets and heading out of town.

If you take the I-95 route the first leg will be the dirty and crowded Cross Bronx Expressway. After 30 minutes or so things open up and while there may be some further bottlenecks (mainly in Greenwich-Stamford, Connecticut and again as you approach New Haven) it's mostly simple driving.

There's an alternate route where rather than turning east onto the Cross Bronx you continue north via the Henry Hudson Parkway and then via other connecting parkways onto New York's Major Deegan Parkway/Connecticut's Wilbur Cross Parkway. This route is only slightly longer and is more pleasant because New York parkways are forbidden to truck traffic. Eventually you will exit the Wilbur Cross around Stratford, Connecticut - - there's a mile-long connector that puts you onto I-95 eastbound shortly before New Haven. You'll want a GPS for this route because the connections can be confusing.

By the way, if money's no object, there is a small airport in Hyannis, Mass. quite near your timeshare. I don't know if you could fly directly from New York's LaGuardia (LGA) or JFK airports or Newark New Jersey (EWR), or if you'd first have to fly to Boston.

 

[Conan]

Probably didn't make myself very clear! I am now thinking that our best plan is to pick up a car from JFK at the end of our first week at the Manhattan Club, drive to Cape Cod and drive back to JFK from Cape Cod at the end of our holiday.

Unless there's a substantial extra cost (and I don't think there is) you'd be better off picking the car up at the Manhattan location that I mentioned above and returning it to JFK.

That saves the hassle of getting from Manhattan to the airport, and the tricky/slow drive from JFK at the south shore of Queeens, north across the width of Long Island and onto the often-crowded Whitestone Bridge leading to the Bronx.

 

[mck]

Thanks. There does not seem to be a significant price premium for different pick up and drop off points. A couple of the car hire websites I have viewed also list other pick up points in Manhattan. Are they all good to get to/ drive from? Some are higher numbers, some lower than 49th? Prices for 8 days basic car hire seem to be about GBP 260, say USD 400? Does that sound about right?

 

[wackymother]

Post the locations and we'll assess. If you're staying at Manhattan Club, you want the car pickup to be near there, so anything in the 40s/50s/60s would probably be good.

And $400 for an eight-day rental out of NYC seems pretty good, if that includes all the taxes and fees. Outside Manhattan, you could do better, but it will be a pain to get there.

 

[Davidr]

I wouldn't take the Cross Bronx Expressway. I avoid that road like the plague. The Westside hwy becomes the Henry Hudson parkway then the Saw Mill pkwy. Then take I-287 east (the signs say I-287/I-87 make sure you exit on to 287 east) to I-95 north. It sounds complicated but its not. Its a much nicer drive.

 

[Conan]

Thanks. There does not seem to be a significant price premium for different pick up and drop off points. A couple of the car hire websites I have viewed also list other pick up points in Manhattan. Are they all good to get to/ drive from? Some are higher numbers, some lower than 49th? Prices for 8 days basic car hire seem to be about GBP 260, say USD 400? Does that sound about right?

Streets run horizontally (east/west) and are 20 to the mile, so any location in the 40s or 50s is fine. Avenues run vertically, and numbers increase from right to left (east to west) and are 10 to the mile. Since you want to get to the west side highway, you'd be better with a location in the west 40s or west 50s, which is likely to be near 7th, 8th, 9th avenue. An east 40s or east 50s starting point wouldn't be awful, you'd just have to head west (we call it crosstown) about a mile and we're trying to minimize your actual city driving.

[If you are starting in the east 40s or east 50s your GPS will route you up the east river side of Manhattan Island (via the FDR Drive) and onto the Triboro Bridge to the Bronx. This also wouldn't be awful it's just a bit more confusing, especially since the Triboro is a three-legged bridge, with feet in Manhattan (your starting point), The Bronx (your goal) and Queens (which would be a mistake).]

 

[mck]

Thanks - you've all been so helpful!
I just need to book the car hire now. What insurances should I be looking for? I can see cdw and sli and some seem to add on other packages for a full tank of petrol? I presume I should also protect the excess?

 

[mck]

This is what Holiday autos includes:

Your rental includes:

* airport fee
* collision damage waiver
* supplementary liability insurance
* loss damage waiver

* theft waiver
* third party liability insurance
* unlimited mileage depending on vehicle

They want gbp 285 for this - it's a 2 door opel corsa. The excess on the car is usd 100 so not worth protecting really I suppose as it will cost about 40 usd to protect? This is from Manhattan west 40th street.

 

[wackymother]

They don't have Opel Corsas in the United States, do they? I guess it will be a compact car similar to an Opel Corsa....

Regarding the insurance, call your credit card companies and tell them you'll be renting a car in the U.S. Ask them what they will cover and what insurance you should accept. Then choose the one that offers the best deal and use that to book the car.

 

[mck]

This is the details of the insurance:

rentals in USA and Canada
Your rental includes:

* Unlimited mileage (restrictions apply at some locations in Canada. Please read the important information at the time of booking)
* Supplementary liability insurance (more information below)
* Extended Protection (more information below)
* Loss damage waiver
* Airport fees
* All local taxes and environmental fees
* Handling fees

Supplementary liability insurance

* All rentals in the USA and Canada include third party liability cover, which conforms to the statutory minimum required by each state but can be as low as $5,000.

Extended protection

* Our prices include excess liability cover, known as extended protection (EP). This offers third party liability cover above the minimum level of protection (see above) and increases your third party protection to $1,000,000 in respect of any claims made against you.
* EP also provides coverage up to $100,000 ($40,000 in Texas) to the renter and any family member related by blood, marriage or adoption, who, while occupying the rental car, sustained bodily injury or death caused by a negligent, uninsured/underinsured motorist.
Is this enough?
I didn't realise credit cards had insurance? Is that just in the US? I'll ring and ask!

 

[wackymother]

I didn't realise credit cards had insurance? Is that just in the US? I'll ring and ask!

Yes, many credit cards in the U.S. offer insurance on car rentals as part of their benefits. AmEx has a special program, and I have a travel-oriented Visa that offers it. Not every card carries it, so you need to call and ask before you book the car. You also need to be careful to tell them that you're renting the car in the U.S.

 

[Conan]

Are there any nice places to stop off en route?

The American way would be to drive straight through, stopping only for gas [petrol] and bags of McDonalds burgers.

There's a tourist area in Mystic, Connecticut (the Mystic Aquarium and adjoining shopping center are right at the highway exit, but the seaport town itself is about 15 minutes south). I think that's too much of an interruption.

Instead of either of the above, take the Noank, Connecticut exit #89 and stop at Abbott's for lobster. Seating is at outdoor picnic tables with a view of the water. And the lobster is as good as Maine's best (and far better than what passes for lobster in Europe). Get a bag of steamed clams too!!

Directions and hours here:
http://www.abbotts-lobster.com/drivingdirect.htm
If you get confused with the rights and lefts, look for signs tacked to telephone poles along the way. They don't have a liquor license, so pick up a chilled bottle of wine in the little town of Noank en route (unless it's Sunday when the stores are closed).

Not my family - - ripped from the Abbott's website http://www.abbotts-lobster.com/index.html

 

[mck]

Abbotts sounds great, will try to call in there!

Thanks everyone for your help!