Getting a Rental Car Out of NYC

You know LaGuardia and Niagara Falls are on opposite sides of New York state, right?
If you don't want to deal with NYC, then fly into Buffalo and the drive is easy peasy from there.
Or just fly right to Niagara.
Are you doing this in summer or winter?
You couldn't pay me to drive across New York in winter but summer is nice.

Additional:
April can still be a little iffy weather wise - it could go either way - but you'll probably luck out.
(Just once when I was little I can remember wearing a winter coat to watch 4th of July fireworks south of Buffalo but most summers are warmer than that.).

I would probably go into Newark (EWR) and rent a car from there. You would by pass NYC traffic and be out the city and on your way upstate New York. Could you get a flight to Albany, NY?

My home state is New Jersey even though I live in New Mexico now.
Enjoy your trip.

the other S.

You realize that's a SIX HOUR DRIVE RIGHT? Why not fly into Buffalo? That's RIGHT THERE!!!

There's NO WAY I would fly into La Guardia. No. It's insane. You couldn't PAY ME to fly into LaGuardia. NO. Not only NO but HELL NO.

I'd fly into Kennedy, Poughkepsie, hell - Jersey is better than LaGuardia. No.

I don't know why you "NEED" to go to NYC before Niagra - but no. I would NOT fly into LaGuardia. EVER.

WHY are you flying into LaGuardia to get to Niagara Falls??? I live in NYC. That is a LONG TRIP. And I hope you're not doing it any time soon, in our snow!! You should fly into Buffalo or other closer spots unless you have a really important reason to fly into LaGuardia. If so, then you could take an Amtrak train from Penn Station all the way upstate closer to Niagara Falls and rent a car right there.

Can you please explain WHY you "NEED" to fly into LaGuardia instead of Buffalo?

That would help answer the question. It's a LONG drive from NYC to Niagra Falls, like 7 to 8 hours. You're going across the state. Why would someone do that? Especially when Buffalo is 15 minutes from the Falls?

I would fly into Buffalo and rent a car there. Drive the 15 to 30 minutes across the border and to the Falls. It seems like you are creating a LOT of unnecessary expense and time for some reason we're not privy to.

Driving around LaGuardia can be just as bad (if not worse) than driving around Manhattan any day and at any time. Depends on the traffic and of course, the bridges you need to cross to get to other Boroughs. Here is my advice:

LaGuardia is INSANE right now. There is a 3 year massive construction project going on. It could take you an hour+ just to get out of the parking lot. That's in your own car or some other means of transportation.

My advice would be for you to get wherever you are going in NYC by taxi or Uber and do that. Then take either a Taxi or Subway to Grand Central Station and catch a Metro North train up to Westchester. Get off around White Plains where you will likely find a car rental agency. f you look up MTA Metro North on line, you'll get lots of info.

Check out Amtrak out of Penn Station as well. IT's a long drive from NYC to Niagara Falls!

Good luck!!

Any particular reason you are flying into NYC. If not, fly into Buffalo. It's an 8 hour drive from NY. What time of year are you going? Now or summertime. That would help me.

April could still be very snowy up that way. Some of our big snowstorms happen in April. It's called lake effect snow!

If you take a taxi from the airport to Grand Central Station (it's a fixed price, around $65) then you can take the train pretty far north. Call the hotel (or rental property manager) where you are staying an ask them for specific recommendations.
For sure you will NOT want to take a bus to the station from the airport, the taxi is more than worth it.

So sorry yo are having to go through NYC....we went through Pittsburgh and it was only about 3 hours up to Niagra...can you change your tickets??

Good luck!!

I promise getting 'through' the city really isn't all that bad, there's several outskirts or sideline routes where you can skip the center of manhatten. Coming from Laguardia I'd say your best bet would be to go up straight (your already on the queens side) crossover one of the many bridges and stay on the east side up and through, you'll be done right quick. We just did this for Thanksgiving, and it really isn't THAT bad...
RFKennedy Bridge across Ward island...fastest route by far...it's like only two freeway changes!

But of course you can, you take a shuttle to the LIRR, LIRR to Penn station there you get on the subway and up/through but with luggage & transfers and tickets to buy, it's more of a pain, I'd rather have the car...with GPS it's kinda fun...and nothing like going over the bridges for yourself...

Just google map it and you'll see it's the fastest route, like 6+ hours.

Driving out of LaGuardia actually might not be the total nightmare you envision. You get right onto the Grand Central and stay straight on right over the Triborough Bridge (Robert F Kennedy-Triborough Bridge nowadays). If I were taking that route I would go Bruckner to Hutchinson Parkway, then Exit 26W onto 287 through White Plains and straight to the Tappan Zee Bridge. From there you're on the Thruway and headed for Western NY (you will reach Niagara Falls a gazillion hours later - actually it's probably somewhere between 6-8 hours from that point). You totally skirt Manhattan and are just dealing with outer borough traffic - not pleasant but do-able for anyone used to navigating a busy highway.

I guess the big issue is the cost of a rental vehicle around LaGuardia. Another option would be to get yourself over to NJ, where rental cars are bound to be cheaper, but the logistics and time in getting over there might not be worth it. Probably the only option would be to take transit over to Newark airport (via Penn Station - you'd probably have to cab it to Penn) to pick up a car there. You could easily drive up to Western NY from there (and probably cut an hour or so off the drive), but the stress of getting to and from Newark would freak me out, especially on the trip back. Whatever you're most comfortable with, I suppose. I've just found that driving through Queens or the Bronx aren't as terrible as dealing with Manhattan or Brooklyn (although I can't guarantee that you won't get stuck in a traffic jam - the worst I was ever in was on 287 right before Thanksgiving. Never again!)

Enjoy your trip!

LaGuardia is not actually in NYC if you think you will be driving down the streets of Manhattan. It's in the borough of Queens which is on Long Island. You would be on interstate highways the whole way from the moment you leave the airport. You'll have traffic, but it would be that way in any city. The MTA (bus system) has buses that go to LaGuardia, but you really don't want to be dealing with luggage on a city bus, in my opinion. And then what? You'd head into Manhattan and deal with more hassles?

However, others are right that NYC and Niagara Falls are at complete opposite ends of the state, and it's a long drive on some treacherous passages if you hit snow and ice.

I'm assuming you have a reason to fly to NYC first and you are doing something in that area or at least en route to Niagara Falls/Buffalo NY area, rather than fly directly to Buffalo or even Pittsburgh. You can expect to drive at least 7 hours if you go straight through and don't stop. I can give you more specifics on the route to take if you tell me what else you have to do en route.