RVing to New York City

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DUE TO THE AFTERMATH OF HURRICANE SANDY: Please note the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island are temporarily closed UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. You can still embrace the beauty of Lady Liberty! Experience the sights of the New York Harbor on board a Liberty Harbor Cruise.

Hope it opens back up soon ! We will be there July 8ish ...

What ever happened to the Gray Line Tours?

Liberty Harbor is a short walk from the NJ Path train (subway) which takes you across the river into Manhattan - 10 minute ride. You can then change to any NYC subway line and go wherever you like in the city. Liberty Harbor makes the most sense for visiting NY with an RV - for one thing you don't take your RV into NYC and for another, campgrounds up along the Hudson involve an hour or longer (if they are not delayed) commuter train ride to get to the City at a high cost per ticket - do you want to spend the day riding a train or sightseeing in NY?

Once in NYC you can take the subway, ride the bus or take a tour and not have to walk much at all to get everywhere. Once in the city, have a plan, know where you are going, and don't look like a tourist. I have lived here all my life. Look like you belong and you will get along just fine. NYC is not like other parts of the country.

It is true that you can use the water taxi, but it is pricey. If you can make the walk of 5 blocks, it'll save you $$$.

Don't plan to travel during the early morning commute (7 am-9 am) or between 4-6pm. Way too many people trying to get into the city and then out of the city.

bigred1cav wrote:

Please tell me all there is to know? How far to PATH, security in parm, ferry to NYC, how to get around in NYC when one is limited on distances able to walk? Additional cost difficulty in dumping? Any guides to local restaurants, not the tourist traps? Tours, where to how much how ,long for stops?

How ,long did you stay and how ,long to see sights in NYC. Ellis Island? Battery Park etc.?

Thank you,

You may be underestimating the size of NYC. If you are limited on walking distances maybe NYC might not be for you. There is a lot of walking involved in getting to see the sights. But you can get around it.

You can cab it, but you need to know exactly where you want to go. I use the MTA subway to get around town. Again you need to know where you are going so that you take the right train.

See my post above about the water taxi. The PATH train station is about 5 blocks up Marin Blvd. There is a hack stand across the street from the west entrance to the station. but I don't know how late they stay there.

You might want to consider one of the hop-on hop-off bus tour packages like one of these Pricey, but it gets you to the sights without much walking or planning.

Allow yourself a day to go to the Statue of Liberty becasue you will want to tour the Elis Island museum on the same tour. Do the audio tours of both. You could skip Ellis Island and just go to the Statue, but why? Make it a lisurely day.

Marina security is 24/7 I have seen the guard making rounds during trhe night. I've never had a problem there.

Oops. Duplicate post. Mod - please delete

noe-place wrote:
So if one stays at LH the best way to get into the city is to walk to the subway station? We don't toad so this sounds good. Is my thinking practical?

If you are there during the week, the NY Waterway Taxi dock is just about 100 yards across the parking lot from marina office. It departs about every 15 minuts and takes you ro Pier 11 in the Wall Street District on the East River.

The walk to the PATH train station is an easy one, but after shelping around NYC all day, it was nice to be dropped off almost at my motorhome.

There is lots of walking!! The PATH is 5 blocks from the park and an easy walk. The trains are all accessible. After you learn to read the subway map, it's easy to get around. If you stand and look at it for a while, someone will ask if you need help. I was amazed. I had always heard how awful residents were but they were helpful. The subway will limit your walking distances to a couple of blocks.

When we were there, we planned ONE thing for each day....Statue of Liberty (including Battery Park) for one day, a show for one day, the WTC site for one day, etc.

There is enough to see that you could stay a month and not see it all. We did one of the tours on our first trip and it does cover a lot of things and is not too expensive and you can get off then back on whenever you choose.

Merrykalia wrote:
Liberty Harbor is close, it's clean, it's safe and secure. It's not a "camping" experience, but is good for what you need.

Please tell me all there is to know? How far to PATH, security in parm, ferry to NYC, how to get around in NYC when one is limited on distances able to walk? Additional cost difficulty in dumping? Any guides to local restaurants, not the tourist traps? Tours, where to how much how ,long for stops?

How ,long did you stay and how ,long to see sights in NYC. Ellis Island? Battery Park etc.?

Thank you,

Yes. It will take you about 7 minutes at a leisurely walk. We (DH, myself, 8 and 5yo DDs) came and went at all hours and never felt unsafe. It is in an upscale residential neighborhood.

It is the PATH train and will take you to the World Trade Center or 33rd (Times Square) or you can catch the subway at WTC to anywhere.