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

[suranyi]

@Hari_Seldon

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.

Heck, there was a snowstorm in Montreal on April 4, 1975.

That date is etched in my memory – it was the day before my Bar Mitzvah, and none of my guests could make it.

[mnemosyne]

@Hari_Seldon

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.

Snow tires are only mandatory in Québec until March 15th, though I agree that snowstorms after that date are pretty common and best planned for. The law applies to vehicles registered (or rented) in Québec, so a rental car from Ontario or New York, for example, would be exempt. Cite.

[Finagle]

How set in stone are your dates? End of March is about the dreariest time of the year to visit the Northeast. The snow has retreated (so it’s not snowy and pretty), but not much has greened up or bloomed yet so everything is pretty much just muddy and bleak. Temperatures will be unpredictable (70’s are not unknown, but mid-40’s are more likely.) Two or three weeks later and it will be much greener and probably warmer.

Still, if I were in the Boston area in late March and wanted natural scenery, I’d probably drive up to the White Mountains, maybe do some late skiing. (But if you’ve seen the Alps, then the White Mountains may be a bit disappointing in comparison.)

[etv78]

In Boston: Walk the Freedom Trail in Boston (should take about 5 hours)

[Svejk_1]

I took roughly this trip during this summer. Here’s a threadon upstate NY, it contains some info that may apply to the region more generally. As for parks, in NY we visited a whole bunch of things around the finger lakes as well in the Adirondacks, all of which was singularly beautiful. We were in Watkins Glen and Taughannock Falls (near Ithaca). One thing I can recommend is the Corning Museum of Glass: quite stunning. In the Adirondacks, we stayed around Sacandaga and Indian lake which was also quite nice and beautiful.

Motels were not hard to find at all both on highways and off the beaten track, we never booked ahead. We ended up paying around 80-100 dollars (US) for most double bedrooms; for part of the trip, there was four of us and we’d share two queen size beds (or whatever the room would have, queen seems pretty standard i guess) and that worked out quite well.

[Hypnagogic_Jerk]

@Svejk_1

One thing I can recommend is the Corning Museum of Glass: quite stunning.

I found their YouTube page a few years ago and I check it quite often, they have a lot of interesting videos about glassmaking. I really want to go there some day, but unfortunately it’s far from here and not very close to anything else I’m planning to visit. I see your recommendation and I’ll try to reserve some time for it.