Escape NYC With These 7 Easy Day Trips From Manhattan

The city is an amazing place… but it’s also an exhausting one. From the traffic to the noise to all. of. the. people, sometimes you just need to get out! For me this happens at least a couple times a month.

When cabin fever (shoebox apartment fever?) strikes, here are seven of my favorite places to get away from it all. All of them make for an easy day trip, and the majority of them are accessible even without a car. Happy adventuring!

1. Rockaway Beach

Get there by: Subway

It’s technically still within the bounds of New York City, but Rockaway Beach might as well be on another planet. It’s slower paced, laid back, and filled with cool local gems to stumble upon. Oh, and then there’s the beach, of course.

From Manhattan, take an A train bound for Far Rockaway to any of the Beach Street stops (this will be last set of stops after Broad Channel). Note that there are another set of A trains bound for Ozone Park; if you get on one of these by mistake, just get off at the Rockaway Boulevard stop and transfer to a train bound for Far Rockaway.

From Beach 67^th Street, walk the couple blocks to the coast and you’ll wind up directly on the designated surf beach. When you’ve had your fill of the ocean you can easily stroll over to Rockaway Brewing Company for a local beer or Rockaway Beach Club for some killer Tacoway Beach tacos.

2. Peekskill

Get there by: Train

It’s crazy to me how you can travel such a short distance from one of the biggest cities in the world and feel like you’re back in a small town. Peekskill is one of those places.

From Manhattan, take the Metro North from Grand Central Station or Harlem 125th Street to the Peekskill stop. It’s about an hour long trip.

From the train station, walk about a mile south to the entrance of Blue Mountain Park. There you’ll find easy hiking, bike trails, fishing and great picnic spots. Wandering around this park reminded me of the Carolinas—hilly, green and relaxing.

After you’ve gotten a dose of nature in the park, walk or jump in an Uber to Peekskill Brewery for craft beer, yummy food and live music before grabbing a train back to the city.

3. Governor’s Island

Get there by: Subway + ferry

The slogan for Governor’s Island is “the easiest way to get away,” and I’d say that’s pretty accurate. But a lot of New Yorkers I talk to have never even been here; it didn’t open as a public place until fairly recently.

Starting all the way back in the early 1800’s, the island—which is about two football field lengths from Manhattan—was used as a base for the colonial militia. A portion of the island was man-made using dirt and materials dug up during construction of the Lexington Avenue subway line (I just love little historic tidbits like this). The island was used as a base by the military all the way into the 1990’s and only became a national park in 2003.

Now, it’s crisscrossed by bike trails, walking paths, recreation fields and space for pop-up vendors and food trucks. These are all interspersed with the original military structures, which is a cool juxtaposition.

Governor’s Island is open during the summer months. Get here by taking the Governor’s Island Ferry from Battery Park or Pier 6 in Brooklyn. Word to the wise: bring a cooler with snacks and drinks, because the food truck lines get long on the weekends. You’re not *supposed* to bring alcohol onto the island, but you can purchase it in the food truck areas.

4. Saugerties

Get there by: Bus or car

Saugerties doesn’t make many lists for NYC day trips, but in my opinion it’s highly underrated. For one, it’s the hometown of Jimmy Fallon, who I’ve heard can be spotted at the local watering holes on occasion. But it’s also got some cool, lesser-known sightseeing spots.

We stopped off in Saugerties randomly on a drive back from the mountains and took a walk through the beautiful Falling Waters Preserve. Between the sandy shoreline, the seagulls and seagrass blowing in the breeze, I could have sworn I was back in Florida. The Saugerties Lighthouse was also really cool to see, and you can even stay there for the weekend (unfortunately it’s not dog friendly or I would have been all over it!).

If you have access to a car, Saugerties is a short cruise up highway 87 from the city. You can also take a bus from Port Authority for around $30.

5. Long Beach

Get there by: Train

I never visited Long Beach before Hurricane Sandy so I don’t have much reference for what it was like before, but I’m absolutely in love with the new boardwalk that’s been built since the storm. You can walk or bike for miles along the ocean, making pit stops to swim or pop into the local bars that line Beech Street.

I love walking through the Long Beach neighborhoods that are filled with cozy beach bungalows, which are such a stark contrast to the crowded streets of Manhattan. They give me serious real estate envy! During the summer months Long Beach has a ton of community activities like movies on the beach and of course surfing, but I think it’s equally fun to visit in the colder months when you have the beach completely to yourself.

To get there, hop on the Long Island Railroad from Penn Station bound for Long Beach.

6. Cold Spring

Get there by: Train

Situated on the eastern banks of the Hudson River directly across from West Point, Cold Spring is both a cute, character-rich town to explore and an awesome destination for hiking. Some of the best hiking within reach of New York City lies just north of Downtown Cold Spring in Hudson Highlands State Park.

To get there, take the Metro North railroad line from Grand Central Station or Harlem 125^th Street to the Cold Spring stop.

I talk more about the town of Cold Spring in this post and the hiking nearby in this one.

7. Hunter

Get there by: Car

This is the farthest destination on my list, but it’s definitely worth the trip if you can get your hands on a car for the day or weekend. Hunter is a charming little town at the foot of Hunter Mountain that’s made up of two villages: Hunter and Tannersville. Just a couple miles apart, each of them have the most adorable Main Streets lined with antique shops, restaurants, bars, bakeries and the like.

I love this area because there’s endless outdoorsy stuff to do all year long. In the summer you can mountain bike, kayak and chill out by a lake or creek. In the fall and spring there’s beautiful hiking and rock climbing. In the winter you can ski, snowboard, ice climb, snowmobile and more. It’s a nature lover’s paradise.

To get there from the city, take highway 87 to the Saugerties exit, NY-32. Follow 32 west until it meets NY-23, and then take 23 west up the winding mountain roads (one of the most gorgeous drives ever) until you reach the village of Tannersville. The village of Hunter is just a few miles more down the road.

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