Is NYC the Best Weekend Road Trip from Maine?

We recently took a weekend road trip from Bangor, Maine to New York City, New York - specifically, Manhattan. Have you attempted this trip? Have you wanted to? Here was our experience, and after reading, we would love to hear your favorite weekend road trip destination outside of Maine. Speaking of Maine, look who's on the billboard in NYC below.

Getting to New York from Maine

We left for NYC on Friday shortly after my wife and I were both done with work around 5pm. Apple Maps said from our home in Brewer, Maine to Central Park that it would take 6 hours and 15 minutes. Not bad at all! We packed up our two dogs into the truck and hit the road.

Get our free mobile app

We stopped for the night after driving for 5 hours in New Haven, Connecticut around 9:30pm. That put us an hour and a half outside of Manhattan. We did this for a couple of reasons, but the biggest and most important, it's significantly cheaper staying outside of the city.

We woke up early Saturday morning, took the dogs on a quick walk, enjoyed a free hotel breakfast, and then drove into Manhattan. With full day ahead of us, we were able to check off a few things with the dogs early. Immediately we walked along the historic Brooklyn Bridge, explored Battery Park, and then hung out at Central Park after checking into our hotel near Times Square.

If You Make This New York Road Trip from Maine with Dogs, Get a Dog-Friendly Hotel

Hotels in NYC are not cheap. There is no way around that. Parking our truck for the night alone cost $85. We fortunately have become "members" of one of those hotel chains where we can earn perks. Almost all major chains offer some sort of incentive program where you can accumulate points to earn free night stays. Our night in NYC was free thanks to points, and dogs were able to stay for free at this particular hotel.

The Remainder of Our Road Trip to New York and the Return to Maine

We were able to leave the dogs comfortably in the hotel room while we shopped Times Square and explored. We had dinner at Tavern on the Green, and then enjoyed a drink at the rooftop lounge at our hotel.

The next morning, we ran in Central Park, did a little more shopping in Times Square, enjoyed a free breakfast at the hotel, and then hit the road to return home. We were back home by 4:30pm to watch Sunday football after leaving NYC at 10am.

Overall, this was an incredible experience. It wasn't too expensive, and we got to spend significant time exploring one of the world's most impressive cities. We love how close we are in Maine to so many unique places that majority of people will never get to experience - NYC included. We are already planning our next weekend to Manhattan around Christmas and how we can make it even more affordable and convenient from what we learned on this trip.

Where is your favorite weekend road trip destination outside of Maine? Or where would you like to visit? We would love to hear your suggestions and experiences! Click here of the Facebook post below!