DC to NYC drive, what time to leave?

[Anonymous]

We are driving to Manhattan, staying by Central park, over the Columbus day weekend. We live by the wharf in DC, what's the best time to leave DC to avoid NYC traffic?
Not here to debate amtrak vs driving (like a recent past thread I saw) simply looking for suggestions on the best time to leave DC.

[Anonymous]

What time do you want to arrive?

Can you leave early in the day Friday?

My typical way of doing it is to leave dc before 8am, stop for an early lunch/brunch and pee break at 11:30 in northern NJ BEFORE getting into the tunnel/city. Then if there’s tunnel traffic, you aren’t starving or hangry or dying to pee.

Then you can park by like 1pm, and maybe early check in or stash you bags before check in.

[Anonymous]

I leave between 7-8 with my coffee already in hand and some fruit and a breakfast bar.

You can park, leave your bags with The concierge and grab lunch. Explore for a few hours, go check in to take a break then off you go!

[Anonymous]

Are you going up on Friday or Saturday?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you going up on Friday or Saturday?

Going up on Friday morning

[Anonymous]

My parents live north of NYC and I drive to see them. I usually leave my house in upper NW around 9am. I'm at the tail end of rush hour here, and I don't hit rush hour in Baltimore at all. I hit the NYC area in the early afternoon before rush hour there. A couple of times when my kid was a toddler I left the house around 7am. I did hit rush hour in Baltimore, but found if I just stayed all the way to the left on 95 it wasn't too bad. And it was nice to arrive around lunch time. For me it's harder to find a sweet spot returning to DC; I always hit rush hour either in NY or here. I usually aim to hit rush hour here since I know more about this area and can find alternate routes. (And yes I tend to drive on weekdays rather than weekends.)

[Anonymous]

I would do it based on rush hour here— that’s likely to be the worst part of it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would do it based on rush hour here— that’s likely to be the worst part of it

Not if they leave at 5am or 1-2pm

[Anonymous]

I do this drive frequently and leave around 7:45. I’ve played around with leaving earlier and later and 7:45 is the sweet spot all the way north.

[Anonymous]

Leave as soon as DC morning traffic clears up per google/waze - ideally by 9:00 am but the earlier the better. Limit stopping to 1 quick bathroom break. Ideally you are going over the GW bridge or through the Lincoln Tunnel by 1:00 pm at the latest. Would not recommend leaving after 10:00 am - the afternoon traffic into NYC on a Friday is not pleasant (but not sure if things have changed a bit due to Covid).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are driving to Manhattan, staying by Central park, over the Columbus day weekend. We live by the wharf in DC, what's the best time to leave DC to avoid NYC traffic?
Not here to debate amtrak vs driving (like a recent past thread I saw) simply looking for suggestions on the best time to leave DC.

Ok but why because what you’re doing is madness?

[Anonymous]

It’s not madness to drive from DC to NYC. Different poster and seriously, let people drive if they don’t want to do the train!

[Anonymous]

If you’re leaving from Maryland the DC rush hour traffic is not a problem. If you’re in Virginia wait until 9.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you’re leaving from Maryland the DC rush hour traffic is not a problem. If you’re in Virginia wait until 9.

Oh duh, sorry I see you’re in DC near the wharf. I don’t think outbound should be a problem from there so definitely start earlier than 9.

[Anonymous]

The drive isn't bad at all! Not everyone wants to take the train.

Tolls do add up though if I remember correctly. Does anyone know how much tolls actually are?