January in the USA

artvanderlay

Hi there,

Myself and my wife want to go to America for 10 days in late January but don't know where to go! I was thinking maybe do a few days in Chicago and then take a train elsewhere, maybe St. Louis or Cleveland but I'm not sure about the weather in these places and whether we should wait til later in the year until the weather picks up. Is it worth going in Jan or are we wasting our time? Are there any other cities that may be better to visit that time of year? Any advice much appreciated.

thanks.

ProudDUB

Anytime I have been in Chicago in Jan/Feb, it has been bitterly, bitterly cold & not weather you'd want to be out of doors in. Great Lakes cities suffer even worse winter weather than the rest of the northern US, due to being in effect "coastal" cities. The lake effect snow and extreme wind chill factors can make being outdoors in them pretty miserable. You could luck out and get mild winter weather, like we are having now. But I'd say that the odds are higher of your getting harsh weather, than they would be of your getting decent weather.

Chicago has great museums, attractions, shops, restaurants etc etc. There is lots to see and do, even in winter. It is a great place to go at any time of year. I am not so sure about St Louis and Cleveland. Do you have a specific reason for wanting to go to them? They are great summer cities to enjoy baseball games in, the great food scenes downtown, the river front and lake front activities etc etc, but I am not sure what they offer a tourist in the winter time, that merits making a special trip there. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland is pretty cool though.

rockonollie

artvanderlay wrote: »

Hi there,

Myself and my wife want to go to America for 10 days in late January but don't know where to go! I was thinking maybe do a few days in Chicago and then take a train elsewhere, maybe St. Louis or Cleveland but I'm not sure about the weather in these places and whether we should wait til later in the year until the weather picks up. Is it worth going in Jan or are we wasting our time? Are there any other cities that may be better to visit that time of year? Any advice much appreciated.

thanks.

Firstly.....apart from the rock and roll hall of fame....there is nothing in Cleveland see here

Weather will be a problem in the north and mid-west, so both Chicago and St. Louis will be effected.....January into Frbruary is the worst part of winter in this region, and winter has already started out harshly. Here in Cincinnati, our average December snow total is 4.6 inches.....we already have 9.7 this december and there's another winter storm passing through this weekend. If weather is something that concerns you, Chicago in January is a bad idea.

MadsL

Chicago will be utter hell in January, however, one option for you is to take the Amtrak Southwest Chief from Chicago to LA and then enjoy a bit of decent weather on the way. With some planning you can see cities like Sante Fe and hop off at Williams for the Grand Canyon (which can be closed to access because of snow).

Can I suggest the following luxury and historic itinerary following pretty much the "out west" rail trips of the 30s and 40s .

Couple of nights in Chicago - Palmer House hotel
Southwest chief overnight to Santa Fe - book a room for two (you need to be agile enough to get in the top bunk else book a family room) Rates include meals in the observation dining room.

Stay in Sante Fe for two/three nights and get a flavour of the Old West. Stay at the Mary Jane Colter designed hotel - La Posada de Santa Fe - two nights in Santa Fe will get you plenty of time to absorb the laid back style of the oldest city in the US - and see much of Santa Fe's flourishing arts and crafts scene, western style boutiques and great food.

Back on the Southwest chief to Winslow, AZ - to stay at another Mary Colter hotel and the one she considered her masterpiece. http://www.laposada.org/ Aim to arrive in time for dinner, the restaurant here is one of the best in the entire Southwest, and reasonably priced. Book a fireplace room and enjoy the amazing art of Tina Mion who co-owns, and restored the hotel. http://www.tinamion.com/

The Grand Canyon is doable from here if you book two nights and car hire (which also allows a visit to Flagstaff, historical lumber town)

Alternatively - make arrangements to get to Williams and avail of the rail service up to the Grand Canyon - you can also stay in former brothel


Finally make the last leg into LA and the West coast is your oyster, Route 1 to SF or Universal Studios/Disney theme parks, Santa Barbara or Mailbu.

Avoiding the highway driving in peak snow and ice season makes perfect sense to me. Dress warm, even year round sun belt towns like Santa Fe are at 6000 ft - Santa Fe and Flagstaff are ski towns too

Let me know if you have qustions...

InTheTrees

My ex-wife is from St.Louis. Not a lot to do. There's the Arch and a few riverboats but its also bitterly cold and pretty bleak in the winter. I wouldn't recommend at all.

InTheTrees

California is beautiful that time of year. It can be wet and you wont be swimming in the sea but its also the time of year when its most green. In the summer it gets very brown (gold actually) as the grass dies off in the heat.

InTheTrees

Its also the cheapest time of year to go.

FatherTed

It's winter and it's cold so unless if you like skiing where you can go to Utah/Colorado/Vermont, you should only go to California/Florida or southern Texas.

clairefontaine

Florida is the only place to go in January. Key West.

snubbleste

Honolulu

artvanderlay

Thanks for all the replies. I think after looking at the weather situation we will leave Chicago until later in the year. We are now leaning towards going to Florida, possibly Orlando. Also neither of us will be driving so that does kinda rule out the west coast as I can't imagine surviving without a car.

clairefontaine

artvanderlay wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies. I think after looking at the weather situation we will leave Chicago until later in the year. We are now leaning towards going to Florida, possibly Orlando. Also neither of us will be driving so that does kinda rule out the west coast as I can't imagine surviving without a car.

You won't survive anywhere without a car except NYC and Boston.

rockonollie

clairefontaine wrote: »

You won't survive anywhere without a car except NYC and Boston.

Agreed.....public transport is practically non-existant in the US

Seaneh

Op.

I recommend the Pacific Northwest. The climate is similar to Ireland. Cities like Portland and Seattle won't be hellishly cold but can be kind of wet.

If you get the right weather you could do things like a road trip along the Colombia River Gorge highway, visit some of the best breweries in the world or do day trips to sky resorts like Black Butte Mountain in Bend.

Orther than that, south Florida, Naples or Keywest and dun it up.

clairefontaine

Seaneh wrote: »

Op.

I recommend the Pacific Northwest. The climate is similar to Ireland. Cities like Portland and Seattle won't be hellishly cold but can be kind of wet.

If you get the right weather you could do things like a road trip along the Colombia River Gorge highway, visit some of the best breweries in the world or do day trips to sky resorts like Black Butte Mountain in Bend.

Orther than that, south Florida, Naples or Keywest and dun it up.

Pacific northwest had snow last week and -12 Celsius. It's warming up this week.

It was national hate Florida day on Monday because it was the oly state with any heat. Even Cali got some snow!

pgmcpq

artvanderlay wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies. I think after looking at the weather situation we will leave Chicago until later in the year. We are now leaning towards going to Florida, possibly Orlando. Also neither of us will be driving so that does kinda rule out the west coast as I can't imagine surviving without a car.

Years since I was in Orlando ... but I do not remember it as being particularly commuter friendly (mind you it was a hell of a flight - 24 hours total time from Newark :rolleyes: - and I was sleep derived and grumpy). If you're set on Florida my recollection is that Miami was a nicer city at least the South Beach area. Your mileage may vary.

But I'm going to plug San Francisco - weather will not be great but it is a nice walkable city, the street cars are useful and the Bart is handy - if it is not on strike this week!

iusedtoknow

I'm biased...but I'll go with SF as well.

You won't need a car at all, the muni transit system is pretty good. There are busses everywhere, streetcars and old trams. The city is pretty walkable (a lot of hills) as it's only 7 miles x 7 miles.

There are busses to other places, like muir woods (to see the redwoods) and the city at that time of year is pretty quiet but nice

The weather will be pretty good, mid-teens for the most part

Gandhi

I would go to one of the cities in the Northeast (Boston, NYC, Philly, Washington DC) tbh. I love NYC in the snow.

First of all, American cities can handle the snow. The streets and footpaths are ploughed, salted, and shoveled as soon the last flake lands. Even the headline-worthy blizzards only slow things down for a day or so, and nothing misses a beat for a few inches of snow.

Secondly, the winters are a dry cold, not the damp biting cold we get back home. It's been below freezing most of this week in Philly and it's grand to walk around in.

A few years back we were in Manhattan when Christo's "The Gates" display was up in Central Park in the snow. It was brilliant.

pgmcpq

Gandhi wrote: »

A few years back we were in Manhattan when Christo's "The Gates" display was up in Central Park in the snow. It was brilliant.

Wow -that is a "few" years back alright ... 2005 ( I had to look it up).

While I agree that about the "dry" cold I still don't know that I'd recommend NYC in December - especially this year - for a vacation. It's has not broken the freezing mark in 4-5 days and will snow again tomorrow.

@Ghandi, was recently introduced to the Tin Angle in Philly. Nice venue.

theteal

As mentioned above OP, there's not a lot of touristy stuff going on in Cleveland. I was there in mid-late Feb a fair few years ago. It didn't actually snow while we were there but snow from a week or two prior was still fairly prominent. There's the hall of fame and the sports stadiums - the basketball was a surprisingly good evening out. There's also a pretty cool famine memorial hidden away near the docks. I have great memories of our time there but I put that down to the people we met/crashed with (CSU student digs). It's probably good for a 2 day visit.

KimberlyOBrien

I say Flordia and California, they are about the warmest places in the US you can go to at that time of the year the rest will be really cold.


If you want to go to an city, I'd recommend Orlando, Flordia, at least there it will be warm and you wont freeze.

MadsL

KimberlyOBrien wrote: »

I say Flordia and California, they are about the warmest places in the US you can go to at that time of the year the rest will be really cold.


If you want to go to an city, I'd recommend Orlando, Flordia, at least there it will be warm and you wont freeze.

Orlando? ugh. OK if you like theme parks. Try Miami instead...

KimberlyOBrien

MadsL wrote: »

Orlando? ugh. OK if you like theme parks. Try Miami instead...

I actually prefer Kissimee Flordia, and the cities around Orlando, just was using it as a point of reference.

How is Miami? I never went there.

ProudDUB

If you want real heat, I'd give Orlando a miss and go further south. Florida is over 700 miles from north to south. The northern and central parts of it don't get anywhere near the nice, hot winter weather, that the southern part of the state does. I was in Orlando in February a few years ago and it was decidedly chilly. It was no where near as cold as Ireland is in February, but it certainly wasn't warm enough to be laying around by a pool in your togs, which is what a lot of people go for. I even had to buy a coat to wear in the evenings, as I didn't bring one with me. Rightly pissed off I was too ! :mad:

Killer Wench

Seattle was pretty clear. The snow happens in the mountains.


I would look into New Orleans. It will be coming up to Mardi Gras around the time that you are proposing. It will be fairly mild there.

InTheTrees

Is "hot" weather really that important anyway? if you want sunbathing go to morocco or some euro resort.

The advantage to visiting the USA at that time of year is that its cheap and not as busy as the summer.

Drive down the west coast and the weather will be beautiful compared to ireland. Like the south of spain. but obviously not like the summer.

But in my opinion its the best time of year to visit.