How far is too far for a vacation house?

DevonPow

In your opinion? A house you will mostly visit on weekends (so, leaving after work Friday afternoon, coming back Sunday night) with one or two longer visits a year. 3 hour drive? 4 hour drive?

Mominator

Me, personally, 2 hours is probably my max.

AnnapolisLari

My brother lives in Manhattan and owns a house in the Hamptons. He says that after 2 years, the drive is getting old. It's 2ish hours with no traffic, and more like 4 with traffic.

Take that for what it's worth, though, because they do the drive most weekends, not just a few times a year.

ETA that my answer would be about 2 hours.

JOEBunny

We have a farm 4 hours away.  We hardly ever go because it is just too far to go for 1 or 2 nights.  2 is my max, and 1.5 is ideal.  The one we had growing up was 30 minutes and that was great!

eclaires

Well where I grew up, there's nowhere really you can go for a vacation house that is nearby, so most people have vacation homes in South Carolina [Hilton Head], Florida [Destin] or Alabama [Gulf Shores] and go several times a year.  Or on the flipside, Colorado or somewhere else with skiing/mountains.  IN just isn't really that close to anywhere vacation-esque.

I mean, people might have lakehouses nearer by, but the vast majority who had "vacation" houses and referred to them as such had them quite far away.

ETA: for the lakehouse option that we are considering - 2 hours is probably my max.  Maybe 3.

K&KMOM

Three hours for me. 

DevonPow

Ha - DH is looking at houses in Maine that are SIX HOURS away. I told him he was nuts. As it is, whatever house we get will probably be 4 hours, which is already pushing it.

LanaM

2 hours. 

JenninMA

DevonPow:

Ha - DH is looking at houses in Maine that are SIX HOURS away. I told him he was nuts. As it is, whatever house we get will probably be 4 hours, which is already pushing it.

 

I bet our husbands are looking at some of the exact same properties.

3 hours is my max.

ridesbuttons

Our cottage is 20 minutes away (we are spoiled).  But I wouldn't drive more than 3 hours (traffic included) each way.

minnasmommy

I'd say 2 hours.

 6-8 hours (taking both ways into account) in the car with a preschooler for a weekend would be BRUTAL!

jnicks19

For me it's probably 1.5 hours.  You have to think ahead that the kids will probably be in some sort of sport that will probably have some weekend game/practices.  If it's an hour or less you could even zip back for a game and return or even go on a Sat. after the game and spend Sat. afternoon/Sun. there. 

Our friends have one that's about 2.5-3 hours and I think it's kind of annoying to go that far and I think when their 3 kids get older, they won't have time to get up there due to other commitments that the kids will have.

Heidisean

1.5 to 2 hours max. Anything more would be a chore to go to on the weekends.

pincushions

3 hours!

We are trying to keep our vacation home with in 3 hours tops.