Leaving New York City every now and then is critical to your ability to continue loving it.
It’s kind of like ice cream: it’s delicious and amazing and all of that good stuff, but if you had it every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner, it would start to get a little annoying and less delicious and amazing and all of that good stuff. So you’d have to give ice cream a time out, and then come back to it to appreciate it all over again.
That’s pretty much the NYC experience in a nutshell.
So when it’s time to get out of town and your soul is thinking planes and passports but your purse is thinking, you’d better think again, there are a lot of good little escapes a short drive away from the city. Or a train to a bus to a Lyft if you don’t have a car handy and don’t feel like renting one.
Here are a few of my personal favorites, plus some others I haven’t made it to yet but have added to my visit list.
If you live here, there are probably nine guaranteed good weekends left, fill one up with a trip. If you’re visiting here, round out your East Coast experience with more than just what the city calls you to.
Warwick, New York
Warwick has long been a favorite for me. It’s just a 1.5-hour drive from the city, but it feels like a lush green world away. There, you can sip wine and locally brewed cider on the lawn at Warwick Valley Winery + Distillery, lose yourself in homemade ice cream at Bellvale Farms Creamery, eat your farm to table lunch on an actual farm at Pennings Farm Market, and close out the day with a drive-in movie. If you’ve never done a drive-in, it’s just as fun as it looks in the old time flicks.
Lakes are nearby too if you fancy a dip or would rather just have the calming view wash over you. A short drive from Warwick, there’s Waywayanda State Park, which is a favorite in the area.
Read more about what to do in Warwick in my Weekend Away series.
York, Maine
A bit more of a drive at five hours from the city, York, Maine is another quintessential East Coast experience. There’s water, a small town vibe with the charm to match and lobster in such abundance you can even get McLobster sandwiches at McDonald’s. Maine has a sweet, quiet way about it, where you may just want to stroll the black sand beaches, or even head out on the Silverlining sailboat for a short ride with a captain full of great stories. It’s the perfect peaceful weekend sojourn.
Read more about what to do in York in my Weekend Away series.
St. Michaels, Maryland
If you love crab, don’t even bother to read the rest of this and just figure out how to get yourself to St. Michaels. There, the famed Maryland Blue Crab comes by the barrel and doused in Old Bay, and it’s so good you won’t even be phased by sitting for three hours just eating it and enjoying whatever good company you’ve brought along. Here are the tips I learned straight from the pros on how to eat Maryland Blue Crab. With a population hovering right around 1,000, St. Michaels couldn’t be more quaint. Everyone knows everyone there, and it’ll give you that sweet home feeling the way comfort food does. *Historical fact: Frederick Douglass was enslaved here and it’s where he taught himself to read and write before escaping and heading north. *Fun fact: It’s the town where the wedding in Wedding Crashers took place, and you can go to the Inn at Perry Cabin by Belmond where the wedding was held.
Read more about what to do in St. Michaels.
Montauk, New York
If the Hamptons feels too fancy for your taste (or your budget), Montauk can give you the same great feeling of fleeing NYC, plus the beaches and brunches and bragging rights—without breaking the budget. About a three-hour drive from the city and just past the Hamptons, Montauk might be more easily attainable for us carless types, since you can hop the Hampton Jitney from Manhattan and it will take you there. You can start the day with pancakes at John’s Pancake House, sit beach side or stroll the docks, then find yourself at Gosman’s Dock for fresh fish or chowder, and end the day with a malt from John’s Drive-In, an actual old-fashioned drive-in restaurant.
Read more about what to do in Montauk.
Sharon, Vermont
Sharon, Vermont may not expect to see itself on a list of ideal weekend escapes from New York City, but if you’re really looking to slow down, this may be one of the most beautiful places to do it. There, going for a drive is an adventure in itself, just to see the rolling hills and farmlands with postcard-worthy red barns. I won’t share much in the way of an itinerary for Sharon, since the main point here is not to have one. Find a property or Airbnb to rent, gather a group of friends, pass through a local grocery store where the maple syrup is from around the corner, the eggs are from a nearby farm and the honey comes from bees buzzing right around your vicinity, and stock up to slow down.
Read more about the beauty of slow travel in Sharon.
**And just for good measure, since I haven’t been everywhere and there’s no reason you should be limited by what I know, here are 20+ other great NYC weekend getaway ideas, courtesy of a great article I turned to for help when trying to plan my own adventures.
Go on. Summer with the best of them.