Simon Richmond - Lonely Planet New York & the Mid-Atlantics Best Trips 4 (Road Trips Guide)

Welcome to New York & the Mid-Atlantic

Backcountry wilds are a short drive from iconic skylines. This region, the heart of the East Coast, stretches along hundreds of miles of Atlantic Ocean and inland to remote mountains. And to take in all its variety, the physical and cultural landscape behind those peculiar accents and the local delicacies, you need to get in your car and drive.

These 27 road trips take you through Virginian backwoods to Chinatown alleyways. Up the Hudson Valley and down the Skyline Drive. They traverse the Adirondacks and the Appalachians and visit Niagara Falls and Chesapeake Bay. New Yorkers, Philadelphians and Washingtonians might be unaware of the rushing rivers only a half a tank of gas away, but were not.

Explore colonial-era America and follow the route of Civil War armies. Make a pilgrimage to architectural and artistic icons. Escape to the beach or to far-off hiking trails. And if you only have time for one trip, make it one of our eight Classic Trips, which take you to the very best of New York & the Mid-Atlantic states. Turn the page for more.

Springtime, Washington, DC
SEAN PAVONE / GETTY IMAGES

NEW YORK & THE MID-ATLANTIC HIGHLIGHTS

New York & the Mid-Altantics best sights and experiences, and the road trips that will take you there.

National Mall

The Mall serves a number of roles. It is the great public green of America, hosting her seat of government (OK, the White House is technically a few blocks away), plus hundreds of protests, rallies and assorted demonstrations of mass democracy. On Trip 15: Marylands National Historic Road, see how it serves as a space of shared memory via the Smithsonian Institutions museums and monuments and memorials to the nations heroes.

National Mall and Washington Monument
ALBERT PEGO / SHUTTERSTOCK

Niagara Falls

The thundering spectacle of Niagara Falls on Trip 6: Niagara & Around has inspired hundreds to take a leap either a daredevil jump in a barrel over the falls, or into a wedding chapel. There are tacky shops and kitsch boardwalk-like sights, but the falls themselves are undeniably dramatic and become more impressive the closer and wetter you get.

View of Niagara Falls from New York State
TONY SHI PHOTOGRAPHY / GETTY IMAGES

Wine Regions

Your search for the perfect vino will take you to beautiful beaches, verdant mountains and small lakeside towns. See vines are cooled by salty Atlantic breezes, on Trip 2: Long Island, or take in the mineral-rich land of upstate New York on Trip 4: Finger Lakes Loop. Sip your way through Trip 26: Peninsula to the Piedmont, then head for the scenic mountains on Trip 25: Blue Ridge Parkway.

TRIPS

Civil War Sites

The Civil Wars legacy remains imprinted on the physical landscape, especially at battlegrounds like Antietam, Manassas and Gettysburg; see them on Trip 23: The Civil War Tour. A drive across southside Virginia from Petersburg to Appomattox includes the several museums that thoroughly examine the conflict.

TRIPS

Late afternoon on the boardwalk
ANDREW F. KAZMIERSKI / SHUTTERSTOCK

Best Beach Boardwalks

Ocean City, MD Bad behavior, tacky T-shirts, lots of neon and odd art galleries.

Rehoboth Beach Fried chicken, saltwater taffy and catering to families and the LGBTIQ+ community.

Wildwoods The granddaddy of Jersey Shore boardwalks with rides to rival most amusement parks.

Atlantic City Massive casinos on one side, beach and amusements on the other.

Coney Island An old-fashioned roller coaster and famous hot dogs anchor NYCs classic boardwalk.

Pennsylvania Dutch Country

As youll see on Trip 12: Pennsylvania Dutch Country, the Amish really do drive buggies and plow their fields by hand. Here small roads wind their way through postcard-perfect farmland, the pace is slower and its no costume reenactment. While 21st-century America is close at hand, Dutch Country also has picturesque windmills as a power source.

Blue Ridge Parkway

Virginias backbone is the Blue Ridge Mountain range: a forested spine that was Americas first frontier. Trip 25: Blue Ridge Parkway snakes across these summits, past gullies and wide valleys framed by dogwood, galax and dark green pine. On either side of the mountains lies a unique culture that blends fiercely conservative smalltown values and artsy, progressive collegiate havens.