23 best weekend getaways on the East Coast, from romantic inns to mountain escapes

From moss-draped Savannah and Victorian Cape May to the cabins of the Smoky Mountains and the lobster shacks of Maine, these are the best weekend getaways on the East Coast of the USA, with the most romantic picks for couples, where to stay and what to book ahead.

If you’re reading this post, you’re probably looking for a way to leave your city for an exciting weekend somewhere new. As someone who grew up on the East Coast and has spent years exploring it, I totally understand that feeling. A weekend trip full of new experiences is often all it takes to rejuvenate the body and the mind.

These are my picks for the best weekend getaways on the East Coast: places I’ve been, places I recommend, and a few places that I’m always finding reasons to go back to. I’ve grouped them by region, from Maine down to the Florida Keys, so you can find the ones within easy reach of home, and each one says who it suits best, whether that’s a romantic weekend for two, a mountain escape or a few days on the beach.

The most romantic getaways on the East Coast at a glance

If you’re planning a weekend away for two, these are the places I’d start with:

• Savannah, Georgia: Spanish moss, candlelit squares and ghost stories after dark.
• Charleston, South Carolina: pastel houses, harbour sunsets and one of the best food scenes in the South.
• Cape May, New Jersey: Victorian bed and breakfasts a short walk from the beach.
• Newport, Rhode Island: Gilded Age mansions above the Atlantic.
• Stowe, Vermont: cosy inns, autumn colour and ski weekends in winter.
• Key West, Florida: sunset sails, warm water and no need for a coat in January.
• Asheville, North Carolina: mountain views, the Biltmore Estate and a brilliant restaurant scene.
• Saint Simons Island, Georgia: quiet beaches, dolphins and the bleached driftwood of neighbouring Jekyll Island.

For mountain getaways, head for Shenandoah, the Great Smoky Mountains, the White Mountains, Stowe or Asheville. For beach weekends, try the Outer Banks, Cape Cod, Bethany Beach or Saint Simons. And for a city break, New York, Washington DC, Charleston and Savannah all fill a weekend easily.

New England

1. Portland, Maine

Portland, Maine, gets overlooked in favour of its more famous West Coast namesake, which is a genuine mistake. It’s a wonderful blend of gorgeous coastal scenery, one of the best food scenes on the East Coast and an arts community that punches well above its size.

The Old Port is the best place to start: cobbled streets, red-brick 19th-century buildings (most of them built after the great fire of 1866), and excellent boutiques, galleries and seafood restaurants along the working waterfront. The Portland Observatory, a wooden signal tower from 1807, is worth the climb for the views across Casco Bay in summer and early autumn. And the Portland Farmers’ Market is one of the oldest in the country, running year-round, in Deering Oaks park in the warmer months and indoors in winter.

For serious seafood, the local lobster rolls and fresh catch are exactly what the reputation promises. Then drive 15 minutes to Fort Williams Park in Cape Elizabeth for Portland Head Light, first lit in 1791 and one of the most photographed lighthouses in America, or see it from the water on a sightseeing cruise to Portland Head Light.

Best for: food lovers, lighthouses and a long weekend on the Maine coast.

Where to stay: the Inn at St. John for comfortable, affordable rooms a short walk from the Old Port, or the Portland Harbor Hotel, one of the highest-rated boutique hotels in the city. See all Portland accommodation.

2. Acadia National Park, Maine

Acadia is one of the most beautiful national parks in the US: a rugged granite coastline, 45 miles of historic carriage roads for walking and cycling, mountain summits with Atlantic views and Cadillac Mountain, one of the first places in the United States to see the sunrise from early October to early March. It takes some effort to get to, about three hours’ drive north-east of Portland, but it absolutely rewards it.

Bar Harbor, the gateway town, has excellent restaurants and accommodation, and it’s the base for whale watching and sea kayaking trips. Make time for tea and popovers on the lawn at Jordan Pond House, with the two rounded mountains known as the Bubbles reflected in the water behind, which is about as romantic as an afternoon in Maine gets.

Best for: hikers, cyclists and sunrise chasers.

Where to stay: camping is the finest way to experience Acadia, and the NPS camping page covers reservations and availability. The Bar Harbor Grand Hotel is a comfortable base in town.

3. Stowe, Vermont

Stowe is one of those rare destinations that’s genuinely excellent in every season. Nestled in the Green Mountains, it has some of the most spectacular fall foliage in New England in late September and early October, with reds, oranges and yellows spreading across the hills in a way that feels almost too perfect.

Winter brings excellent skiing at Stowe Mountain Resort on Mount Mansfield, Vermont’s highest peak (it’s on the Epic Pass; see my guide to the best skiing in the US for more East Coast resorts). Spring and summer bring hiking and mountain biking, and the Stowe Recreation Path is a lovely paved trail along the river through beautiful countryside, whatever the season. Drive over Smugglers’ Notch, a narrow mountain pass squeezed between cliffs (it closes in winter), and stop at the Trapp Family Lodge, run by the family whose story inspired The Sound of Music, for a beer at their Austrian-style brewery.

Best for: cosy romantic weekends, autumn colour and skiing.

Where to stay: the Green Mountain Inn is the cosiest and most characterful place to stay, right in the village. The Lodge at Spruce Peak, at the foot of the slopes, is the choice for a more indulgent stay. See all accommodation in Stowe.

4. White Mountains, New Hampshire

The White Mountains are a seriously underrated East Coast weekend destination. The fall colour is spectacular, some of the finest in New England, and the 34-mile Kancamagus Highway is one of the best autumn drives in the country. The hiking ranges from easy valley walks, like the boardwalks through the Flume Gorge in Franconia Notch, to serious summit routes.

Mount Washington, at 6,288 feet, is the highest peak in the north-eastern US and a worthwhile objective if you’re a fit hiker. If you’re not, you can drive up the Mount Washington Auto Road or ride the cog railway, which has been climbing the mountain since 1869, but go prepared: the summit is famous for some of the worst weather on earth.

Best for: mountain getaways, leaf-peeping and serious hiking.

Where to stay: in Jackson, NH, a pretty village with its own red covered bridge, the Inn at Thorn Hill is a popular, romantic choice with a spa.

5. Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Cape Cod is a long-standing New England summer destination, and deservedly so: beautiful beaches, lobster shacks, lighthouses and a coastal atmosphere unlike anywhere else in the north-eastern US. The Cape Cod National Seashore protects around 40 miles of unspoilt Atlantic coastline, with dunes, cranberry bogs and some of the best beaches in New England, and the Cape Cod Rail Trail is a flat, easy bike ride between them.

Provincetown, at the tip of the peninsula, is one of the most vibrant and LGBTQ+-welcoming destinations in New England, with excellent galleries, restaurants and a lively atmosphere. It’s also the best place on the Cape to go whale watching: boats head out to the feeding grounds of Stellwagen Bank from spring to autumn, and you can book a Provincetown whale watching cruise ahead. If you have an extra day, ferries from Hyannis and Woods Hole cross to Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard.

Best for: beach weekends, seafood and whale watching.

Where to stay: HI Hyannis, a seasonal hostel by the beach, is great for budget travellers. The Seaglass Inn & Spa in Provincetown is the crowd favourite, a few minutes from the beach.

6. Newport, Rhode Island

Newport is where America’s richest families came to summer in the Gilded Age, and their “cottages” (which are really palaces) are still the main event. The Breakers, the Vanderbilts’ 70-room Italian Renaissance-style mansion, is the grandest, but Marble House and The Elms are just as extravagant. Most are run by the Preservation Society of Newport County, and a Gilded Age trolley tour with a ticket to The Breakers is an easy way to see several in a morning.

The Cliff Walk, a 3.5-mile path between the mansions’ lawns and the ocean, is one of the most romantic walks on the East Coast. A section between Narragansett Avenue and Webster Street has been fenced off since it collapsed in 2022, with a signed detour through the Salve Regina University campus, and the city expects repairs to be finished around 2029. Finish with the 10-mile Ocean Drive at sunset, and dinner on the wharves of this sailing-mad harbour town.

Best for: couples, history and grand houses by the sea.

Where to stay: the hotels near the Cliff Walk put you within walking distance of the mansions and the ocean. See all accommodation in Newport.

New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania

7. New York City and the Hudson Valley

New York City is the obvious choice for a big-city East Coast weekend, and it more than delivers. Even after the major sights, you can lose days in the neighbourhoods: Brooklyn, the Lower East Side, Harlem, the West Village. For a romantic weekend, walk across the Brooklyn Bridge early in the morning before the crowds, watch the sun set over Manhattan from the Top of the Rock or the Empire State Building, or take a sunset cruise past the Statue of Liberty.

When the city gets overwhelming, the Hudson Valley is the answer. Metro-North trains run up the river from Grand Central to Beacon, home of the Dia Beacon art museum, in about an hour and a half, and Amtrak reaches the antique shops and restaurants of Hudson in around two hours. With a car, the Catskills are about two and a half hours away, with hiking, craft breweries, cabin rentals and fall foliage that rivals anywhere in New England.

Best for: a city break with world-class food, museums and shows.

Where to stay: The Westin New York at Times Square is a comfortable, central base in Midtown, within walking distance of Broadway, Bryant Park and Fifth Avenue.

8. Cape May, New Jersey

At the very southern tip of New Jersey, Cape May is the kind of place that looks like it was designed for a romantic weekend. The whole town is a National Historic Landmark, with one of the largest collections of Victorian buildings in the country: candy-coloured “painted ladies” with wraparound porches, gingerbread trim and gas lamps, many of them now bed and breakfasts.

Spend the days on the beach or browsing the pedestrian Washington Street Mall, climb the 199 steps of the 1859 Cape May Lighthouse, and finish at Sunset Beach, where you can hunt for “Cape May diamonds” (polished quartz pebbles) and, in summer, watch the evening flag-lowering ceremony. Cape May is lovely out of season too, especially when the Victorian houses are decorated for Christmas.

Best for: couples, Victorian B&Bs and a quieter beach weekend.

Where to stay: Congress Hall, a grand hotel facing the ocean that first opened in 1816, is the town’s landmark, and the Victorian B&Bs in the historic district are the most romantic option. See all accommodation in Cape May.

9. Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

Lancaster County is Amish country, and it delivers exactly what that implies: a peaceful, rural change of pace from city life, with rolling farmland, covered bridges, horse-drawn buggies and cabin rentals. In Lancaster city, Central Market has been trading since the 1730s and claims to be the oldest continuously operating public farmers’ market in the US; it’s open on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

A ride on the Strasburg Rail Road, a steam train through the farmland, is a worthwhile extra, and a hot-air balloon flight over the patchwork fields at sunrise makes a memorable romantic splurge.

Best for: a slow, rural weekend and farm-to-table food.

Where to stay: the Lancaster Arts Hotel is housed in a handsome converted tobacco warehouse with well-designed interiors. See all accommodation in Lancaster.

Washington DC, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia and West Virginia

10. Bethany Beach, Delaware

Bethany Beach is the quieter, less hectic alternative to Ocean City and Rehoboth Beach, and that’s its greatest strength (locals call it and its neighbours “the Quiet Resorts”). Expect a low-key boardwalk, kitschy mini golf, the Fenwick Island Lighthouse just down the coast, fishing and kayaking at Delaware Seashore State Park nearby, and a relaxed, family-friendly atmosphere that makes it a reliable summer weekend for anyone within driving distance of DC, Baltimore or Philadelphia.

Best for: easy-going beach weekends and families.

Where to stay: Bethany Beach Ocean Suites Residence Inn by Marriott is consistently recommended, right on the beach. See all accommodation in Bethany Beach.

11. Annapolis, Maryland

Annapolis is everything Washington DC isn’t: laid-back, maritime and human in scale. When I lived in DC, I’d sometimes drive out just to walk the brick sidewalks of the historic downtown and breathe the sea air.

The United States Naval Academy is worth visiting for its Beaux-Arts architecture and the naval history it contains; guided tours start from the Armel-Leftwich Visitor Center, and adults need photo ID to get in. The Maryland State House is the oldest state capitol still in continuous legislative use, and the only one that has also served as the nation’s capitol: the Continental Congress met here in 1783 and 1784, and George Washington resigned his commission as commander-in-chief in the Old Senate Chamber.

The seafood here is extraordinary. Maryland crab is not something to eat everywhere and call equivalent, so order steamed blue crabs at a waterfront crab house, then head out on the water: a sunset cruise from Annapolis or a harbour and Naval Academy cruise on the Chesapeake Bay is the best way to end the day.

Best for: sailing, seafood and an easy escape from DC or Baltimore.

Where to stay: the Historic Inns of Annapolis, a group of restored inns around State Circle that includes the State House Inn, put you right in the old town. See the most romantic hotels in Annapolis, or all accommodation in Annapolis.

12. Washington DC

I lived in Washington DC, so I’m biased, but the capital makes a brilliant weekend, and not just for the museums and monuments. The free Smithsonian museums are some of my personal favourites, and seeing the monuments by night, when the streets empty out and the buildings are beautifully lit, is one of the most romantic things to do in the city.

Then go local. Shaw is one of my favourite neighbourhoods, with the murals and cobblestones of Blagden Alley, and U Street is where the locals go out at night. On Sunday morning, the Dupont Circle Farmers’ Market is my favourite in the city, and in late March or early April the cherry blossoms around the Tidal Basin are worth planning a whole trip around.

Best for: a city break with free museums and a great food scene.

Where to stay: my guide to the best places to stay in Washington DC runs through the neighbourhoods and hotels, and there’s much more in my Washington DC travel guide, including day trips from Washington DC.

13. Harpers Ferry and New River Gorge, West Virginia

West Virginia is seriously underrated as a weekend destination. Harpers Ferry, a national historical park where the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers meet, is a beautifully preserved 19th-century town marked by Civil War history. John Brown’s 1859 raid on the federal armoury here, which helped spark the conflict, is told in detail in the park’s museums, and the Appalachian Trail runs right through the town. The hiking into the surrounding hills is excellent: the Maryland Heights Trail climbs to the overlook in my photo above.

New River Gorge became a national park in December 2020. It’s about four hours’ drive south-west of Harpers Ferry, so it’s best as a weekend of its own. The New River Gorge Bridge, 876 feet above the river, is one of the most impressive in the eastern United States, and you can walk the catwalk underneath it on a guided BridgeWalk. On Bridge Day, the third Saturday of October, the bridge closes to traffic and BASE jumpers leap off it. The park also has world-class rock climbing, whitewater rafting and hiking.

Best for: history, hiking and outdoor adventure.

Where to stay: The Light Horse Inn is highly rated in the area. See all accommodation in Harpers Ferry.

14. Shenandoah National Park, Virginia

Shenandoah National Park is just a couple of hours from Washington DC, and whenever I feel overwhelmed and need to disconnect, this is where I head. The park has miles of hiking trails for every level. My favourite is the hike to Old Rag Mountain, a tough loop of about nine miles with a long rock scramble near the top, but worth every scramble. The Dark Hollow Falls Trail is shorter and more accessible, and leads to a beautiful waterfall.

Skyline Drive, the scenic road that runs the full 105-mile length of the park, has dozens of overlooks, and the Shenandoah Valley spread out below can be stunning, especially in autumn. For a romantic night in the park, book a room with a view at one of the lodges along the drive and watch the sunset from the ridge.

Best for: mountain getaways, hiking and disconnecting.

Where to stay: camping is the best way to experience the park fully, and the park’s campgrounds include both reservable and first-come, first-served sites. For a proper bed, the Caledonia Farm 1812 Bed & Breakfast in Flint Hill is a lovely retreat on a quiet farm near the park’s northern section.

15. Charlottesville, Virginia

Charlottesville sits in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains: a university city steeped in history, surrounded by wine country, and with excellent outdoor options in the mountains nearby. Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s home, is a fascinating UNESCO World Heritage Site, listed together with the University of Virginia’s Academical Village, which Jefferson also designed and founded and which is one of the most beautiful campuses in the United States.

The vineyards of the Monticello Wine Trail around Albemarle County are excellent, and an afternoon of tastings with the Blue Ridge on the horizon is a lovely way to spend a romantic weekend. The pedestrian Downtown Mall is the place for dinner, and Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park is only about half an hour away.

Best for: wine weekends, history and the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Where to stay: the Graduate by Hilton Charlottesville is conveniently located near the University of Virginia. See all accommodation in Charlottesville.

The Southeast

16. Asheville, North Carolina

With its charming streets surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains, Asheville is one of the best weekend escapes on the East Coast. I’ve always found it to be a surprisingly cool oasis: part mountain town, part arts scene, part outstanding food destination.

The Blue Ridge Parkway drives and hikes are beautiful, and the farm-to-table food and North Carolina-style BBQ are things I still think about. The Biltmore Estate, America’s largest privately owned home, a French Renaissance-style château with lavish gardens and its own winery, is impressive enough that even non-architecture people tend to be stopped in their tracks. The River Arts District has excellent galleries and studios if you want to see what Asheville’s creative community is actually doing.

Hurricane Helene hit Asheville hard in September 2024, but the city has worked hard to recover. Downtown and the Biltmore Estate are open, many River Arts District studios have reopened as the area rebuilds, and the Blue Ridge Parkway around Asheville has reopened, with the last closed stretch to the north-east, between Mount Mitchell and Little Switzerland, due to reopen by the end of 2026. Visiting is one of the best ways to help.

Best for: foodies, couples and mountain views with a city attached.

Where to stay: the Princess Anne Boutique Hotel for a cosy, homey stay in a historic house, or the Albemarle Inn, one of the top-rated locally owned inns, in a beautiful old mansion. See all accommodation in Asheville, or browse tours and things to do in Asheville.

17. Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee and North Carolina

The most visited national park in the US, and one that earns it. The Smokies straddle the Tennessee and North Carolina border, with dense forests, waterfalls, wildlife and the morning mist that rises from the trees in the valleys and gives the mountains their name. Get up early enough, for Newfound Gap or the Oconaluftee Valley at sunrise, and the mist is extraordinary.

My favourites are the Cades Cove Loop, an 11-mile one-way road around a valley of old farmsteads and churches that’s also great on a bike, and Kuwohi (called Clingmans Dome until 2024), the highest point in the park, where a steep half-mile paved path climbs to an observation tower. Cades Cove also has excellent wildlife sightings: deer, turkeys and occasionally bears. For a couple of weeks in late May or early June, the synchronous fireflies near Elkmont, which flash in unison, are one of the most remarkable natural events in North America.

Best for: mountain getaways, cabins and wildlife.

Where to stay: camping is the most authentic way to experience the park, so check the NPS campground information for availability and reservations. The Twin Mountain Inn & Suites in Pigeon Forge is a popular, good-value hotel on the Tennessee side, and for a romantic weekend, a cabin with a hot tub in the hills around Gatlinburg is hard to beat.

18. Outer Banks, North Carolina

I spent the summers of my childhood on the Outer Banks, and I still go back whenever I can. This long chain of barrier islands has several different regions, Duck, Kitty Hawk, Nags Head and Corolla among them, each with a slightly different character, and the beaches are some of the most beautiful on the East Coast.

Wild horses, said to descend from Spanish mustangs, roam the beaches north of Corolla, which you can only reach in a four-wheel drive or on a guided tour. The Wright Brothers National Memorial at Kill Devil Hills marks the spot where powered flight began in 1903. Jockey’s Ridge State Park in Nags Head has the tallest living sand dune system on the Atlantic coast, and it’s the best place on the islands to watch the sunset together. Further south, the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is the tallest brick lighthouse in the country.

Best for: beach weekends, families and wild horses.

Where to stay: the Sanderling Resort in Duck is the most romantic choice, right on the beach, or rent a beach house for a longer stay with friends.

19. Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston combines the charm of a Southern historic city with an exciting food scene that has put it firmly on the national culinary map. Start with the colourful houses of Rainbow Row, the Battery promenade along the harbour and the cobbled lanes of the French Quarter, then take the ferry out to Fort Sumter, where the first shots of the Civil War were fired in 1861.

Then the food. At Bowens Island Restaurant, a no-frills shack on the marshes, oysters are roasted under wet burlap and shovelled straight onto your table, which is exactly as good as it sounds. The Lowcountry and soul food institutions are also exceptional. For a romantic evening, walk along Waterfront Park to the Pineapple Fountain and the swinging benches on the pier, or head out on the water at sunset.

A Charleston Harbor sunset cruise sails past the Battery, Fort Sumter and the Ravenel Bridge as the sun goes down, and dolphins often swim alongside.

Best for: couples, food lovers and Southern history.

Where to stay: The Spectator Hotel, with its own butlers, is one of the finest boutique hotels in the city. See all accommodation in Charleston.

20. Savannah, Georgia

Savannah is a jewel of the American South, and the first time I went there, the thing that surprised me most was the moss. I’d never seen anything like it: the way the grey strands hung from the live oak trees in Forsyth Park, especially in the morning fog, gave the whole city a slightly gothic atmosphere that I found completely irresistible.

The Savannah Historic District is the obvious starting point, with cobblestone streets, more than 20 leafy squares, quaint shops and an old-world atmosphere that a lot of Southern cities have lost. The Gothic Revival Cathedral of St. John the Baptist is a real highlight. And if you’re even slightly interested in ghost stories, Bonaventure Cemetery, with its sprawling, atmospheric graves beneath the oaks, is one of the most compelling places I’ve visited in the American South. The famous “Bird Girl” statue from the cover of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil once stood here, but she was moved to the Telfair Museums’ Jepson Center downtown, where you can still see her.

I’d particularly recommend spending an evening on a walking ghost tour. Savannah has a lot of history and some genuinely eerie stories, and the local guides know how to tell them.

Book a Savannah ghost tour for your first evening: there are lantern-lit walking tours through the squares, pub crawls with a ghost hunter, and the Ghosts and Gravestones trolley tour, which goes inside one of the city’s most haunted houses.

Best for: couples, history and ghost stories.

Where to stay: the Justine Inn for a proper B&B experience and great value. The Marshall House, Savannah’s oldest hotel, is a lively historic boutique hotel in the heart of the city. See all accommodation in Savannah.

21. Saint Simons Island, Georgia

Saint Simons Island, off the Georgia coast, is where locals have their summer homes, and that tells you something. Part of the Golden Isles, it’s quiet and beautiful, with miles of beach, the ruins of Fort Frederica (a national monument on the site of a British town founded in 1736) and the landmark lighthouse, which you can climb for views over the marshes. East Beach is one of my favourites for its pretty shoreline and reliable dolphin sightings.

The most distinctive spot in the Golden Isles is Driftwood Beach, on neighbouring Jekyll Island, about half an hour’s drive away: a stretch of sand covered in the warped, bleached trunks of whole trees, slowly reclaimed by the sea. It’s one of the most unusual and romantic places to walk on the East Coast, especially at sunrise.

Best for: quiet beaches, couples and dolphin spotting.

Where to stay: The King and Prince Beach & Golf Resort is the most charming hotel on the island, right on the beach. See all accommodation in Saint Simons.

22. St. Augustine, Florida

Founded by the Spanish in 1565, St. Augustine is the oldest continuously inhabited European-founded city in the United States, and it wears its history beautifully. Walk the narrow lanes around St. George Street, explore the Castillo de San Marcos, a 17th-century coquina-stone fort on the bay, and take a look inside Flagler College, the former Hotel Ponce de Leon, a Gilded Age fantasy built by the railway tycoon Henry Flagler.

From mid-November to the end of January, millions of tiny white lights cover the old town for Nights of Lights, which makes it one of the most romantic winter weekends on the East Coast. A trolley tour of St. Augustine is an easy way to get your bearings on the first day.

Best for: history, couples and a warm winter weekend.

Where to stay: the B&Bs and historic hotels in the old town put you within walking distance of everything. See all accommodation in St. Augustine.

23. Key West, Florida

Key West is the southernmost point of the continental United States, where aquamarine water, luxury resorts, Hemingway’s house and one of the best sunset scenes in Florida await. Spend your days snorkelling and paddleboarding, wander the lively Duval Street, and join the nightly Sunset Celebration at Mallory Square, with its buskers, jugglers and food stalls. At the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum, dozens of cats, many of them descended from Hemingway’s six-toed cat, still have the run of the house. Key West is unhurried and fun in equal measure.

Getting there is half the fun: the Overseas Highway hops from island to island across the sea for more than 100 miles from the mainland, and the drive from Miami takes about four hours. With an extra day, the ferry to Dry Tortugas National Park, a 19th-century fort on a remote island, is unforgettable.

The most romantic way to watch the sunset in Key West is from the deck of a boat, and the schooner sunset sails book up in winter and spring, so reserve a few days ahead.

Best for: couples, winter sun and sunset sails.

Where to stay: The Douglas House, an adults-only guesthouse with pools, a short walk from Duval Street. See all Key West accommodation.

Tips for planning a weekend getaway on the East Coast

• Pick your season. New England and the mountains are at their best for fall foliage from late September to mid-October, the Southern cities are loveliest in spring and autumn, and the beaches come alive from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Hurricane season runs from June to November, so keep an eye on the forecast for coastal trips in late summer and autumn.
• Take the train where you can. Amtrak’s Northeast Regional and Acela trains link Washington DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston, so city-to-city weekends don’t need a car. For the mountains, islands and small towns, you’ll want one.
• Book early for peak weekends. Foliage weekends in Vermont and New Hampshire, summer weekends on Cape Cod and the Outer Banks, and the cherry blossoms in DC all sell out well ahead.
• Go midweek or out of season for a romantic escape. Rates at inns and B&Bs drop outside the summer and holiday weekends, and beach towns like Cape May and Saint Simons are at their most peaceful in spring and autumn.
• Check the park rules. Several national parks now need advance reservations or tickets for their busiest spots, including Cadillac Mountain in Acadia and Old Rag in Shenandoah, and the Smokies need a parking tag.

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