New York to Toronto by Car: Hudson Valley, Finger Lakes and Niagara in Five Days

The autumn colours along the Hudson, in the Catskills and around the Finger Lakes peak roughly from late September to mid-October, and the waterfalls still run while the summer crowds are gone. Check that the Watkins Glen gorge trail is still open, since it closes for the winter in autumn.

Leave Manhattan early on a weekday morning or late on a weekend morning, and time your arrival in Toronto for the middle of the day. The Queen Elizabeth Way and the Gardiner Expressway into the city are heavily congested at rush hour.

Keep passports, the rental agreement showing Canadian travel is authorised, and the car’s registration and insurance papers in the glovebox. Border officers may ask where you are going, how long you will stay and what you are carrying; declare food, alcohol and anything you are bringing as gifts. Have a card or some cash for the Rainbow Bridge toll.

Storm King’s timed tickets include parking and are the only reliable way in on busy days. At Niagara, book the boat tours and Journey Behind the Falls online for a set time in summer to skip the ticket queues. Check each site for current prices and seasons.

Reach the Niagara boats as they open, or in the last hours of the day, when the queues are shortest. Watkins Glen and Taughannock are far quieter on weekday mornings than on summer weekends.

Almost every stop is a short walk to a spectacular view: the Kaaterskill viewing platform, the flat trail to Taughannock Falls, the decks of Cave of the Winds and the boat to the foot of the falls. Watkins Glen has many steps but kids love the tunnels and the path behind a waterfall.

Seneca Lake and Niagara-on-the-Lake are both wine regions with tasting rooms along the road. Choose a designated driver or book a tasting you can walk to, and never drive after tastings: the limits in both countries are strict.

Overnight in Kingston for its old Stockade District, in Ithaca for its restaurants and college-town feel, in Watkins Glen at the head of Seneca Lake, and on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, where the Fallsview hotels look straight over the Horseshoe Falls. Book summer weekends well ahead.

Car rental and parking in Manhattan are expensive. Take the train to an airport or suburban rental office, and compare the one-way fee for returning in Toronto against returning the car in Buffalo and crossing by bus, which is sometimes far cheaper.