Flee New York: Weekend Getaways, Day Trips, Vacations and More (Beta)

20% off Amtrak and 5% Off Enterprise Cars This Summer for NYS Metro North and Amtrak Destinations

We just stumbled across an interesting special from the New York State Tourism board.  As part of a New York State "Larger Than Life Summers" promotion, Amtrak, Enterprise, and Metro North are offering discounted fares to destinations like the Hudson Valley, Saratoga, the Adirondacks, and more.

The best part: Enterprise will pick you up at any one of 23 different Amtrak or Metro North location!

Here are some details:

Enjoy a 20% Discount on Amtrak to NYS destinations. Then have Enterprise pick you up at the station and save an additional 5% on your rental car! If you ride Metro-North, you can also save 5% with the Enterprise/Metro-North discount.

All the details are available on a special website:

LINK: [I Love NY Larger Than Life Summers]

$1000 Travel Voucher to Winner of Amtrak's Annual Photo Contest

There are quite a few New York escape routes via Amtrak: From the bowels of Penn Station, they'll take you to North to the Hudson Valley and even to Montreal.  Going South, you can access Philadelphia and the Chesapeake Bay.  Usually the fares are pretty reasonable, but it never hurts to travel for free!  If you're a photographer or photo enthusiast, you should definitely take advantage of Amtrak's annual "picture our train" photo contest.  The winner receives a $1000 travel voucher.  Just mail Amtrak an 8 x 10 photo of an image that includes an Amtrak train displaying the current company logo.  Deadline for entries is July 11.  Here is the prize structure:

The first prize is a $1,000 travel voucher and the display of the winning photograph on the 2009 Amtrak Wall Calendar with photo credit. The second prize is a $500 travel voucher, the third prize is a $250 travel voucher, the fourth prize is a $150 travel voucher, and the fifth prize is a $100 travel voucher.

The winner will also be featured on Amtrak's 2009 company wall calendar.  For more information and official contest rules, you can visit Amtrak's web site here.
[Amtrak Picture our Train Contest]

Hudson Valley By Train: Amtrak, Metro North, and More

We just noticed a good article from About.com's "honeymoons" section on romantic train rides.  Included in the story is a mention for The Hudson Valley...

In case you weren't aware, the Hudson Valley is very accessible by train, and the views of the river and the small towns along the rail lines are really great. 

Here are some useful links for planning a train ride up the Hudson Valley. 

MTA Metro North Schedules

Amtrak Schedules

Amtrak Adirondack Route

Hudson Valley Railroad Society  (Great list of links at the bottom of the page)

Hudson Valley Train Stations With Bicycle Routes