8 NYC Escapes You Need To Take

We moved to New York to be at the center of it all — the culture, the fashion, the food — but that doesn't mean we don't crave time away from the chaos. And, while there's a whole lot of beauty to our north, we can rarely make the trek all the way to upstate proper. So, we look to our immediate neighbors in Westchester County, where the brick and pavement meet the mountains and lakes, for regular time-outs.

Our first stop is often White Plains. Now, we know what you're thinking. That's not upstate. But, it is smack dab in the middle of some of our favorite Hudson Valley hangouts. From quaint river-towns like Hastings-on-Hudson and Tarrytown to straight-up nature at the Blue Mountain Reservation, we rely on this second city to keep us in the middle of it all when we're (sort of) going country for the weekend.

To refresh our list of go-tos, we teamed up with the extended-stay hotel HYATT house®. Then, we tapped Travelocity editor and host of Let's Roam Courtney Scott for a roundup of her favorite getaways. And, did she deliver. Now, excuse us — we have a train to catch.