A day at Woodbury Common Premium Outlets, from New York and back

I left Manhattan early. Woodbury Common Premium Outlets is at 498 Red Apple Ct, Central Valley, NY 10917 — by the centre's own description, about an hour north of New York City. From Flushing the run is much the same.

The advantage of a hired car started before we had left the city. No navigation, no thinking about where to park at the other end. I went through my list of shops on my phone, then closed my eyes for a while. There was water in the car and my phone was charging.

On timing, my driver's experience was that the crowd is thinner around opening and builds through the afternoon. Opening hours change through the year, so check the centre's website for the day you go.

The centre is a spread of low buildings around pedestrian streets, and it is big. I went to the white tower over Market Hall first — there is an information point near there — and picked up a map.

The grounds are divided into districts, and at the junctions there are signposts listing the shops in each one. I worked through one district at a time rather than criss-crossing, which saved a lot of walking.

That day the queues were at Gucci and Prada — rope barriers outside and staff letting people in a few at a time. Chloé and Dior are next door to Prada, so it makes sense to do those two while you wait for your turn.

Burberry and Alexander McQueen share a street with no queue at all, which is where I started. Further in are Zegna, Montblanc, Zimmermann and maje. The centre lists more than 250 brands; you will not see them all in a day, which is why the map comes first.

In Burberry I took a trench coat off the rail, turned over the tag and thought about the same coat I had looked at in Manhattan the month before. I stood there for a few seconds, then went back to the rail for a second colour. That was the pattern all day: not walking in because of a sign outside, but holding the piece, doing the comparison, and finding it was worth it.

In an eyewear shop I turned a pair of sunglasses over twice to read the tag before I believed it. The Montblanc window and the Dior bags got the same treatment — look, remember the city price, walk in.

I am not putting numbers here. Every shop and every season is different, and you should read the tags yourself. What I can tell you is that nobody walking out that afternoon had empty hands.

By midday I was carrying four or five bags. I messaged the driver, walked back to the car park, and the car was where we had left it. Bags into the boot, then back in with empty hands. The price is fixed for the whole day, so the trip back to the car cost nothing extra and needed no new booking.

I did the same again mid-afternoon. Once you know the car is there, you shop differently: buy it, send it to the car, stop thinking about carrying it.

Just after five I walked out with the last two bags. The car was waiting, the driver packed everything in, and an hour later we were outside my door.

That hour was the easy part of the day. No searching a car park for the car, no driving in the dark, no waiting on a platform for the next departure. Nothing left behind, and I was not worn out.

This particular trip has its own page, and it asks for no street address: choose a group tour or the whole car, the meeting area you'll start from and the date — a group tour also asks how many of you — and the price appears straight away for you to pay online.

A group is $90 per person for five or more and $110 each for four; below four the day does not run. The whole car is $499.99 for the day, whoever comes along. Both run nine hours there and back with tolls and sales tax in the price, and a gratuity entirely up to you.

There are four meeting areas: Manhattan, Chinatown, Flushing and Brooklyn's 8th Avenue. Which street exactly, and what time, is settled when the driver calls you before the day — it is not something you fill in on the page.