New York City Forum: Day trips by train

http://www.mta.info/mnr/html/outbound.htm

Princeton, NJ is a beautiful town, both for the college campus and for the town itself. There's a good on-campus museum. To get there, take a New Jersey Transit commuter train to Princeton Junction. There you'd change for a short NJ Transit shuttle train (known locally as the "dinky") to Princeton itself. The station is on campus and about a block from the main street of the town, Nassau Street.

Philadelphia, hands down. Very historic (much more so than NYC -- it and Boston are the dual seats of the revolultion, after all), lots of 18th century buildings that you can go into, extremely walkable, especially in June when the weather is so lovely, very charming and lots of good museums and food. Worth an overnight, even, but not necessary. See http://www.ushistory.org/tour/ for a list of all the historic sites but the biggest, most popular and important one is, of course, Indpendence Hall www.ushistory.org/tour/independence-hall.htm -- quite literally the birthplace of the United States

And if I may recommend one other historic site, Powell House, where I was married http://www.ushistory.org/tour/powel-house.htm -- and therefore allowing me to say that George Washington and I dined in the same house

Beacon and Cold Spring is a wonderful day trip on the train (and a beautiful train ride)

East Hampton and Montauk are wonderful - really delightful in June.

Princeton is quite worthwhile as well.

The Jersey Shore is also an option in June - stroll the boardwalk.

Philadelphia is in the midst of an epidemic crime wave right now. The police are terrified and everybody knows who is in charge on the streets in Philadelphia these days. It is the polar opposite of New York City where the police rule with iron fists. Things have really gotten bad in Philadelphia from what I understand and CNN is on it (for whatever that may be worth).

D.C. has its problems too. I've never really felt unsafe in D.C. though. Boston is a great town - I always feel very safe in Boston. It seems Phillie is where things are really out of control.

You also can take the Bolt Bus or the Mega Bus for some day trips. It's a fairly nice way to go, and usually less expensive than train.

https://www.boltbus.com/

http://us.megabus.com/

MoreFFmiles writes: "Philadelphia is in the midst of an epidemic crime wave right now."

Sorry to hear this. Have things deteriorated that much since my September 2010 visit? As a solo traveler I spent 5days/4nights there and never felt unsafe or threatened.

Mind you I spent all my time around what I assume was the city center where Independence Hall and other major historical sites are located. I walked everywhere, and while I never wandered around in the early hours of the morning, my evening walks certainly felt safe enough.

Yes, crime is high in Philly right now, but people still live there and work there and kids still go to school. I wouldn't let it keep me from visiting the tourist sites during the day.

CNN ran a story on their front page the other day and they called it Kill-adelphia.

The article made reference to several high profile incidents including a businessman leaving his office downtown late at night and getting attacked and beaten up as he tried to get a taxi right outside.

The kids also do these flash mobs where they just cause total chaos - rob people, loot stores, and just beat people up.

Last weekend there was a mugging (during the wee hours - not the middle of the afternoon) right near the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

A year or two ago some kids beat and killed a retired gentleman on the subway in the business district - just for sport.

Well, based on what I know about how the media works, and how the media has overblown stories in my part of the country, I'll take CNN with a grain of salt. That being said, I appreciate the warning - tho suspect that the area around the main sites are not as bad. Philly is still on our list, but I'll keep my eye to the situation tho, thanks.

We were at Cold Spring when we traveled up the Hudson one year, and wasn't much impressed by it. I never thought about going to Princeton or Jersey Shores, those are good ideas.

East Hampton and Montauk and Beacon - I'll need to find out more about these. Thanks for the info and links