Best way to travel east coast?

Traveling the east coast is not at all like traveling the west coast. In the west you'd take 101 or 1 (in a small rig) and you're constantly traveling right on the waterfront through small, neat towns. You can actually see the coastal region almost constantly as you're driving.

The east coast has the big cities and the main north/south highways don't really take you to the coast. You need to make constant detours off the main drag to get to the waterfronts. So really, it doesn't matter which direction you start from - north or south - because you'll always need to cut in to the east to get to the water.

Your trip will be completely different than the 101 along the west coast. Have fun!

Two years ago we drove from North to South, there isn't much coastline to see as noted before. We started about October 24 or 25 in Maine and had snow Halloween Eve and Day. Nothing after that. Some campgrounds are closed and we used mostly KOA from Hershy South. Staid in Cherry Hill in DC. From there South no closures. Went all the way to Jacksonville and then across the Southern route to Austin, San Antonio, D/FW, El Paso and the home with a stop in Q.

You don't say when this trip is. If it is between April and October it does not matter which way you travel - north to south or south to north. If it is now, the northeast camping season is about to close in a couple of weeks. Campgrounds close starting October 15 to the end of the month and do not reopen again until mid-April. South of Maryland many campgrounds stay open all year. Traveling on the east coast - in the right season is more of a question of avoiding cities and rush hour routes and that applies to either direction of travel.

I have to agree its the weather that rules the east coast travel. Everyone wants to be in New England in the summer and fall, so the crowds are thick at this time. We live in Florida now and travel to our native New England every year. We have gone at different months of the year so here is my 2 cents. We spend most of our time in Maine. The weather in spring is rainy and buggy. Summer is very crowded, so that leaves fall as the best time for us. This year we were in Maine from the end of August to md September. It was perfect. Kids start to go back to school at the end of August and by Labor day the crowds have slowed down. We left Florida early August and slowly worked our way north stopping in Savannah, Myrtle beach, Richmond, Charlottesville, Lancaster county Pa, Massachusetts and Maine. On the way back we wanted to get home, so we went a little faster to arrive home at the end of September. The weather gets cold really fast in September in Maine, so if cold weather is ok staying in the Northeast until mid October is ok. After that most campgrounds are closed, and tourist spots shut down stores and restaurants. Virginia south stays beautiful thru November, and then gets chilly.
Here are my favorite stops in the east. St Augustine, Savannah, Charleston, Myrtle Beach, Ashville, Charlottesville, Lancaster county, Pa, Upstate New York, The Lakes region of New Hampshire, and the State of Maine. Enjoy every minute. Barbara

We have done DC and the south, and we are going to do the north east, and back through the Great Lakes and back through the northern states. We were thinking about going through the northern states first, but we decided that starting by going east through a southern route, then going north would be better weather wise. We are going to try to time our trip when the weather should be better. The only problem with doing that is it never fails that when we take a long trip we end up in rain about 70 percent of the time.

I agree with Busskipper. Travel on the east coast is more related to season/weather than which way you are driving. Savannah is beautiful at the end of March while Maine is better at the end of September. You can't really "drive the coast" in much of Georgia, Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina. We all have barrier islands, many of which don't even have roads.

CJ5 jeeper wrote:
We are planning a trip to see the east coast. We found that traveling the coast through Washington and Oregon it worked better to travel from north to south, as it is safer to stop at view sites and not having to cross southbound traffic. We assume traveling the east coast it would be better to travel from south to north. I would like to hear from people that have traveled on the north east coast as to the good, the bad, and the oh no what am I doing on this road. We are driving a 38 ft. motorhome that is 12 1/2 ft. high. I am not bothered driving mountain roads, as I have driven truck most of my life, but they tend to bother my wife.

We live in the middle and sense we always return home the direction has never mattered. IMHO, any travel should on the East Coast should be related to the season's and what the weather is. The Coast is great for most of the year from Maryland south, and North is usually a much shorter season. We also have enjoyed the Mountains up until Christmas, and year round in the south, but I tend to like the cooler less crowded areas.

Give us some idea when you will travel and what you are after -- Williamsburg and Washington DC are good year round but we only visit in off peak times.

Ashville, Biltmore, Rocky Gap, Shenandoah Parkway, Hilton Head, Jeckel Island, Rehoboth Beach.........on and on lots to see and do.

BOL,

Unlike the Highway 101 and CA 1 along the west coast, the east coast does not really have a lot of seaside highway miles. In fact, it if often quite difficult to get to the seashore, and expensive too.

Population is more dense in the east too so you tend to use the interstate highways more often to move from one location to the next rather than just driving along a two-lane highway. Two-lane highways also have "speed traps" to create revenue for counties and small towns that don't want to tax their own citizens.

In all, its a different experience in the east. That's why I always go west for the summer driving. And -- humidity is a real bear during the warm months in the east.

We did that in 2011, I 10 from CA all the way to FL, down the panhandle then cut across and went up the coast, ending up in Niagra Falls. We did not go further east than NY. We stopped in all the usual places Savannah, Charleston, Myrtle Beach, then inland to the mountains of NC (good roads) & the Outer Banks, Gettysburg, Poconos, Washington DC then inland to Niagra Falls. I don't know that it would make any difference which way you travel. The roads were fine until we got on the PA turnpike (I 476), it was far worse than any road in CA. I would strongly avoid that. We traveled some interstates, some 2 lane highways. We used Passport America mostly and just worked around their restrictions. In Gettysburg, we stayed for $25 when the regular cost was $50 (during the week). Campground costs are higher in the east. We traveled slowly, took 6 months and it cost $20k. We visited many of the forts that were built to defend the US from the British or used in the Civil War and I learned a lot that I had forgotten or never knew about that era.