Campgrounds outside New York City

I lived in NYC for 13 years and was a tour guide there for much if that time. You will not get closer or more convenient than Liberty RV park. It's safe. Just keep your expectations low. The real "party" is on the island of Manhattan anyway. That's where you will spend your time and your commute to Manhattan will be shorter than millions of New Yorker's daily commute. You'll be a stones throw from Little Italy, Soho, Tribecca, Battery City Park, and the entire southern tip of Manhattan with Wall Street and the rest. I suggest taking a free ferry trip to and from Staten Island on the Staten Island Ferry. You'll go right past the Statue of Liberty. PM me and I'll add more free and very cool things to do.

The thing to remember about NYC is that by US standards, it's old. Really old. Much of it was built a long time ago. So to outsider eyes, it appears to be a rat hole. To a New Yorker, it appears to have character. ;) I always laughed when I would see buildings from the outside and think that they were a dump and then when I went in I realized that the apartments inside were occupied by millionaires and were beautiful on the inside. That's New York City for ya.

Funny. I remember the first time I visited Liberty Harbor Park to go to a dinner event there for work. I remember thinking that it was really pretty and kind of fancy. Of course I had spend a few years living in Queens so... :)

Btw, my wife and I are from Florida. Go Noles! I used to visit DeLand a lot as I had friends from HS who went to Stetson. Lovely little campus.

Here you go All the parks

Depending on how far away you're willing to stay, there are a few cgs in the Sussex county area along the I-80 coridor. You could drive to weehawken and take the water taxi to ny and pick up a tour bus from there. Not as close but Sussex county is much nicer than Liberty harbor.

I've been to the Newburgh koa as well and , while its nice and offers a tour bus, it's not exactly close. The benefit is you can visit Orange County Choppers which is kind of cool.

As long as you don't go to liberty Harbor RV Park with the same expectations as a Disney Fort Wilderness you should find the park is a good home base to tour NYC

Reviews on Liberty Harbor http://www.rvparkreviews.com/regions/new-jersey/jersey-city/liberty-harbor-rv-park

Mike

Not in New Jersey but we loved the KOA in Newburgh NY. It's called the New York City North KOA. You can drive over the bridge into Beacon NY and take the train into the city (about an hour train ride). Or they have a tour bus that leaves from the KOA for an all day trip into the city that hits all the highlights. It's expensive but when you consider the lack of stress and train cost and parking prices we felt it was well worth it. In our group the driver got to sightsee and not have to watch the traffic. I would not drive into NYC!!

we stayed atLiberty Harbor RV Park
It is not much for facilities when we were there. It was close to subway, across from Manhattan and close to Liberty Island ferry.
At the time, it was very close to be somewhat of a rat hole!