Here are few of our favorite destinations that are just a couple hours away from New York city.
Montauk, NY: Around 120 miles from New York city and neighboring the famous Hamptons, Montauk is an ideal summer weekend getaway! Book your accommodation well in advance though – this place gets booked out fast in summer.
Make sure to get there as early as possible – single lane roads leading to the beach makes traffic a crawl. We crawled a 7 mile stretch for an hour before reaching the beach!
Montauk offers you much more than just a beach. After a couple of hours relaxing at the white beach, we took the tiring uphill bike path all the way to the Montauk Point Lighthouse. The rock laden path around the lighthouse offers sheer views of the Atlantic.
Montauk Lighthouse
From the lighthouse, we headed back to our airbnb in East Hampton and after a refreshing jacuzzi it was time for BBQ and beer.
Scrumptious BBQ
The day wasn’t over yet and we headed right back to the beach at night for a campfire. Stuff for campfire is available at the 7/11 store opposite the main beach.
Next morning we headed to Shadmoor State Park. The park is at an elevation formed by the sand dunes and has trails that overlook the length of the beach offering beautiful vistas.
Shadmoor state park
Finger Lakes, NY:
Known for its scenic beauty and wineries we thoroughly enjoyed our little getaway here for 3 days. My favorite were Cayuga and Seneca lake. We went to Atwater winery which has an awesome view of the lake and some great wines. You can bring food, buy a bottle of wine here and have a nice picnic at the lakeside during sunset, its just perfect.
Few other places to checkout are Taughannock Falls State Park, Watkins Glen State Park, Ithaca Farmer’s Market and Ithaca brewery.
Taughannock Falls
outside the winery
Ithaca brewery
Lancaster County, PA:
Located around two hours drive from NYC, this place literally takes you back in time! Buggy ride is the best way to explore the Amish – we went a step further and took the 2 hour ride in January when the weather was freezing!! But the tour provided us with blankets so with a hot Apple cider in hand our ride was pretty romantic! Our buggy trudged through the 45 mph speed limit roads dotted by alfalfa and corn farms on either side. The unique dressing style, the simple white candle lit houses and the Amish lifestyle in general lend to a unique experience!
Later that evening we checked into Smithton Inn – a historic 152 year old B&B in Ephrata. The place had a nice vintage charm to it with a canopy bed and a fireplace. There is an impressive collection of movies in the library downstairs. We were woken next morning by the sound of horse hooves! The fresh homemade breakfast served by our hostess was the best we’ve had in a while. All in all, a memorable experience.
It was a foggy day and after riding through one of the wooden covered bridges, we stopped at one of the many antiques market which is the hallmark of Lancaster County. After spending some time there we headed to the last destination of our trip – The Pennsylvania RailRoad Museum. The train rides are non functional during winter, however the museum with the myriad rail coaches and engines of yore captures the history of American Railways beautifully and is a definite must see! After spending over 2 hours at the museum we finally headed home.