Is this a realistic itinerary for 1 week?

[bigmama67]

Leave our home in suburban NJ:

- Friday night (after work): drive to Cooperstown, NY (185 miles - about 4 hours?)

- Saturday: Baseball Hall of Fame and Ommegang Brewery

- Sunday: drive to Seneca Falls, NY (117 miles); tour historic sites

- Monday: drive to Niagara Falls, CA (127 miles)

- Tuesday: Niagara Falls (Maid of the Mist, Butterfly Conservatory)

- Wednesday: Niagara Falls

- Thursday: leave EARLY and drive to Hershey, PA (318 miles) - maybe hit the park for twilight hours?

- Friday: Hershey Park

- Saturday: Hershey Park (or Dutch Wonderland)?

- Sunday: home in a.m. (156 miles)

Thinking of this for next summer...DS will be 8, DD will be 2. Thoughts? Are there budget-friendly ways to do this (campgrounds, etc.)? Would late June be a good time to do this? Would you cut out the night in Seneca Falls or is there a lot to see? (In case you couldn't tell, we are interested in history and BEER...LOL).

Thanks!

 

[pandaroo]

I personally think you are not allowing enough time to enjoy where you are stopping. I would add a day or two.

 

[ChrisinNJ]

I can't comment on Cooperstown, the Brewery or Seneca Falls, as I have never been. I think you have allowed plenty of time for Hershey, so I wouldn't change that. Niagara Falls...it depends on what you want to do there. If you mainly want to see the falls, maid of the mist, etc then you are probably fine. if you want to include things like the botanical garden, butterfly exhibit, and wax museums/ Ripleys, then you may need one more day.

 

[bigmama67]

Thanks, ChrisinNJ. We definitely want to do the butterfly conservatory (I think my kids would LOVE it) and Maid of the Mist. Maybe we'll stay one more night in Niagara and extend the trip a day. Or we could do the drive to Cooperstown after work Thursday night, and have the whole day Saturday. (DH is off on Fridays in the summer but I don't know what I'll be doing; but we could always change it to a Saturday-to-Saturday trip).

pandaroo, which places do you think we haven't allotted enough time? Is there more to do in Seneca Falls than I know of?

 

[pandaroo]

Driving four hours to the Baseball Hall of fame and then touring it in the same day is a long day and may not be enough time.

Niagara Falls needs more time. Are you doing both sides of the fall?

Hershey in the summer can be very crowded. If you want to do the water park section too you need another day.

For me there are too many drive/visit and visit/drive days for this to be a relaxing trip.

What is the total miles you plan to drive?

Getting from Niagara Falls to Hershey PA will not be an easy drive.

 

[bigmama67]

Google Maps quotes the whole itinerary at 902 miles (of course that doesn't include local driving, just the place-to-place). I reworked things and extended the time in Niagara and Hershey. We would only do the Canadian side. We could leave Friday after work and drive up to Cooperstown, which would get us there late but we would be there. Also we may head home from Hershey late Saturday night so we would have Sunday to recuperate, but that would be flexible.

 

[ChrisinNJ]

Thanks, ChrisinNJ. We definitely want to do the butterfly conservatory (I think my kids would LOVE it) and Maid of the Mist.

We spent under an hour in the butterfly conservatory, because we asked my DD if she wanted to do that or something else, which I can't remember what, and after doing the "something else" she started crying that she really wanted to see the butterflies...gotta love kids....

Anyway, the point of that whole story is to say that you can probably do the butterfly conservatory in 1-2 hours. It is located in the botanical garden, so you can walk through there for as long as you like to.

There is a bus that takes you from the falls to the botanical gardens, and gives you a nice scenic tour. My kids liked maid of the mist, but they also liked the cave of the winds tour & the visit to the hurricane deck! (NY side) There was a gorge hike on the NY side that they also really liked. We went more for the nature than for any of the tourist trap places, so no wax museums for us. The only thing we didn't do that my youngest wanted to was the huge ferris wheel...maybe next time.

Also, after reading some of the other comments, I will agree that your trip, while fun, sounds very exhausting. You may want to add in a day or two, just to have some down time...but only you can decide that as you know your family.

 

[bigmama67]

Thanks again...maybe we should just do Hershey on a different trip.

We love natural attractions too, and I didn't know about the gorge hike...sounds very cool! I like a mix of touristy things and less-so. (But I'm definitely not the "wax museum" type!)

 

[Jennifer in MI]

We found Niagara Falls to be VERY touristy and we got tired of it quickly. We had two full days there. I'd have been happy with only one. We did Maid of the Mist and rode the ferris wheel (my dd's only request!). We saw the fireworks and laser show and had a couple really nice meals. We swam in the hotel's pools and had a beer in the bar. After that, we were done and ready to move on. Maybe you'll like it better than we did and need the extra day, but we'd had our fill after only two. (And, we could've done it easily in one day.)