Our Trip Pick of the Week is Lake Placid, a destination that's located "upstate" but worlds apart - and about 6 hours away - from the city. See below for our top tips on how to get there, including information on train, bus and rental car options.

Our top recommendation? Take the Amtrak/bus combo to Lake Placid, and then rent a car once you're up there for a day or two of your trip from Priceless. This rental car agency will deliver, and they aren't expensive. 

Happy travels!

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Recommended: If you can leave during the day as opposed to the evening, the easiest option is taking an Amtrak train/bus combo. Every weekday a leaves Penn Station at 8:15am and arrives in Westport, NY at 2:12pm. From there, a bus - the price of which is included in your ticket - will drop you in town by 3:05pm, giving you plenty of time to get to your hotel for check in. See below for an affordable option if you'd like to have a car at your disposal during your stay; a local rental service will be happy to drop one off at your hotel, for free. For your return, catch the daily 12:15 bus/train combo, which will get you back to Penn Station by 8:35pm. To buy your tickets, simply type "Lake Placid" into the station name. Amtrak will couple the bus and train tickets together. Tickets cost about $70/each way - about the price of a tank of gas for a one way trip in a car.

If you want to drive the whole way: See our "More Detailed Information" section at the bottom of this page for renting a car in the city. Just a warning, however: when we drove up on a Friday night, rush hour traffic from the city caused the trip (which can be as short as 5.5 hours) to be 6.5. It felt like a really, really long journey. 

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As mentioned, we think it's best to take the train and rent a car once upstate so you can fully explore the area. Our suggested car rental company is Priceless (518-523-4838), located in Lake Placid across from the Lake Placid Airport. We recommend this vendor for its pricing - it costs about $39/day for a midsize car with 100 free miles - but also its convenience. They'll deliver to most hotels for free! How nice is that?

There are other rental options, listed below - but we actually found their rates to be higher (about $59/day) even when using Hotwire.

Of course, if you really don't want to drive - and want to spend most of your time skiing, on Main Street, and in your hotel room, that's possible too. Corrows (518-523-9091), a local cab company, charges just $17 for 2 passengers to get to Whiteface Mountain. 

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For general rentals: We recommend using Priceline and Hotwire to find the cheapest rentals in the area. Prices have gone up for car rentals, and these two sites have consistently brought us serious savings.

For passenger vans: Image Rent a Car has vans for rent, though please note that their locations are closed on Mondays. (Though you can drop off keys at the JFK location, though you'll be paying for your van till Monday.) For a 12 person passenger van from Friday through Monday night, expect to pay $550, including all fees, with 500 miles free. 

Note: for a 4 day rental minimum, they'll also deliver/pick up the car to and from Manhattan ($100 for pick up and drop off, or $50 for either).