We%26#39;re traveling out of state to go to a family wedding in April on Long Island, and weather permitting want to take the kids (both under 10) to the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island the next day (a Sunday). I%26#39;ve read about how difficult it is to park near Battery Park. Would we be better off taking the Long Island RailRoad or just driving in (it looks like a 45 minute drive for us, no major traffic)? If we do the LIRR, which would be a good stop to drive to and park? Thank you!!
Best way to travel from LI to Battery Park for Statue visit
I don%26#39;t know but am guessing nywhiz or someone else will - what they%26#39;ll need to know is where on Long Island you%26#39;re coming from.
Best way to travel from LI to Battery Park for Statue visit
From Roslyn, thank you!
The good news is that there is a station right in Roslyn on the Oyster Bay branch of the LIRR. The bad news is that there is no direct ';one seat'; service into downtown Manhattan on the LIRR. You can%26#39;t even get to Penn Station on that line on Sundays without making a transfer. That means you would have to transfer the J or the Z subway at Jamaica station and take that all the way to Broad Street.
Would it make sense if we drove and parked at one of the stations closer to Manhattan that go directly into Penn Station, like Woodside? I%26#39;m willing to pay the $$ for parking at Battery (if it%26#39;s available!) if taking the trains ends up being very timely and requires a lot of transfers (not so great with the kids). Thanks!!
If you%26#39;re a confident driver, I%26#39;d drive EARLY on a Sun. morning into Manhattan. You should be able to find a parking garage for under $20 for the day. Go to iconparking.com and check prices in the financial district on a Sun. Nycgarages.com also has info but you can%26#39;t reserve any but the Icon garages. There%26#39;s a really cheap Icon garage near the South Street Seaport which would also be a fun stop.
Do you plan to actually visit the statue or do you just want to cruise past it? If you just want to go past it, there are other locations where you could park. You could also decide to park in midtown, have a look around and then use the subway to get downtown to the ferry.
If you%26#39;re not a confident driver and would prefer to take the train, you should be able to park at the Rosyln train station on a Sun. without being a resident (but I%26#39;d check that). You%26#39;d take the train and change in Jamaica, get out in Manhattan at Penn station and take the subway downtown from there. There aren%26#39;t many trains on a weekend morning though, 7;44, 8:44, 10:44
http://www.lirr.org/lirr/html/ttn/roslyn.htm
Here%26#39;s the LIRR map.
http://www.mta.info/lirr/html/lirrmap.htm
Great info. Yes, we%26#39;re pretty confident drivers, and have driven briefly in NYC a couple of times before. Unfortunately I%26#39;m not sure how early we can get into the city. I had no idea about iconparking or nycgarages, I will absolutely look into those. From the comments here it sounds like driving would be our best bet, though we may stumble a bit with the parking.
Depending on our arrival time, lines, etc we%26#39;d like to visit the statue, but like you suggested maybe a cruise by would be good enough - I%26#39;ve read mixed reviews on actual visits to the statue.
All excellent food for thought, thank you!
If you%26#39;re going to actually visit the Statue, you absolutely need to reserve a monument pass in advance online. Otherwise, there%26#39;s no guarantee you%26#39;d be allowed inside the Statue (where there%26#39;s a small museum). Imo, it would be foolish to spend the time and energy to stand in line, go thru security, go to Liberty Island and not be able to go inside. If any of your family came to the US through Ellis Island, it%26#39;s a very worthwhile trip. You could even do some research in advance online.
Sooo, either book at monument pass, or decide you%26#39;ll take some other kind of cruise that will pass the Statue. Other cruises include:
the free Staten Island ferry
nywaterway.com
Circle Line has several -the shortest is ';the beast'; which the kids might like.
nywatertaxi.com
and sail-nyc.com and shearwatersailing.com might have some by the time you come.
But each of these leaves from a different location (some midtown, some east side some west side) so you really should decide in advance which you%26#39;re going to do. If this is too much to commit to in advance, probably the most popular option is the FREE Staten Island ferry which passes the Statue. If you think you%26#39;d like to do that, you could actually drive to Staten Island and avoid driving into NYC altogether. Not sure if going over the Verrazano bridge to SI is closer or not.
If you drive into Manhattan and are heading downtown, it%26#39;s fastest to take the Williamsburgh bridge.
I%26#39;m one of those anti-driving people who never recommends driving into the city for anyone, but even I would say that driving might be the best option in your particular case.
FWIW, parking at the Roslyn station is free and unrestricted. Unfortunately the schedule on Sunday stinks.
It may not have been clear, if you go to the Statue, the same ferry/ticket also allows you to go to Ellis Island to the immigration museum. It takes more time, but is worth the effort, esp. if you have family who came through there.
The free Staten Island ferry leaves from the the SE part of Manhattan while the ferry that goes to Liberty Island and Ellis Island leaves from the SW (near Battery Park). Some of these other cruises leave from South St. Seaport or some of the Circle Line cruises actually leave from midtown.
Sorry for the delay writing back - I was off-line for a few days. But thank you everyone for your wonderful feedback here. We%26#39;ll plan to drive in, and I did read up a bit on the ferries and we%26#39;re looking at taking the cruise to hit both Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. I feel *much* more confident about doing this with all the great advice given, I only wish you could help on how to make sure it doesn%26#39;t rain that day :) Thank you again!!
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