NY City (popularly known as NYC) is in everyone’s travel bucket list – the iconic statue of liberty, awe-inspiring Booklyn bridge, post card perfect Empire State building draw millions of visitor to this city. But there are much more New York state has to offer than just the NY city. This posts shares our road trip story to uptown New York to Niagara Falls, Thousand islands and many more. We made this road trip in summer which we started from and ended in NYC.
Suggested Itineraries
- Explore New York City – Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, Freedom Park, Times Square and all – 2 days
- Road trip to Niagara Falls, Thousand islands, Watkins Glen State park, finger lakes – 5 days
Day 1: New York Downtown – Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, Broadway show
New York city is vast and there are lot to explore here. You can easily spend a week or more, still will be leaving with the desire to come back to visit more places. We tightened our NYC tour in 2 days as we plan to head on for a road trip after that in our week long stay in New York.
What could be a better place to kick-off your NYC trip than visiting the iconic Statue of Liberty. If it’s your first time in New York, the Statue of Liberty is a must see. We took ferry tickets that covers the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island together as a round trip excursion from Manhattan. We booked tickets online from https://www.cityexperiences.com/new-york/city-cruises/statue/. First we went to Liberty Island and visited Stat of Liberty up close. After seeing the Statue of Liberty, we took another ferry to Ellis Island and visited the place where early immigrants used to arrive. With reach history, this is a must see place for history lovers. We took a ferry back to Manhattan.
Later in the day, we took a cab to reach Brooklyn bridge walkway at the Manhattan side. We walked over the Brooklyn bridge towards Dumbo. From the other side of the bridge, the skyline of Manhattan provided a picture perfect view. We spent the evening on Brooklyn side of NYC, captured the night skyline and took a ferry to return to Manhattan.
Later that evening, we enjoyed street foods on the streets of Manhattan. We reached Broadway to enjoy the show MJ The Musical. We had booked tickets for a show in Broadway theater. Broadway is a wide street in NYC and there is a famous section of Broadway is known as the Theater District. There are plenty of shows to choose from but make sure to book the tickets well in advance as the tickets get sold out quite fast.
Day 2: New York Downtown – Central Park, Empire State Building, One World Center, Times Square
We started the morning today visiting One World Trade Center. This skyscraper stands next to the original World Trade Center buildings that were destroyed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Next to One World Observatory is the the 9/11 Memorial Plaza. The 9/11 Memorial Plaza is an 8-acre park where the World Trade Center Twin Towers once stood. After spending few hours here, we went to see The Vessel – a spiral staircase where 154 flights of stairs. Glass-plated skyscrapers around The Vessel provides a stunning view.
In the afternoon we headed to Central Park. Situated in the heart of the city it is one of the most visited tourist attractions in NYC. Therefore a visit to NYC would not be complete without at least a quick stroll through part of the park. The lush greenery in the heart of the city provide New Yorkers an opportunity for recreation outdoor activities. It also provides and amazing view of New York skyline. We spent the afternoon in the park until we saw the sun going down behind the tall buildings.
We wanted to witness the sunset from the Empire State building tower. You need to book your ticket in advance and choose a time-slot to go to the top of the tower. We were bit late as far time slot selection went and the sun was down the horizon when we reached the top of the building. We could capture the beautiful color of the sunset above the city’s skyline. As we were there for sometime, we could witness the night view of NYC from the top of the tower. The beauty of the city from above is going to last long in our memory indeed.
In the night we ventured to explore The Time Square. This is one of the most famous intersections not just in USA but in the world. Times Square is always crowded, with street performers who put on shows and visitors from around the world soaks the lights that adorn the neon billboards. Times Square is sometimes referred to as “the Crossroads of the World” which is melting pot of cultures around the world. It could be sometimes disturbing if you don’t like to be in the tight crowd. So you could spend few minutes to hours depending on what you like.
Day 3: Drive to Thousand Islands
On the third day of out New York trip we head out for a epic road trip across New York state. Leaving the hustle and bustle of NYC behind, we plan to explore the other side of New York state which is more connected with nature. In the morning we headed towards Thousand Islands – an archipelago of islands at USA and Canada border. Thousand Islands consists of more than 1,800 islands at the northern edge of upstate New York and some of the islands are in Canada. It is a six hours drive but we took a laid back approach and took stops at few places. We took slight detour to visit Hudson River Valley. We wish we could have spent more time in Hudson River Valley but we had sunset boat cruise booked at Thousand Islands, hence we needed to reach on time.
We made to city of Clayton near Thousand Islands just in time as we had a sunset cruise booked with Clayton Island Tours. It was an wonderful evening in a boat on the river as the sunset exposed the beauty of the islands. There were food and drinks onboard that can be purchased. The captain of the boat took us to many beautiful places. With the wave of the river, the light music and even better the awesome view made the evening unforgettable. We stayed in a hotel in nearby city of Watertown as we regain our energy for more drive ahead.
Day 4: Thousand Island
Today morning, we headed towards a small town near Thousand Islands named Alexandria Bay. We have books boat tour to visits different islands , more specifically Boldt Castle in the Thousand Islands. We had booked a tour named 2 Nations tour with Uncle Sam’s Boat Tour. We reached bit early in the morning, hence we spent sometime to buy some souvenir from nearby shops.
The boat tour took a 22-mile journey through the international waters of America and Canada and offered close-up enjoyment of historic and scenic wonders in both the American and Canadian sections of the Thousand Islands. After about 2 hours of scenic boat tour, it allowed guests to disembark at the end of the tour and tour the Heart Island where Boldt Castle is located! Boldt Castle is only accessible by water. There were hundreds of visitors from both USA and Canada side. We explored the mansion’s grounds, which include a stunning grand staircase, indoor pool, the Alster Tower, Yacht House and all. There is a separate entrance fee to enter the castle!
We returned back to Alexandria Bay by afternoon and headed towards Finger Lakes. If you have time, the other must to do in Thousand Islands is visiting the Singer Castles. We had to skip that and move ahead in our road trip. We took the route which took us through the beautiful city of Syracuse and and a scenic town of Ithaca where Cornell University is located. We drove on the scenic route alongside the Seneca Lake (one of the many Lakes in Finger Lakes) and reached a small town called Geneva where we made a stop for the night.
Day 5: Watkins Glen State Park, Finger Lakes, Niagara Falls, Buffalo
We started our day early to visit the Watkins Glenn State Park to hike in the famous Gorge Trail. We started from the parking area and walked down the s sloppy descent and hike up from the beginning of the Gorge Trail. On this trail, we saw a number of park’s 19 waterfalls, deep rock walls, and bridges spanning the gorge. This trail is really well built and maintained. It’s like a wide sidewalk throughout, with gorgeous views of the sheer rock walls which took us to another world! The clear highlight in the park is the waterfalls, the most famous is the Rainbow falls. Overall, the Gorge Trail at Watkins Glen State Park is a spot that should be on every outdoor lover’s bucket list.
Later in morning we drove towards the Niagara Falls. Watkins Glen and Niagara Falls are about 3 hours apart if drive by car. We reached the city of Niagara Falls in the afternoon. We had booked a boat tour with Maid Of The Mist. There is no time associated with the booking. Boats depart every 15-20 minutes and you can board the one that comes in your que. They provide rain jacket which is a must if you don’t want to get completely soaked in water. The boat ride took us very close to the waterfall. The roaring sound of the waterfall, the gushing wind of water mists is really spectacular. There is small trail that we took after boat tour which took us very close to waterfalls for some up close look. Needless to say, the view of the waterfall would much better from Canada side but we enjoyed whatever best we could get from US side.
After strolling around the Niagara Falls area, we checked in to our hotel on the city. After freshening up, we made a visit to the nearby city of Buffalo – the second most populated city in New York. we made stop to some of the well known land marks in Buffalo such as Buffalo City Hall, Buffalo Central Terminal (an abandon complex which is completely deserted now), Buffalo’s theater district. Later in the evening, we hanged out at the Buffalo RiverWorks. This is the city’s premier waterfront, boating, sports bar, music and entertainment destination located along the banks of the Buffalo River.
One thing that will definitely draw your attention when you are in Buffalo is murals on the buildings. This street art in Buffalo brings beauty to old buildings and neighborhoods. You won’t like to miss these marvelous arts.
Day 6: Drive back to New York
Escape Explore Experience 