Road Trip in March: NYC - Niagara Falls - Montreal - Boston - NYC: Suggestions?

In My Humble Opinion
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Dear Dopers from New York State and surroundings,

I’m planning a trip to the US in the end of march March with two friends that will involve a week in NYC and a week with a rental car and the rough route of NYC - Niagara Falls - Montreal - Boston - NYC.

This seems to be approximately 1500 miles, so that should be doable in a week.

We are (so far) not set on any dates or specific places, but Niagara Falls and Boston are definitely on the list.

Do you have any suggestions regarding National Parks/awesome sights along the route?

How frequent are motels and how much can we expect to pay for a 3-person room? (I realize this will vary quite a bit, think rural area, low scale motel, nothing fancy)

Should we prepare for inclement weather or will spring have arrived by the end of March?

Thank you for any and all suggestions, we’re really looking forward to this trip.

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A week for all that? You won’t get very long in any of those places, eh. It’ll take you a good part of a day to go from Niagara Falls to Montreal (it’s seven hours from Toronto to Montreal depending on the traffic) and ditto ditto for Montreal to Boston. It all seems a bit ambitious.

As for Montreal, let me know what sort of things you’re interested in, and I’ll be happy to advise.

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Where will you be arriving from?

End of March… hmm… it’s the tag-end of winter in the climate zones similar to Montreal. Most of the snow is melted, but spring hasn’t arrived yet, and there are no leaves or buds. The water is running and the sunlight is strengthening and you can tell that spring is getting ready just over the horizon though. There’s a lot of mud, the dregs of dirty snow along the roads, and it would be quite dreary and depressing if it wasn’t for the fact that the daylength is increasing and spring is coming!

It’s warmer in New York, of course. Spring is probably a few weeks earlier there–you might see green there.

Be on the lookout for weather that’s above freezing during the day and below freezing at night: this leads to running water crossing roads and sidewalks when it’s light and refreezing after dark, leading to slip hazards.

Are you planning to go from Niagara Falls to Montreal via New York State? If you cross to Canada, you can take in the better view of the Falls. If you then go around via Toronto and Kingston to get to Montreal, you’ll halve the number of border crossings. That’s at the cost of about three hours more drive, though. As opposed to three more hours at the border.

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It is also the better part of a day from NYC to Niagara Falls.

So in the interest of time, if you only do one thing in Upstate NY besides the Falls, I’d recommend the Ithaca-Watkins Glen area, as that has the biggest concentration of natural sites without having to tool around too much (7 notable falls and 2 notable glens). Of course if you think Niagara Falls will saturate your need for waterfall-creek style nature then you might want to skip it, but if you want to go, research Watkins Glen, Fall Creek, Taughhannock Falls, Buttermilk Falls, and Cascadilla Gorge, (and probably ones that I’ve missed, too, all within 15 miles of each other.)

5

A week’s not long for this trip. I’d consider skipping Niagara Falls and just doing Montreal.

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Do you know French? All English almost instantly disappears off the road signs once you get a mile away from the border with Ontario or the US. We realized as we were driving past the third sign describing some crazy temporary traffic pattern due to construction ahead that, “Hey, if we couldn’t read that French, we’d be in trouble here.”

Once in Montreal, the only driving sign you really need to understand is “Stationnement interdit.” (No parking) There’s a lot of it.

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Keep in mind that Quebec, like Ontario, makes much greater use of symbols on its road signs than the US does. For instance, there will be a sign that looks like this instead of a sign saying “NO RIGHT TURN ON RED”.

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I’m from Buffalo and I also think that’s a lot to do in a week. If you’re committed to doing all three cities then I wouldn’t plan any side trips, as it is you only have 1-2 days in each city. At least in upstate NY it won’t be any problem to find roadside motels. But don’t you want to stay within the city? These are all places I’d want to explore at night, including Buffalo.

If you want to do just Niagara Falls and Boston (personally I would pick Montreal and Boston but you said those are the 2 must’s) then perhaps look at doing the whole thing via bus/train/air. You can take a train or bus for NYC->Boston, and then get a multi-city airline ticket for Boston->Buf->NYC. You’ll probably want a rental car within Buffalo/Niagara, but I doubt you’ll miss having it in Boston. Or for travel in and out of NYC. I mean, love road trips and going off the beaten path as much as the next person, but for the places you name I’d rather spend my time in the cities than in a car.

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Speaking as someone who lives close to Niagara Falls…honestly, if I were going to drop one of your destinations, it would be Da Falls. Firstly, it’s the farthest away, so cutting it out would remove a lot of travelling time. I haven’t driven from NYC to here, but it’s about five hours to Albany so it’s a good eight or so on the Thruway. Secondly…to be honest, there’s a lot less to do here than in Montreal or Boston. There are some under-rated restaurants here, and yes the Falls themselves are awesome, but as for holding tourists’ interests, well, there’s a reason they built casinos here. You don’t see casinos being built in places people wanted to go in the first place.

Thirdly, and most importantly…Niagara Falls will sap your will to live. The New York side is a good demonstration of how politics, the end of American manufacturing, and crime can wreck a city. A friend of mine once said of the Rainbow Bridge “this is what the Berlin Wall must have been like”, and I don’t think she meant NF, NY looked like West Berlin. The Canadian side will make you sad, as you think what a beautiful place it must have been before tourist traps crammed nearly every inch of the fallsview and gorge areas. Stick to Montreal and Boston, IMHO.

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Thank you everyone for all your input!

We might consider skipping NF if the general consensus seems to be that it’s not that all that we though it was. We were expecting a Grand Canyonesque “WOW!” factor (which I got last year in the Grand Canyon) that doesn’t seem to be there from your descriptions.

As for my French, it’s only 2 years in high school and very, very rusty; can you survive with only English in quebec? I had a look at the road signs and it looks doable, but if no one could even point me the way to nearest bank, for instance, that does seem a bit scary.

In general, this trip is more about absorbing the landscape and beauty that is NY State, we aren’t planning on painting the town red every night (that’s what the Big Apple is for, right?).

Ludovic, thanks for those suggestions, I will definitely look into it.

matt_mcl, thank you also very much, it seems Montreal is a nice place, we’ll definitely check it out and I will take you up on that offer of yours.

Sunspace, we’re all from Germany.

Again, thanks everyone, keep those suggestions coming!

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As a natural wonder, Niagara Falls isn’t what it used to be. In March, about 75% of the water is diverted for hydroelectric power. They let somewhat more water over the Falls in summer to keep the tourists happy, but 50% is diverted even then. The American side is industrial and the Canadian side is tacky.

If you’re interested in nature in New York, I’d recommend Letchworth State Park and (as mentioned above) Watkins Glen State Park and Taughannock State Park. March is not the time I’d recommend going though. That’s late winter with high temperatures in upstate New York averaging about 48 Fahrenheit (9 Celsius) and low temperatures near freezing. It’s not unusual to still have snow on the ground in late March. Mid May is a better time to visit. The weather is generally pleasant and the apple blossoms and lilacs are in bloom.

You might consider a winery tour/wine tasting in the Finger Lakes if you like that sort of thing. They have a lot of good wineries there, and a lot of bad ones too.

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Add to that the fact that they may not have re-opened the gorge trails yet in March. Pretty boring visit to the parks if you can’t see the falls and gorges.

March is, IMO, a terrible time to visit Central/Western NY and Boston. I say this as someone who grew up in the Finger Lakes and has lived in Boston for many years. March can be cold and snowy, which makes driving difficult, and it otherwise can be cold, wet and miserable. April, too. I’d shoot for May or June if I could.

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You’ll be fine. Since you’re only visiting you don’t even have to try speaking French, but if you do, it’ll make people very happy and they’ll probably switch to speaking English. Don’t take it as an insult, they’re trying to help you.

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When someone says Watkins Glen, there’s only one thing I think about. Might want to see if anything coincides with your trip. Might be fun!

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Also, Montreal in particular is more anglophone than the rest of the province, and in general you shouldn’t have any trouble asking directions/ordering/etc in English. (As for banks, downtown there is nearly one on every corner, so you’re all set!) I agree with Hypnagogic Jerk that making a bit of an effort will be well appreciated, though. People who try are much more respected than people who try and pretend that French doesn’t even exist in Québec!

Niagara Falls really isn’t worth it in comparison to the other cities you’d like to see. I’ve been out there a few times with family (back when I lived near Toronto) and we’d drive out there, go “wow, pretty!” and turn around and leave an hour later (although we’d usually tack on part of the wine route on those drives - those are pretty nice if you like wine!)

I think 2 weeks to visit Montreal, Boston and NYC is pretty reasonable, though if you can swing it, try and fly into one city and fly out from another to save you doubling back!

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Las Vegas by the Falls. The gang at Urban Toronto weren’t impressed.

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If you want consensus on skipping NF, I will add mine as well. They are nice to visit if you are in Buffalo anyway, but they aren’t all that. Plus, at the end of March it could be nice, or you could end up needing your ID to remember which gender you are. When the wind whips off of Lake Erie it gets effin cold. Of course, Montreal and Boston are not going to be a whole lot better, but at least there is more to see - and indoors at that.

Have you considered a more southerly road trip? DC is only like five hours from NYC.

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Honestly, I’d sooner visit Quebec City and Montmorency Falls than Niagara Falls, especially since it’s only two and a half hours from Montreal instead of eight-plus-Toronto-traffic, and Montmorency is taller.

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If you do go to the falls, you want to be on the Canadian side. There’s no good view anywhere in New York due to the bend in the river. When you’re on the Canadian side, you can stand on a walkway and face the falls. That’s the impressive view.

The Maid of the Mist and the tunnel under the falls are cool, but now that I’ve done these things once, I probably wouldn’t do them again if I go back, unless I’m accompanying someone who really wants to do these things.

If you like to hike, there are trails down into the gorge that aren’t widely publicized. You start at a park (labeled Niagara Glen Nature Reserve on Google Maps) a couple of miles downriver from the whirlpool and you can hike all the way to the whirlpool, sit on a rock 20 feet from the whirlpool. But if there are any kind of icy conditions when you’re there, don’t do this. The hike is a little tough and there’s no easy way out if you hurt yourself. I’m not a nature-type person, but I’ve been to Niagara Falls 7 times, and I’ve done this the last 6 times I’ve been there.

There are a lot of tourist traps around there…the Clifton Hill area is packed with all sorts of tacky tourist attractions, and a few cool ones like Hard Rock Cafe and Ripley’s Believe it or Not (ok, maybe these are tacky, but I liked 'em).

If you spend any amount of time there, travel away from the chain-type places in the tourist area for meals and you’ll spend half the money. If you like diner type food, there’s a place on Lundy’s Lane, almost to the QEW, called The Flying Saucer that’s kind of greasy, relatively cheap, but serves breakfast any time of day among other things. The building is shaped like a giant flying saucer. (This may be tacky too, but once again, I liked it and never got bad food or service there.)

Finally, I’ve never been to Niagara Falls and not found a huge Cruise Night on a weekend. I’m not sure if they do it during the coldest part of the winter, but if you like old cars, this is something to check out. I saw some car models that were exclusive to Canada in 60s and earlier that you’re not likely to see in the U.S.

There are a lot of things to do in Niagara Falls that I never would’ve found on my own, but I have friends who live up there. I like to find things that the flocks of tourists aren’t doing. If I hadn’t had a local giving me pointers, I probably wouldn’t have felt any need to go back again.

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Late winter snow storms are not unknown and snow tires are obligatory in Quebec (not sure if that applies to tourists, probably not, but I wouldn’t want to get stuck for not having them. In 1998, there was a storm on March 20 that closed the airport. I was coming back from Japan, changing in Detroit on March 21. We did fly to Montreal, but once we landed we had to taxi behind a snowblower for 45 minutes before getting out.

Also wear good boots. The authorities are very good at clearing roads, but leave the sidewalks to melt by themselves. They can be ice-covered until mid-April.