Coach tour NYC to Niagara to Philadelphia to Washington to N

Thinking about booking this 8 day tour this year. Looking for feedback from others who may have done this tour or any coach tour in USA. How was it? Was there too much time spent on coach? Was it comfortable? Would you do it again? Would appreciate any advice.

Coach tour NYC to Niagara to Philadelphia to Washington to N

This would be my idea of hell. It%26#39;s at least 7 hrs. drive from NYC to Niagara Falls. The best way to visit Niagara Falls is to FLY there (in a bit more than an hour). Philadelphia and Washington are easy bus or train trips. If you really want reviews of this, you should include the name of the tour company.

Coach tour NYC to Niagara to Philadelphia to Washington to N

Thank you nywhiz. The tour organiser is Archers Direct. We are coming to USA for first time and wanted to see around a bit. Thought escorted tour was the best way to do this. Can you make any other suggestions. Don%26#39;t want to drive. Thanks for your interest

Well I think 4 cities in 8 days is a terrible idea for starters, so if that%26#39;s what you have your heart set on doing, I%26#39;m not sure I can help. You could do all but Washington (imo) on your own though. Philadelphia is an easy daytrip by train or bus from NYC. Do an overnight to Niagara Falls (assuming this is at a time of year when it%26#39;s isn%26#39;t frigid). You could also buy a day trip package for Niagara Falls that includes flying or book it all yourself.

Fly to NYC- spend 3 days, then day trip to Philadelphia on day 4

Spend day 5 in NYC then on day 6 fly to Buffalo, New York, stay overnight and come back to NYC on day 7. There are folks on the Niagara Falls forum that will help you find a good tour perhaps with hotel and meals or will help you do it yourself.

Overall, understand I%26#39;m not a fan of tours so can%26#39;t really be objective. My first trip to Europe when I was young was on a tour like this, and it%26#39;s all a blur. I can sort understand wanting to do a tour if you don%26#39;t speak the language or it%26#39;s hard to get from one place to another without driving, but you do speak the language (well, sort of ;) and these places you want to see are all easily accessed with public transport. It may be more expensive than the tour, but you%26#39;ll probably have nicer hotels and you%26#39;ll be on your own schedule, not someone else%26#39;s. Out of curiousity, where would they have you staying in NYC?

I should add, it%26#39;s not that you can%26#39;t do Washington on your own. It%26#39;s just I can%26#39;t see how you%26#39;d see much of anything if you did it within an 8 day time period.

The hotel in NY was Ramada New Yorker. What%26#39;s your opinion of it?

We have a 2 week holiday in USA in July. Nothing booked yet but we were going to spend 5-7 days in NY and then hook up with this tour for the remaining time.

Where would I get details of these tours to Niagara, Philadelphia etc you were talking about.

The coach tour in theory sounds ok - no hassle, ferried to the cities, your hotels etc, but yes in reality it may not be the right way to go.

Appreciate your help and advice

The Ramada New Yorker is just DREADFUL. It%26#39;s known as one of the worst (and cheapest) hotel in NYC by locals.

You don%26#39;t need a tour to get you to these places. You take the train (or bus if you%26#39;re on a budget) to Philadelphia. Same for Washington if you go and as I said, FLY to Buffalo, NY for Niagara Falls. There are bus tours in all of these cities if you don%26#39;t want to find your way around yourself. Grayline is a company that has tours in all of these places, I think--day tours not including hotels. Just be aware Grayline uses old English double decker buses for some of these tours (at least they do in NYC) and in July, it can be beastly hot upstairs which is where you have to sit to see anything.

There are separate forums here on tripadvisor for each of these places. While there are lots of smart people on this NYC board who%26#39;ll help, you should also go to the individual boards for more sightseeing advice.

Just to reinforce what nywhiz was saying, I lived in Philly for 10 years. It is very easy to get to from NYC or DC by train or bus. It is laid out on grid pattern of streets so it is very easy to get around walking, public transit or cabs. There are trolley tours of historic areas and many people love the philly phlash (land/water) tour. There is a similar one in DC. PS Washington (and Philly though somewhat less) will be hot and humid in July).

We did this tour with Titan tours this year and it was great. Of course you don%26#39;t travel from New York to Niagra in one day you stop off for the night along the way. We saw so many different things that we would never get to see travelling on our own and made many friends on the tour. We have booked a tour of California for next year but with Archers this time.

Hi we have done a simiar length tour - except ours did boston, quebec, montreal, toronto, niagra, pennsylvania, washington and then back to new york. It was a great way to see these cities - as other psoters have suggested it sounds horribl - but when you are new to an area and as a traveller have limiited time - i think it was a great way to see places. yes it is touristy...but you%26#39;re a tourist..so in our minds no big deal. escorted tours aren%26#39;t my favourite way of travelling but they do give you a good overview. and as a result I wouldn%26#39;t do a tour much longer than 10 days , but it was comfortable travelling. hotels we stayed in were clean etc. There was free time where you could do what you wanted to do so that was good as well

Sounds like too much too fast. I made the same mistake in my last trip to England. More time travelling than being part of a wonderful country. Maybe check in with a New York travel advisor to have this trip be more meaningful to you. I use Kit Garrett NYC, but I%26#39;m sure there are others that can be helpful.