NY-CT airport advice needed

I will be attending a conference in Hartford in early April. I've done little traveling in the NE US, so I would like a bit of advice on airports I should look at to minimize travel costs and logistics.

Is there usually a significant fare diifference between Hartford and NY area airports? How long would it take to get to downtown Hartford if I flew into one of the NY airports? Is there bus or shuttle service betweeen Kennedy or LaGuardia and Hartford?

Any help or comments for flight-hardened NE travel vets would be appreciated.

LGA is closer to Hartford than JFK by 15 minutes discounting traffic. A guesstimate for travel time would be 2 hours and 15 minutes from LGA to downtown Hartford. I do it 50 times a year and what with construction, accidents, etc, it can fluctuate wildly. CT limo has buses, vans, cars that are all over the ny airports although I don't know much about their itinarary, a visit to their web site should answer that. All things considered, I would fly into Hartford, although it would certainly depend on where you were flying from as far as availability of flights. Also, have a meal at the Chowderpot restaurant, just off I93 in Hartford, the RI chowder is to die for.

Don't fly into NYC. Itis not worth your time getting to Hartford

Then you have to get back. I95 can be a bear and you will be wasting at least 6 hours of your life.

Right, it would have to be a MASSIVE difference in fares for it to be worthwhile flying into a NY airport. The drive from NY to Hartford is horrible. Boston might be closer to Hartford anyway--but it would still be about two very trying hours, just from the other direction.

I can't imagine that you'd save any more than $50 by flying into LaGuardia than flying into Bradley (Hartford). And you'd likely spend much more than that in transportation costs going back and forth between NY and CT. You might check prices into Providence, but you'd still be dealing with travelling a rather circuitious route between the two cities.
To get a sense of pricing from Seattle(?) to Hartford check out http://matrix.itasoftware.com/cvg/dispatch/ this site provides a great deal of flexibility for travel destinations, dates, times and pulls most of the major airline reservation information.
As have others, I'd suggest flying into Hartford for convenience sake unless you find a deal that you just can't pass up.
Dick Taylor

Tx to everyone. That is exactly the type of info I was looking for.

Hartford is approximately 100 miles away from LGA. I95 is the worse highway I drive. The traffic is unbearable, whether we are driving it day or night, weekday or weekend. It never lets up.

If you need to be in Hartford, do yourself a favor and fly into Hartford. JMHO.

Just a quick tip for anyone driving to Hartford from NYC, get off I 95 at the hutcheson pky, go to 684 north to 84 east to hartford. Most often I do the trip in the wee hours to avoid the traffic on I 95/I93, which is less miles. Another trick is the hutch to the merrit pky to 8 north to 84 east to hartford. I remember when defensive driving meant staying out of accidents rather than avoiding I95. And if you think 95 is bad now, years ago they had toll booths every few miles, how special was that?

There are three airports with almost equal distance to Hartford. They are NY, Boston, and Providence, RI. They are all about 2+ hours driving one way.

From Hartford airport to downtown Hartford is about 15-20 minutes. You can take a taxi for about $30 more or less. Most of the hotels will have shuttle bus for pick-up.

We live around Great Hartford area feel free to PM or email me for add'l questions.

JoyC

I would fly into Hartford- without a doubt- unless you were saving $200+.
CT limo will run you $120 or so round trip and will make many stops for other passangers along the way. Renting a car and driving 95 is a nightmare all the time. Good luck