New York to Montreal, Slowly

The train trip from New York City to Montreal can be a vacation all by itself. Though end to end it's about 11 hours, it starts and ends in two cosmopolitan cities that could not be more culturally different. Along the way it winds along the Hudson River and through the mountain valleys of Vermont, stopping in small towns and villages and giving you the chance walk into new places that'll happily engage you without a car.

There's Saratoga Springs, for example, the Victorian-era resort whose tree-lined downtown streets are filled with local shops and restaurants. From the train station, you can take the trolley out to the Performing Arts Center, summer home of the Philadelphia Orchestra and New York City Ballet. For a quiet moment, visit Virgil's House coffee house, which combines 21st century green-organic coffees, low-flow toilets, plenty of recycling-with old-fashioned charm. Yes to reading, chess, board games, and just plain visiting; no to cell phones and laptops. 

In Westport, the town lawns roll right down to the edge of Lake Champlain, where you can look across to Vermont and the Green Mountains. The old freight room of the train station, built in 1876, is now the Depot Theater, a professional Equity summer stock theater company.