Which direction will you be coming from?
You could fly to Buffalo and see Niagara Falls and then ride one of several trains to New York City. You could also go to Boston, Washington DC, Baltimore or Philadelphia and easily get to Penn Station in New York.

So you want to be based in the areas around NYC and take the train in and then back to your retreat in the evening?If so, you need to eliminate Vermont and Delaware from your choices. You're left with NY State, Connecticut and New Jersey. March is not a great month in many places as it could be cold and messy in the suburbs that are colder than NYC and the snow and slush (if any) hangs around longer.Hiking is not your best bet at that time. And you don't want to be more than about 2 hours away by train , preferably even less.

If you are thinking of a longer stay somewhere like Vermont and then coming into the city for a couple of days. let us know that. Also you need to give some idea of a budget and how long for the whole trip. There are some really nice romantic hotels and spas in the area, but the nicer ones cost $500- $1000 per night.

Thank you....I didn't give enough detail and to be honest, I did not think through some of this and appreciate your questions. We are coming from Texas and would like the cooler weather, but don't want to be in a position where weather could change travel plans. We will be staying for 5-6 nights. We would like to stay in no more than 2 different places. So now I am thinking that maybe we should stay outside the city a couple of nights and then in the city a couple of nights. So I need to fly in and out of the same place (otherwise airfare will be a lot more) and really don't want to rent a car.

I appreciate your responses and questions. Thank you for your help.

Forgot to answer the budget question....we would like to spend no more than $300 a night for a hotel.

Is Boston out of the question?

Staying outsisde of the city means the suburbs and you will be often be in commuter rush on the trains. A one and a half hour commute to NYC is not unusual.

It is not necessarily more $ to fly into one place and out of another, on southwest for example.

I don;t see that anyone is mentioned that March may be a problem. March may be early spring - or may still be winter. (The blizzard of 88 dumped more than 2 feet of snow on the city at the end of March.)

As for hiking - you can if you want to - but the trees don;t have any leaves nor are there really any flowers in bloom. You're much more likely to run into mud or even slush.

The trip you're talking about should be at least end of April or later.

As for Niagara Falls - that's in the snow belt - and many of the attractions aren't open in March.

As for the train trip - an hour on the train from Manhattan is still really the suburbs except for a couple of state parks that would be more like 1.5 hours and you would need to rent a car for that part of the trip.

If you need to do the trip in mid March I would stay in Manhattan - and if you get warm weather (and keep in mind it's much colder outside of the city) you can rent a car to go to a park where you might want to hike. (Sorry, I don;t know anyplace you can go hiking without having a car to get to the appropriate state park or whatever.)

Hmmm...ok, long commutes does not sound appealing. Maybe we need to look at staying in the city. We would still like to be outside the city for a couple of nights. So we could fly into NYC, stay there 3-4 nights, take a train an hour or so out, find a nice place to stay, spend 2-3 days (here we could rent a car), then take the train back somewhat close to the airport, fly out the next day.

Any ideas on where "outside of the city" would be nice?

When staying in NYC we are ok with spending $220-500 a night.

Again, I appreciate your help.

nytraveler....you make perfect sense.

It doesn't seem that traveling outside the city is really making sense. Can you give me a couple of hotel ideas in our price range (200-400 dollars), in the city? Also, last time I was there I did a walking tour of the city. I am assuming there are a lot of those...can you recommend any in particular? What attractions are a "must see" or "must do"???

nytraveler, I did say March was not a great time to visit because of the weather, But while not great for being in the city suburbs, but you can probably get some good deals in NYC at that time. And you could as you suggested spend 2-3 days in a place which is quieter than NYC but still has things to do if the weather is bad. You might consider Lenox or Great Barrington Masachusetts. There are nice inns in that area that are crazy expensive in the summer , but if open off season they could also be a great deal.They are about 2 1/2 hours outside NYC, nice towns with good shops and restaurants, spas, and some museums may be open then. March is also maple sugaring time so your timing might be good for that.

Within an hour of the city, your best bets might be Cold Spring NY or Spring Lake NJ (upscale beach town) Both are accessible by train if you don't want to drive

Fly to Newark (EWR). There is an Amtrak station right at the airport. There are several hotels very close to the airport as well. The other NYC airports are a bit harder to get to say the Empire State Building compared to riding the train to Penn Station.

How a out dropping down to like Princeton, NJ for a coupla days. NJ Transit goes there from Penn station NYC

Look at Connecticut, Fairfield County, beautidul, affluent NYC suburbs..Greenwich, Westport, Darien. Nice places but I do not understand why on earth you would want to do this instead of staying in one of the most interesting cities in the world. No,leaves on the trees, not beach or boating weather, mud, why do you want to go outside the city in March??

only is there a lot to do within New York City, there is just as much to do outside the city, and much of it can be done cheaply using public transportation. Visitors who want to get a taste of the surrounding area and locals who just want to get out for the day can can find many day getaways from New York City by train or bus.

For more information please http://www.getmeontop.com/ visit website.

Sorry, folks, I agree 100% with nytraveler on this one.

With the time you have, you almost don't have time to go to Brooklyn, much less the suburbs. Finding a suburb within an hour of midtown where there is a pleasant hotel where you CAN walk to the train station and WOULD walk to the train station in rain or sleet is not a trivial task. Two and a half hours of travel -- minimu -- per day doesn't leave a lot of time and energy for sightseeing.

Do New York. Watch a lot of romantic movies about NYC and do those magic things. Go to a spa another time. In March, go to the Ritz Carlton in Key Biscayne or somewhere like that.

If you just want a get away from the city, you can take the train right to Mystic CT and then use taxis to visit places like Mystic Seaport or the Aquarium. You also could take it to New London and rent a car then for a nice break go to the Watch Hill Hotel just over the line in RI.

Strangely, I disagree with almost everyone here. Lots of people don't like big cities and prefer to limit their time, so I don't find this unusual at all.

This kind of trip can be done rather easily, though you have to get beyond the immediate NYC suburbs ... about 2 hours out instead of 1 hour.

Spend a few days in NYC, then spend a few days in the Hudson Valley north of NYC; with a 6-night trip, you could spend 3 nights in each place and have a nice time. It's a particularly beautiful part of the state and very popular. You will need to rent a car there, but there are Amtrak stations about 2 hours north, or you can take Metro North to North White Plains and rent a car from Hertz, returning it and taking Metro North back into town on the day of your return. Once you get back into Grand Central, the bus to LGA is across the street.

While the weather can be iffy in March, you're fairly safe if you go in the latter half. It could snow, but probably won't. And there are plenty of historical sights in the Hudson Valley to visit in case nature doesn't agree with your trip and sends some rain or really cold weather.

Agree that there are many worthwhile sights in the Hudson Valley and some charming inns - that you can probably get great discount rates at that time of year. Just not sure that hiking in March makes sense (but then it never makes sense to me.)

Another option would be the Old Saybrook Inn (http://www.saybrook.com/). I would either just rent the car in NYC or Metro North to New Haven then pick up a rental car there. From there, you could take a morning and go to Mystic if you want.

On your way to Old Saybrook you might stop in Madison, (CT)

New Paltz is a lovely town in the Hudson Valley, 1.5 hours away by bus. Yes, the weather will be iffy, but there are beautiful hiking trails and it's a cute town as well, and near others such as Woodstock. If you're looking for a big splurge, you'd stay at the Mohonk Mountain House.

If Mohonk is your choice, it's relatively accessible by public transit (with a taxi from the train station), and it has hiking trails on property and has other organized activities. It's also all-inclusive, so while pretty expensive, it's a place where you don't have to rent a car to go off-property, and my guess is that this is the off-season. But it is a rather expensive place.

You should be aware that Mohonk focuses on simplicity rather than true luxury. And although I haven;t been there for some years I understand that the food is still mediocre. (The area is pretty - my father's family used to have a small dairy farm there so I've been going since I was a child.)

Do have a look at some of the old stone houses in the area - some from the 1700s.

There's a free tour - actually a number of them - that are really worthwhile. They are called "New York by Foot". I did the 6 hour "All in One Downtown" one and had a fabulous guide. I did give him a big tip at the end. That's all you have to do - give a tip. It's a great tour - don't let the "free" part of it turn you off. A lot of walking - a lot, and it could be cold in March.

March is a horrible time to consider hiking in the Hudson Valley. We call April & May mud season and avoid trail hiking those months as well.

Visiting the historic mansions or other sites that don't require long times outside would be very good - no crowds and lower prices.