My wife and I are planning a trip to the Eastern part of the US, for about 2 weeks in May/June. We have friends in Philadelphia and we can borrow their car. We've already been to NY (a couple of times) and to Washington.

Questions:

a) What would you recommend us to visit? We don't mind driving to get to places if it's worth it.

b) We want to include the Niagara Falls. Drive or fly (from Philadelphia/NY)?

c) We're considering going to Florida. Is there a reason to drive, i.e. are there things we should see between Philadelphia and Orlando/Miami that are worth a 2-day drive?

No need to mention the West coast; we've been there a couple of times and now want to see the rest.

Obviously check out Boston. Prob one of the most historic areas on the east coast and spring/summer is the best time to visit. If you want to go to FLA I would just fly.

I would agree Boston is an awesome city to see if you can make it there.

I live in Philadelphia, and honestly, I don't think it's that great of a tourist destination; maybe I'm biased. You have the liberty bell, city hall, olde city, south street's different, art museum, museum of natural sciences, could go to a phillies game - there's a decent amount of history and activities- but obviously it would depend on what you're interested in. You could probably see enough of it in 1-2 days and move on.

Also considering this is a poker forum, you have Atlantic City about 1 hour away if you get the urge to hit up the tables. I recommend the Borgata for just about everything. You would also have the ocean right there, although there are nicer beaches like Cape May that have a lot of character/history/great food when compared to Atlantic City. You'll just have to drive further.

I think I agree with the fly to Florida idea. However, there are some awesome destinations in between. Charleston, SC was an awesome city and had TONS of history. Savannah, GA I have also heard is a beautiful town, but have never been there - it is on the way though. I would skip Myrtle Beach as it is mostly strip malls and hotels, unless that is your thing. Jamestown is also kind of on the way - never been there but I assume there is a good amount of history about the settlement.

Trip to Niagara Falls is about a 6-7 hr drive, so I would probably choose driving over flying. By the time you get to the airport (not sure what type of direct flights they have or the $ it costs), get past security, and rent a car, it probably won't make enough of a difference. Only problem is that the drive is boring and there really isn't much to see in between. You could also hit up Toronto or Buffalo - I don't know much about either towns and have never visited, but they are pretty close.

You could also swing through Pittsburgh on the way back from Niagara Falls if you had some time. It's a nice city, although I went there for school so I really didn't do many tourist activities - more studying and drinking. The Southside, Mt. Washington, Shadyside, Station Square would all be interesting neighborhoods/areas to hit up for food and drinks - not the type of history/tourism/sight-seeing that you'd find in a city like philly, washington d.c., nyc, boston, etc. They also have one of the nicest baseball stadiums if you had any interest.

Anyway, goodluck and have fun!

You wrote that you have been to Washington--is that Washington the state or Washington, D.C.?

Assuming you were referring to Washington state, than I think you'd def. want to visit Washington D.C. seeing as how close it is to Philly.

If you drive, other interesting towns / places to see:

Outer Banks of North Carolina.

Charleston & Savannah are both interesting historical towns to visit; between the two I think Charleston is more interesting.

Obv. up to you, but don't know why you're so interested in Niagra Falls, IMO not worth the drive or cost to fly.

Similarly, I live in Florida and don't think it is such an interesting state, either. May/June is getting quite hot in Florida, if you haven't been to California I'd recommend visiting your friends in Philly, forget both Niagra & Florida & fly to Cali instead and spend the remaining part of your trip driving Los Angeles to San Francisco (or vice versa) . . . IMO much more interesting part of the country.

Myself and younger brother did a road trip last year which covered some of the places you will be visiting (we did NYC to NYC in a circle going as far west as Chicago took us 5 weeks though)

Would deffo do Philly, Washington, New York and Boston. If you do Niagara if you drive it is going to be at least a day there and a day back unless you love driving all day.

As one of the poster said above Philly is probably worth 2 nights tops, though what there is to do I really enjoyed. Basically the historic area and south street are the tourist thing to do.

Boston is worth probably about 3 nights, would definitely recommend doing the freedom trail and personally found Cambridge across the river, going round Havard and MIT pretty interesting. If you can get tickets for a redsox game, it loads of fun, there and Wrigley field (in Chicago) are worth going even if you don't like baseball for the history of the place.

New york there is crap loads to do and the 5 nights we spent there wasn't enough. To the point where i am planning another trip in April to do the stuff I missed out on first time round.

Would recommend Washington as well, we had 2 nights there and wish we spent 3. As we got hammered the first night and then tried to do the lot in one day, sigh. The smithsonian musuems are well worth the effort as well as the obv other tourist attractions.

The above will probably take you 2 weeks so Florida is probably a bit of a big ask imo.

Thanks all for the suggestions. I won't respond to each of you separately but here are some follow-up questions and remarks:

1. Is Niagara Falls not worth visiting? I thought it was one of the main sites in the US to visit. What about the surrounding area (Buffalo, Toronto), is that worth going to?

Boston will be part of the trip (already was, forgot to mention in OP). We've been to Washington DC and NYC before and we'll stay in Philly for at least 2 days so we'll see that. We'll probably visit NY again because we're big fans.

2. What's worth visiting in Florida? We'll probably spend a couple of days at the beach (where?). I think we'll fly there from NY, so we won't visit Charleston and other places in between. We need to set priorities.

3. What about combining Niagara Falls with Canada (Toronto, Montreal)? Is that worth it? What can you recommend in that area of Canada?

amterdam - for florida beaches I think it would help if you gave a little more of what you're looking for in a beach. Secluded? Small town like atmosphere? Place where you can go to the beach all day and club all night? Fun but relaxing place with a bunch of beach bars? etc.

It's mainly my wife who's interested in the beach. She likes a nice atmosphere & nature, decent (seafood) restaurants and a boulevard with nice shops most of all. Nightlife isn't important (except for restaurants).

Personally I wouldn't mind a decent casino in the area, that spreads mid-stakes NLHE or LHE.

1) I've never been to Niagara Falls; for the main reason that it just doesn't seem worth the drive/trip for me. It's a big waterfall, probably beautiful, but not sure if it is worth a 7 hr drive. Of course that's probably why I'd try visiting Toronto/Buffalo while I'm in the area (but I've never been to those cities either so it would require a little more research on their attractions). I know there's also a casino in Niagara (or there was the last time I checked), I know a bunch of US kids from Pitt used to go b/c you can drink/gamble at age 18 in Canada.

2) I've only been to Sarasota and gulf coast beaches. That city is extremely relaxing, awesome shopping, and great restaurants (St. Armands Circle). Turtle Beach, Siesta Key are just some of the white sand beaches that are very very beautiful. I have never been to Miami, but that town looks like it's got a crap load going on so I would probably make an attempt to get there.

These two beaches aren't really close though, probably 4 hrs or so trip. Miami most likely has more cultural events going on, more activities to choose from, most likely hotter women too. Not to mention your closer to the Everglades National park and the Florida Keys if you are feelin adventurous.

3) Combining Niagara w/ Canada would be a pretty cool idea. Montreal and Quebec are pretty cool cities with a good amount of history/activities to do. However these are also gonna be quite a drive since you would have to go around Lake Ontario.

If you only have two weeks and plan to do Philly, NYC and Boston that sounds like an awesome trip in itself. But I think you'd only have a comfortable amount of time to visit either Florida or Niagara Falls/Canada. One or the other, which would be up to you depending on preferences/budget.

Have fun.

Yes, it's a giant beautiful waterfall but there's nothing else there. I probably would exclude this unless you are headed to Toronto or want to loop around and see Pittsburgh on the way back.

I live in Philly and can probably answer questions you have about it.

Do not bother visiting Buffalo, driving through is depressing enough.