By car
The LIE to exit 70, then Route 27 east. Leave before two or after eight.
Six routes out of the city, each with the crossing, the hours and the company worked out. Pick one from the chart, or read straight through.
Manhattan is unusual among great cities in how quickly it can be left behind. Ninety-seven miles of parkway puts you on the Atlantic; an hour in the air reaches an island thirty miles offshore; three and a half hours reaches the Bahamas before the afternoon is out.
The constraint is almost never distance — it is whether the days at the other end have been thought about at all. What follows are six routes we arrange most often from New York, each a starting point rather than a fixed programme.
Ocean, and ninety-seven miles of parkway
Close enough to leave after lunch, far enough that nobody expects you back. The East End is the shortest route out of Manhattan that still changes the register entirely.
The LIE to exit 70, then Route 27 east. Leave before two or after eight.
East 23rd Street Skyport to East Hampton, low over the Sound.
Downtown Manhattan Heliport direct. The Friday-evening option.
The Cannonball from Penn Station, Fridays in season, no change.
The East End does not reward effort. Its social code prizes ease above almost everything — the worn linen over the new one, the dinner that appears to have been assembled without planning. Arriving visibly impressed is the one reliable way to be read as a visitor. A companion who understands that makes the weekend considerably easier: conversation at a Georgica table moves quickly and settles on nothing for long, and what is wanted is someone who can follow it without needing it explained.
40.9634° N, 72.1848° W
The house on Georgica Pond. Unpack properly rather than living from the case — it turns a trip into a stay.
Main Beach is four minutes away and near-empty by six. Colder than it looks until late July.
A table on Newtown Lane, booked well ahead. Seasonal, unshowy, and better outside if the evening allows.
Somewhere small and within walking distance. Then the house, the last of the wine, and ninety-seven miles of distance from the telephone.
Thirty miles out, and deliberately so
Further from the mainland than people expect, and organised entirely around that fact. Thirty miles of open water filters a crowd more effectively than any door policy.
Teterboro to Nantucket Memorial. The standard arrangement in season.
Seasonal direct services from JFK, running from June.
Through the Sound and round Point Judith. A genuine pleasure in settled weather.
Five hours to the Cape, then an hour on the water. Only if the car is wanted.
The island runs on understatement. Cobbles, grey shingle, no traffic lights, and a strictly enforced absence of anything that looks new. Evening dress means a jacket, not a statement. A companion calibrated for Manhattan needs to dial it down about two notches — and the women arranged for island weeks already know that before the wheels touch. What works here is ease at a long table and comfort with an afternoon that has nothing in it.
41.2835° N, 70.0995° W
Ten minutes from the airfield to Hulbert Avenue. The house will be open and the windows already up.
A short walk down. The Sound is flat and warm by late afternoon, and quieter than Children’s Beach.
Booked three weeks out. Small rooms, low ceilings, and an evening that moves at the island’s pace.
Straight Wharf after the tables clear. The walk home through town takes about eleven minutes.
Three and a half hours, then eleven minutes in a launch
A three-mile cay off the top of Eleuthera that has spent forty years perfecting a very specific kind of informality. The last stretch is the one that changes everything.
Teterboro direct to North Eleuthera. Customs on arrival takes minutes.
JFK to Nassau, then a short hop north. Daily through the winter.
Three Island Dock across the cut to Dunmore Town. The proper way to arrive.
Most arrive on their own keel. The anchorage is tight and expects notice.
Golf carts instead of cars. No jackets, ever. Dinner at eight in something linen that cost a great deal and is not supposed to look like it. The island rewards ease and punishes performance, which makes the choice of companion unusually consequential. What works is someone genuinely relaxed in a small, observant community — content to spend an afternoon doing nothing in particular, and entirely uninterested in being looked at.
25.5000° N, 76.6333° W
Through North Eleuthera in under ten minutes, then the launch across the cut. A cart meets the dock.
Above the beach on the eastern shore, or in town if the harbour side is preferred.
Three miles of it, almost empty after five. The colour is real and most obvious in the last hour.
A ten-minute cart ride, and a kitchen doing the same six things exceptionally well for thirty years.
Four and a half hours to eight thousand feet
A small town containing a very large amount of money, with strong feelings about how that money behaves. Old skiwear is admired. New everything is noticed.
Teterboro to Sardy Field. A demanding approach — hold a Denver alternate.
JFK via Denver or Salt Lake, then a short hop into the valley.
Seventy miles up the Roaring Fork. Often faster when Sardy is closed.
Aspen is eight blocks wide. A car is useful only for Snowmass.
Dinner is early by Manhattan standards — eight o’clock, and the room is quiet by eleven; the altitude accounts for most of that. Conversation is unhurried and runs long, which makes the company more consequential than the table. A companion who skis is an advantage but not a requirement: a great many good days here are spent entirely off the mountain. What matters is ease at a long table and comfort with four unhurried days.
39.1911° N, 106.8175° W
Through the FBO in minutes. The drive in runs along the river and is the best introduction the valley offers.
Or the West End, if walking into town matters more than the view back across it. The fire will be lit.
Eight blocks, worth a slow circuit before dark. The light off the snow at this hour is remarkable.
Booked well ahead — the good rooms are small and the season is short. Order lightly on the first night.
Two hundred and sixty-eight miles, and the drive is the point
The least performative place within a day of Manhattan, and it stays that way by being slightly inconvenient to reach. There is no scene to be seen at.
Eighty-five miles of parkway built for touring in the thirties, and largely unchanged.
Teterboro to Lebanon, New Hampshire, then forty minutes across the river.
The Vermonter to White River Junction. Scenic for the last two hours.
I-91 the whole way. Ninety minutes faster and entirely without merit.
Nothing is required of you socially — but two nights in a village of four hundred people, with no events and nothing scheduled, puts the whole weight of the weekend on the company. It is the itinerary most often chosen by clients who already know the companion well, and the least suited to a first arrangement. Where it works, it works better than anywhere else on this list.
43.6245° N, 72.5187° W
No trucks, no billboards, and long climbing curves through the Hudson highlands. The best road on the eastern seaboard.
Cut east at Hillsdale into Great Barrington. An hour is enough — a long lunch makes a late arrival.
North on Route 7, then the river road above Brattleboro. The landscape changes within a mile of the line.
In along the Ottauquechee with the light going. Unpack properly; the inn will hold dinner.
Three hours to the last of the Gilded Age
A working harbour wrapped around a stretch of the most extravagant houses ever built in America. In season it is the best sailing on the eastern seaboard.
I-95 to Route 138 and over the Pell Bridge. Straightforward outside a regatta weekend.
Up the Sound and round Point Judith. Newport Harbour is the point of the trip.
Teterboro to Newport State. Ten minutes from the airfield to Bellevue Avenue.
Direct from Manhattan, and the usual arrangement for a single night.
Newport keeps two worlds side by side and is relaxed about both: a serious sailing town by day, and by evening a set of houses that have been entertaining in the same rooms for a hundred and thirty years. Dress is nautical rather than formal. The social calendar is dense in July and August, and an invitation-led weekend here asks for a companion who is genuinely easy in a crowd and does not need managing.
41.4901° N, 71.3128° W
A house off Bellevue, or the harbour side if the boats matter more than the lawns.
Ten miles round the point with the water on three sides. Slowly, and stop at Brenton.
Bannister’s or Bowen’s as the fleet comes in. The best hour of a Newport day.
A table on Thames Street, and a walk back along the water afterwards.
Every itinerary on this page assumes two people. The difference between a good trip and a memorable one is rarely the house or the table — it is whether the person opposite is genuinely easy company across four unscheduled days.
An outgoing, authentic and playful girlfriend for an FMTY travel GFE arrangement makes everything better. The women arranged through Mynt Models for travel are selected for exactly that.
Three to four weeks is comfortable for most of these routes and two is usually workable. The constraint is rarely the companion — it is the house and the table. Christmas and New Year in Aspen, and the foliage fortnight in Vermont, need several months.
Either. Travelling out together tends to make the first evening easier, and on a driving itinerary it is the itinerary. Where discretion favours separate arrivals, that is arranged without comment.
They can be. The concierge will hold private aviation, a launch or a car alongside the arrangement where a client prefers a single point of contact.
These are starting points, not fixed programmes. Every element is adjusted around a client's dates and preferences before anything is confirmed.
Planning a trip to the Bahamas, or a visit to Vermont? Arrange a beautiful, smart and friendly companion to join you, and ensure the experience is unforgettable. An outgoing, authentic and playful girlfriend for a FMTY travel GFE arrangement makes everything better.