Montreal to New York - plane, train or automobile?

[andrewilley]

We're thinking of doing a bit of a road-trip before flying down to WDW next year, starting in Toronto for a few days (including seeing Niagra) and then driving a bit further north and stopping in Montreal for a couple of days. Then we'll spend 3-4 days in New York before flying down to Orlando/WDW.

It's the Montreal to New York bit that has me stumped at the moment. I was thinking of getting a one-way car hire, but that looks very expensive as soon as you start talking about cross-border drop-offs. Another thought was the slow, but scenic, 11-hour Amtrak train ride. Flying would be an option too, but we'd like to see a bit of the stuff in between and time is not so much of an issue.

Any thoughts?

Andre

 

[mommasita]

Hi, I took that train ride a few years back. It was definitely slow, but not so bad. There are also buses (many overnight options as well) that are faster , from central station downtown.

I'm from Montreal

 

[100acreHiker]

I've done that train route in reverse (NYC to Montreal). It is long, and it was held up for a bit at the border, but it's a good option, especially if the winter weather is predicted--it's no fun driving through the Adirondacks if there's snow or freezing rain. That said, if the weather looks good and the difference in price is within a reasonable amount, I'd probably opt to drive, myself.

 

[maddiel]

Are you stuck on doing it in that order? Because Montreal -> Toronto -> Niagara would mean you would finish very near the boarder and could cross then rent a car on the US side to drive to NYC.

M.

 

[andrewilley]

Are you stuck on doing it in that order? Because Montreal -> Toronto -> Niagara would mean you would finish very near the boarder and could cross then rent a car on the US side to drive to NYC.

Yeah, I looked at options for flying into Montreal first from the UK, but that would mean two layovers on the way, whereas Toronto we can get much easier flight routes. But yes, that option had occurred to me (in fact my original idea was just to do Toronto > new York, but we thought we'd try and take in a bit more of Canada while we're there).

Andre

 

[elphaba91]

Yeah, I looked at options for flying into Montreal first from the UK, but that would mean two layovers on the way, whereas Toronto we can get much easier flight routes. But yes, that option had occurred to me (in fact my original idea was just to do Toronto > new York, but we thought we'd try and take in a bit more of Canada while we're there).

Andre

What about New York > Toronto > Montreal and then fly to Orlando from there?

 

[andrewilley]

What about New York > Toronto > Montreal and then fly to Orlando from there?

Could do, what is customs like at MCO though? As I assume that routing would mean we'd need to do USA immigration twice - and once is already once too many.

Andre

 

[elphaba91]

Could do, what is customs like at MCO though? As I assume that routing would mean we'd need to do USA immigration twice - and once is already once too many.

Andre

Ah, good point. When we flew in from Jamaica this year it was awful. We had entered the US before on an ESTA on the same passport (3 times before actually, as recently as 2 weeks earlier) and they didn't even give us the option of using the kiosks - nobody at all seemed to use them. It may have also been poor timing though as there was a large flight from the UK that got in ahead of us.

 

[SirDuff]

Could do, what is customs like at MCO though? As I assume that routing would mean we'd need to do USA immigration twice - and once is already once too many.

Andre

If you fly from Montreal to MCO, you'd almost certainly do customs/immigration in Montreal rather than MCO. Most Canadian airports (with flights to the US) have US CBP in them, so you pre-clear US customs/immigration before leaving Canada. I know that Montreal does, but there used to be a few charter airlines that, for whatever reason, didn't access them (but I think that that is a thing of the past - might have been that they flew out of a terminal without the pre-clearance set up).

 

[mommasita]

Yes, you would clear customs right after check-in, so that would be done. Keep in mind, it is also a VERY busy airport (Yul), and if doing so you should plan on 2-3 hours for doing so. To be on the safe side