I can do this one all day.

New Hope / Lambertville (across the delaware from each other)and about an hour and a half drive

Hudson Valley (Beacon , cold spring, West Point area)

NewPort RI. Not the best for foliage but it’s very nice in early October because the prices go down and it’s not as crowded.

Berkshires are great this time of year, and there’s a couple nice towns with antiques and galleries etc

Windham NY. More of a ski area but it’s nice this time of year

Greenport LI, lots of wineries etc

Northern Connecticut is beautiful! Has the feel of New England but is only 2.5 hours from Jersey depending on where you are

Bear my and Harriman state park

The Hudson Valley is lovely. New Paltz, Stone Ridge, etc.

Catskill area is good, quiet and not too far.

As the poster below said the Delaware Water Gap. Right over the bridge on Route 80 in Pa was a hotel. You could drive to Stroudsburg PA has a few Hotels to stay overnight. Nearby is Shawnee Mountain and a little farther is Camel Back. There are a lot of different attractions in the area also in that area.

https://www.shawneemt.com/

https://www.camelbackresort.com/

This will take you to Google maps of hotels in the area - Stroudsburg Hotels

Have you been to the Delaware water gap? Lots of nature and cute local stuff

Thank you all for your wonderful suggestions, immensely helpful and appreciated!

Lambertville/New Hope. Charming towns filled with restaurants and shops. Great walking trails on both sides of the river. Lots of wineries in the area.

It may be a bit far, but Acadia National Park in Maine https://acadiamagic.com/ is one of the most beautiful places on the east coast- especially this time of year. Its about a 7hr trip, but lots of great places to stop on the way- Portsmouth NH, Boston...

Washington DC, Niagara Falls, Thousand Islands, Pittsburgh, Boston, Baltimore... I’m also always looking for road trips. Lemme know if you wanna take a road trip together! :)

Washington DC, definitely DC. Unless you just utterly hate museums.

Just got back from Hyde Park in NY. Toured the Roosevelt and Vanderbilt historic sites. Stopped at a winery on the up and a brewery on the way back.

It's not out of state, but I live in north Jersey and I love Cape May.

Check out Montclair! Nice ethnic restaurants - a bit of a walk from the train station if you are getting off the Watchung station. You can get off the Lackawanna station which is better.

It wouldn't hurt to rent car if you hit the Shore.

I've been to pretty much all the Jersey Shore beaches - you pay to get into some of the beaches. Seaside Heights and Ashbury Park are similar to Coney Island. My favorite is Point Pleasant - it caters to the adults with outdoor bars and an aquarium if you got kids. It's cleaner than the others. LBI, Ship Bottom, Beach Haven is much quieter - geared more for the older retiree crowd. Wildwood which is further out has a cool retro Doo Wop Museum - a friend got married there. Cape May is a bird lover's paradise with Victorian houses.

Asbury Park and Ocean Grove are great!

Can I ask this in reverse? What's OP's list of upstate NY train accessible, no car needed weekend getaways?

Don’t have any suggestions but I love Cold Spring/Bear Mountain SO MUCH

Maplewood and Milburn are both pretty nice! Not sure about lodging though. They both have nice little downtowns with shopping, restaurants, etc. and both are walking distance to South Mountain Reservation with miles and miles of hiking trails.

You could also do Summit, which has an even better downtown scene than those two. It's a bit more of a walk (30 mins or so) but it is walkable to the Wachtung Reservation for hiking.

Montclair is well known for shopping and the arts scene.

There's also Morristown for a good mix of history, food and drink, and shopping.

A couple of summers ago, my husband and I had an unexpectedly free weekend, so we hopped over to PA to Lake Wallenpaupack for an overnight. Went to a couple of nice breweries, hiked and swam a bit, and just had a really relaxing time. Highly recommend. We stayed at a little place with rustic hotel rooms - there are tons of hotel/motel/camping/cabin options out that way that won't cost you an arm and a leg.

Catskills. Way better than PA, Woodstock, hunter, saugherties, there’s some really nice little quiet places.

New Hope, PA and the surrounding little towns on both the PA and NJ side bordering the river.

Would suggest the Woolverton Inn (Stockton, NJ) if you want to stay in a B&B. They have sheep!

If you like outdoor activities check how far you are from the Delaware Water Gap, the Poconos, or New Paltz, NY

Lambertville

Princeton!

Google maps says 23 minutes from Turnpike Exit 8.

I appreciate the map restriction... but fyi the "quaintness" and distance from the Turnpike are usually correlated!

Princeton is cute

Lambertville/New Hope area. You can also walk along the canal too or hike in Washington Crossing park.

While not the activities/resort scene there are a few BnB’s in New Hope. We had stayed at the Carriage House and it was nice and right near the main strip.

Crystal Springs Resort is nice. https://www.crystalgolfresort.com/

OP if you do Crystal Springs be sure to get a reservation at Latour

Thanks for all of the suggestions

New Hope and Crystal Springs are great options. You can always hit a shore point or even stay in a nice air bnb in a nice town in Bergen county. There’s a lot to do anywhere you stay.

I really enjoy visiting Stroudsburg and Hawley in PA.

Your best friend?

Stay in a cityview room in Weehawken and do a Spa day at Sojo Spa? It's the biggest spa in NJ. 7 floors.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU3syQtvDZc

Try Cape May. There are so many hotels & bed & breakfasts, I love it there. Maybe there's something open!

Want to be packed in like a sardine you can probably find a place down the shore. I'd say try out west jersey or Pennsylvania near a lake in an airbnb for a few days.

If you're into Electronica Music, lots of people are dumping their Electric Zoo 3 day tickets.

Requirements:

• Covid-19 Vaccine card or daily tests from an independent lab. (NYC just announced this for all NYC events)
• Precharging the RFID band with money

Lots of people are dumping out of Covid fears or Vaccine requirements.

if you haven't booked something by now you've missed the boat

Not in New Jersey but Lake George, NY. Beautiful lake and you might be able to find something.