Escape from Big Apple with The Madison Hotel, NJ

Facing up to traffic-clogged streets is one of the inescapable truths of New York vacations. Or is it? There's a new trend on to beat the bedlam and road rage - By putting up instead at decent New Jersey hotels. Thus, you can enjoy the dazzling array of things to do in New York by day and relax in the relative peace of the quiet NJ neighbourhoods in the late evenings and nights. Not to mention the fact that hotel rates in NJ are way cheaper than what you'd pay in NYC. And hotels in New Jersey are making the most of this by pushing NYC package deals offering free shuttle rides or transit tickets from NJ to exit and entry points in NYC.

Take for instance the Madison Hotel, located in Morristown, NJ. The hotel is offering a 'Big Apple Escape' package which includes deluxe accommodations for two, either Friday or Saturday night, a complimentary bottle of champagne upon arrival, free parking, complimentary continental Breakfast served in the lobby, $50 food and beverage credit towards dinner at Rod's Steak and Seafood Grille, and two roundtrip tickets on New Jersey Transit's Midtown Direct train to New York's Penn Station. rates from $189 (plus taxes).

Now if you were to try to get all this in NYC (and you can forget the free parking, which is a virtual impossibility for New York hotels near Times Square), you'd end up paying well over $350 per night.

The Madison is a family owned hotel, and has been for the last 57 years since 1951. In keeping with this individuality, the hotel offers a home away from home, with large and comfortable guest rooms with four poster beds, intricate and solid wooden furnishings, vanity mirrors, a work desk and cabinet, in addition to the usual modern gizmos and add-ons like high speed internet, first-run movies and a beverage center. Hotel amenities and facilities include an indoor swimming pool and a fully equipped fitness center.

Rod's Steak and Seafood Grille serves up fresh seafood, prime beef and has an award winning wine list. And the experience of dinner in a luxuriously refurbished turn of the century railway parlour car is not one to be missed.

What's not to like? Free parking, free breakfast, cheap and spacious well-appointed rooms, free transport to NYC and when you come back at night, you have free credits towards a royal dinner with a fine menu and excellent wine abroad a make-believe railway coach.

Info: One Convent Road Morristown NJ 07960 ; (800) 526-0729; www.themadisonhotel.com/