I am brining my daughter to New York City for a few days in August. We are driving down from Toronto, and staying in Manhattan, but I’d rather not drive IN to Manhattan (which I’ve done before and was not super pleasant, at least ten years ago.)
Is there a relatively easy, safe way to drop a car off in Jersey and take a train in to town? Where is the best place for access to Manhattan south of Central Park?
There’s a ferry from Jersey with a large parking lot. Not sure what their rates are for long term parking, but I found it convenient and it gets you to the extreme west side in the 30s pretty easily. I could call up my ex-GF who used to take this ferry into work all the time.
Maybe use a long-term parking lot at Newark Airport? And you could probably catch an airport shuttle to downtown from there.
This is a good idea. I was wracking my brain trying to figure out how to find an overnight parking lot, but airport ones would be overnight.
You can do even better at one of the nearby parking lots what will shuttle you to the airport. Then, monorail to the NJ Transit station and NJ Transit to midtown.
Googling, the cheapest long-term parking at Newark is $21 per day, while the cheapest at Stewart Airport is $12 per day. Stewart is northwest of New York City.
We parked at the metro park station. Which was on the Trenton to Penn station line of the NJ Transit. It was about 20 miles from NYC, and was $12 a day in a really nice and secure parking garage.
That was my cousin’s response when I asked where he parked on a recent trip.
Can you park at Metropark overnight? I would be surprised – if not, they would have to go back daily to re-up the parking.
How do you get from Stewart to NYC? Cab?
There’s an express bus.
I think I’d pay the extra $10 daily to be closer and able to avoid the traffic.
This page shows $10.50/day after the first day for economy parking:
https://www.newarkairport.com/to-from-airport/parking
First day is $21.
After living in New York for several years and doing business in NYC, I became inured to the price of parking there. I traveled down to Philadelphia one evening in the mid 80s to attend my father’s retirement party and found a lot to park in near the restaurant. I asked the parking guy how much to park for the rest of the evening, he told me $20, and I said OK. Then the guy started laughing, he told me he saw my New York plates and figured I’d pay anything for parking. The price was actually just $5.
EWR economy lot will be cheaper but you have to get from the economy lot to the terminal, from the Terminal to the AirTrain embark location & then get off the AirTrain & get on NJT into Penn Station.
When I go up for a day/overnight. I frequently park at the lot shared by the Westin Jersey City / Newport hotel, then walk about a block to the PATH Newport station. I’ve had my car there overnight but because it’s an open parking lot at a hotel I’m sure you could spend multiple nights there. I kinda remember $28 for a weekend overnight but wouldn’t swear to it; they also might have raised prices since I last stayed there. A few dollars more but the nicety of lacking multiple connections
I imagine there’s overnight parking in Hoboken and Jersey City, both easy to get to the city, I just don’t know where.
You could part in front of my house for free – I would have to let the cops know that there will be a car overnight or several nights, but that’s fine. I’m a 10 minute walk from an NJ Transit station that goes right into Midtown. DM me if you’re interested.
Stewart Airport is way too far from NYC, over an hour’s drive/ride with no traffic. Newark is much closer.
RitterSport’s offer is practical and generous. I’d offer but it wouldn’t be practical since I’m on the far side of Manhattan from NJ and it would take an additional hour to get to where I am driving from Toronto, through the Bronx and Queens.
I used to live in Hoboken, and cheap parking is not easily available there. Most street parking is either meters or permits. Paying for parking there is not much cheaper than Manhattan. Depending on traffic, getting into Hoboken can be a nightmare.
My recommendation, as many have said, is Metropark. It is right off of the freeways, and there is a train right into the city. It is designed for commuters and multi-day parking is an option. A distant second choice would be Port Authority bus terminal near the NYC side of the Lincoln tunnel. This recommendation is only useful if entering the city during a quiet time.
Westchester Airport is close to the city and on your way from Toronto so your travel distance will be reduced. I did most of my travel out of New York there. It’s a nice modern airport these days, it used to just be a Quonset hut where you’d go up to the counter to check baggage and they’d toss it out on the runway through a hole in the wall.
I’m sure they have long term parking there you can use and the cost of a ride into Manhattan shouldn’t be that high, and preferable to public transportation.
I’d recommend parking at White Planes North Metro North which when I did that it was about $6/day and they allowed multi-day parking (check if that is still the case). Frequent service to Grand Central station from there.
Metropark is a bit off the direct route but if it’s easy to park at I’ll take it.
Now, would we be taking a NJ Transit train or Amtrak?
@Rittersport that was a really nice offer.
NJ Transit would be cheaper, I’m sure, and you can buy tickets on their app or from a machine right there. I’ve only ever bought Amtrak tickets online or from a live person.
ETA: Also, NJ Transit will let you take any train. I think Amtrak tix are for specific trains.
That sounds very good. No need to drive an hour further into New Jersey.