Help deciding end of touring trip....

Hello,

I hope you can help. My husband %26amp; I are planning two weeks in the region and I need help deciding on the last part of my tour.

So far we are staying 4 nights in Washington DC, a night in Shenandoah NP, 2 nights in Charlottesville %26amp; 3 nights in Williamsburg.

This leaves me with 4 nights to play with to see some of the Eastern shore %26amp; perhaps Baltimore.

I would like a contract between brash %26amp; quiet so initially earmarked 2 nights on Chincoteague %26amp; two nights in OCMD.

Then I started reading about Annapolis, St Michaels, Lewes etc %26amp; am undecided. Should we just day trip around or are all of these places of a similar vibe we could perhaps leave from OCMD %26amp; wander through them for a full day with the intention of ending up in Baltimore for an evening %26amp; the following day before we catch our overnight flight back to the UK?

Should we just choose one to explore in more depth or is it a case of an hour or so wandering around a couple would give us an idea of the atmosphere?

We are just the two of us %26amp; will have a rental car. As you can see from our itenarary so far our tastes are very eclectic!

We will be travelling off season in the last two weeks of September.

Thanks in advance!

Help deciding end of touring trip....

Well being that I am an Annapolis resident for 5 years, I am partial to the town and it%26#39;s environs. One suggestion would be to stay in Annapolis, right in the historic district.

You can take a day or two to meander the historical streets and homes, enjoy the numerous shops and restaurants, and take a tour of the Naval Academy, State House, etc. They now have a boat excursion from Annapolis that takes you to St. Micheals in the morning and takes you back in the late afternoon. We have our own boat, so I have not taken the actual cruise, but I am sure you wouldn%26#39;t be disappointed. The trip is lovely from a boater%26#39;s vantage point. www.watermarkcruises.com The only caveat is they sail only on Saturdays during September.

Also, Baltimore is an easy drive from here. However, if you want to experience the ';ocean';, than I would recommend Rehoboth Beach Delaware or Lewes, Deleware. If you like the old fashioned boardwalks with cheap t-shirt shops and cotton candy, then OC Maryland, might be your ticket. If you are looking for a little less neon, and a bit more sophistication, than I would stick to the Delaware beaches.

Help deciding end of touring trip....

This is a tough question. The reason it%26#39;s difficult, is that in each place, you can get the ';gist'; of it by walking through in an hour or two - but you won%26#39;t have found its soul. If you just want the sampler plate, you can ';do'; annapolis or St.Michaels in a few hours, Beautiful Photo Ops abound. But you would miss the historic house tours, the water-oriented activities, the maritime museum, the naval academy, most of the local fare, etc. Annapolis is about 2 1/2 hours from Ocean City assuming there is no traffic. That is a big assumption, and you would need to time your trip to avoid the weekend exodus to/from the Beach and the weekday rush hours, which cause a bottleneck at the Bay Bridge. I don%26#39;t think of Annapolis as a day-trip from Ocean City. It would have to be its own stop, perhaps with Baltimore as a day trip.

Thanks for the quick responses I agree it is a tough one.

I%26#39;ve had a look over the overall itinerary to see if I can skim a day from somewhere else to try %26amp; fit more in but listening to your replys I have the following questions:

I thought my ';wilderness'; bit was Chincoteague but perhaps I should skip that altogether if the beaches in Delaware will give me more of the windswept kind of unspoilt vibe...your thoughts? It would be a long day but we could leave Williamsburg in the AM %26amp; drive through the Virginia part of the coastline (my husband is desperate to go over the long bridge!) ending up in OCMD that day with the intent to explore around the Ocean side over the next couple of days before crossing to Annapolis.

My second question - Our flight leaves BWI at 9.30pm on the Saturday night. Will it be easier to get there return car etc from Annapolis or downtown Baltimore or is it irrelevant? What time would we need to be heading away from either place?

I%26#39;m looking at the suggestions to do a day trip to Baltimore from Annapolis or the Saturday cruise from Annapolis to St Michaels.

Thanks Again

I have not been to Chincoteaque in many years. However, the unspoiled, windswept beaches that you describe are very much in existance at Assateague, which is an easy and enjoyable day trip from Ocean City or the Delaware beaches.

BWI airport is about 30 minutes from both Baltimore and Annapolis. Allow 40 minutes if you%26#39;re cumpulsive, like me.

The last two weeks of September can be beautiful weather - most of the crowds will be gone from Ocean City, except that the weekends can be quite busy there and in St. Michaels, if the weather is nice. I like the idea of the boat trip to St. Michaels, if the weather is good. Another idea would be to visit St. Michaels on your way back from the Ocean. It%26#39;s about 15 - 20 minutes off the direct route to the Bay Bridge.

The previous poster is right. There is really not too much difference between Assateague Island and Chincoteague. If you look on a map, you can see that it is the same island but separated by invisible State lines.

Some mileage stats for you:

Ocean City to Assateague State Park: 10 miles.

Ocean City to Rehoboth Beach Delaware: 30 miles

If you chose to stay in Rehoboth instead of OC, you could enjoy some unspoiled and serene ocean front at Cape Henlopen State Park which is about 11 miles from the beach town. It is beautiful, with miles of trails, free bike rentals, and beaches. (This would then take the place of OC and Assateaugue or Chincoteague).

Other benefits if you are in the buying mode courtesy of the weak dollar, Delaware has tax free shopping and high end outlets GALORE! We often drive here just to do Christmas shopping.

From OC or Rehoboth it is a bit less than a three hour drive to Annapolis. Timing is important since you will be going across another bridge (Bay Bridge is approx. 5 miles long). So avoiding rush hour can make your ride a bit less congested. Sounds like you will be heading Westbound at the beginning of the weekend which is great, cause traffic Westbound on Sundays can be a bear with beach goers going home by the thousands.

Since your flight is quite early, I would strongly urge that you at least be close enough the night before (Baltimore or Annapolis) so that you don%26#39;t have to make a long journey to BWI especially as it relates to crossing the bridge. Construction, accidents etc, can make getting to the other side very difficult.

If you need any hotel suggestions please ask. If you are interested in staying in Annapolis I urge you to consider making reservations soon. There is always something going on here, events, Navy Football games, Parents weekends etc, that cause local lodging to fill up early and fast. I don%26#39;t think you will be disappointed in whatever you choose. Sounds like you have a nice itinerary and I hope you have a great trip.

i agree, you could skip chincoteague %26amp; see assateague on the maryland side instead, if you want the wild pony experience....%26amp; rehoboth is DEFINITELY a lot more charming than ocean city! it still has a small boardwalk with all the ticky-tacky stuff...but it%26#39;s a much more sophisticated little town with wonderful small independent shops %26amp; a generally more ';adult'; atmosphere than ocean city.

tough decisions!

should probably say this, too....you can NOT drive directly from the virginia side of assateague island to the maryland side. not even on the beach with 4 wheel drive!

but you can get, say, to rehoboth from williamsburg in a day. %26amp; do a day trip from rehoboth to maryland%26#39;s assateague, easy.

Hi Everyone - Thank You again for all your input. I wish they were so forthcoming in the Virginia forum...

Anyway I%26#39;ll tell you what I%26#39;ve decided so far.....

Chincoteague is GONE, wherever we stay we will do a trip back to Assateague for the day.

The new plan is as follows:

Leave Williamsburg - drive up to MD (by lunch). This will hopefully be Reheboth Beach but may still be OC, the reason being the total bargins for a suite in OC. If I can find comparable deals in RB it will be a done deal.

Wherever we end up we will stay three nights. One will be used to go back south to Assateague, one will be used to go North to Lewes or Cape Henlopen and we will also hopefully squeeze in the outlets!

So - we then leave the ocean side and my next plan is this - drive towards St Michaels %26amp; have a wander round before crossing to Annapolis in the afternoon(this will be Thursday).

Staying in Annapolis Thursday and Friday night. But on the Friday, if possible getting public transport to Baltimore? The reason I say that is that there is a baseball game on Friday night %26amp; I thought we could spend all day exploring Baltimore %26amp; finish up at the game. Not bothered if we have to leave before it%26#39;s finished but perhaps seeing an hour or so. We have visited so many baseball grounds on our travels and always like to compare the similarities and differences.

We would then return to Annapolis to go to bed Friday night. On Saturday we would need to check out of our hotel, but as our flight is not till 9.30pm at night we would have all day to explore more of Annapolis - I thought this could be quite relaxing at the end of our trip. We would probably conclude with an early dinner before setting off to the airport around 6.30pm to give us time to drop the car etc.

How does that sound everyone?

Thanks Again

I think it sounds great! In regards to getting public transportation from Annapolis to Baltimore, I%26#39;m afraid there is no direct connections.

It is a shame that Annapolis does not have rail service to Baltimore or DC considering it is only 30 miles away and congestion around here is such a problem.

One idea would be to drive your car to BWI airport where they have their ';lite rail'; service. There is a parking garage adjacent to the station which is at the International Pier at BWI terminal. From here, the train takes you right to the Camden rail station. (a 20-25 minute ride)

BWI airport also has an Amtrak/Marc station that services Baltimore %26amp; DC but the trains do not stop right at Camden station. You would have to go to Penn station in Baltimore and transfer to the light rail. Check out www.mtamaryland.com/services/sports/orioles

if this does not direct you to the site than google- mta service to oriole park

Also, if you are interested in just seeing Camden yards and not necessarily seeing a game, I believe they still offer tours of the ballpark. Just go to the Camden Yards website for more information.

if you can%26#39;t find something at the price you want in rehoboth, try dewey beach.

it%26#39;s a much smaller town than rehoboth but they%26#39;re right next to each other....they sort of ';flow together';.