Quick Links: Getting Around - Things to Do - Places to Eat

Getting Around

To NYC from the Hotel/Airport

• The best way to get into New York City from the hotel is the Newark Airport Express Bus by Coach USA / Olympia Trails.
  
  • $15 one way / $25 round trip; Kids under 12 are free
  • You'd use the hotel shuttle to return to any of the airport terminals to pick up the bus in the arrival levels. (Terminal A (Located on the Arrival Level in Courtyard A, lanes 1-4), Terminal B (Located outside the arrival level, lane 2) or Terminal C (Located outside the arrival level at bus stop 5 & 6))
  • Bus goes to Grand Central Station (41st Street between Park & Lexington Avenues), Bryant Park (42nd Street & 5th Avenue) and Port Authority Bus Terminal (41st Street between 8th and 9th Avenues).
  • Recommend buying tickets online ahead of time if possible.
• Train to and from New York Penn Station (34th St and 7th Avenue)
• You'd use the hotel shuttle to return to any of the airport terminals to board the AirTrain
• Follow instructions at AirTrain Terminal.
• Cost one-way is $15. Children under 5 are free.
• More details website - 2 Page Info Printout (PDF)
• Cabs to Hoboken / Jersey City
• We recommend Downtown Cab Service: (201) 795-9595.
• Cost of trip is $24 - $34 + tip (depending on day/time and how good of a mood the phone dispatcher is in).

In New York City

• Subways / MTA Buses are safe
• Subway Map (PDF) - Bus Maps
• Subway/Bus Info Site
• Cost is $2.25/per ride/per person.
• Fares are paid using a MetroCard (which is free) and can be bought at any subway stop using an ATM-like machine. You can fill a MetroCard from $4.50 to $80. Up to 4 people can use one [Pay-Per-Ride] MetroCard when going through the turnstile. Subway to Bus transfers are free.
• Unlimited cards are available (1-day fun pass is $8.25/per day/per person, 7-day unlimited ride is $27/per person).
• More details on MetroCards
• Cabs
• Cabs are another alternative to travel in NYC, but can be expensive and long rides depending on traffic.
• Cabs charge metered rates in the NYC-area starting at $2.50 and take credit cards.
• Cab rides from NYC to outside NYC (i.e. NJ) are flat-rates you have to negotiate. We recommend using a car service instead (Dial7 @ 212-777-7777 or Carmel @ 212-666-6666).
• More details on rates.
• More details on NYC Taxis at Wikipedia.
[ Return to Top ]

Things to Do

Recommend buying tickets online for as much as possible
• Statue of Liberty / Ellis Island
• Read official tips for visiting Statue and Ellis Island
• This is easily a full day activity. If you depart via ferry later than 2pm, you will only be able to visit one of the two Islands. Hours are from ~8:30 to 5pm.
• You must take a ferry from Battery Park in New York City or Liberty State Park in Jersey City, NJ to get to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
• Ellis Island (Sandi's favorite)
• Besides the Ferry ride, Ellis Island is free. Ellis Island Museum is self-guided. Free public tours of Ellis Island given daily by the National Park Service.
• You can easily spend several hours wandering the museum.
• Official Site
• Statue of Liberty
• If you decide to just visit Ellis Island, you will get an outstanding view of the Statue of Liberty on the Ferry trip. When the ferry picks up/drops off people at the Statue of Liberty Island.
• Pedestal/Museum Tickets are needed to visit the museum in the Statue pedestal, which can be obtained free of charge from Statue Cruises with purchase of a Reserve ticket. A limited number of Pedestal/Museum Tickets are available each day at the ticket booth by request on a first-come, first-serve basis.
• Crown Tickets, which include Pedestal/Museum Access, are $3 and can be purchased up to a year in advance through Statue Cruises. This is available in limited numbers and lets you climb (300+ steps) to the top of Lady Liberty.
• Ferry Information
• For Ferry information and to pre-purchase tickets, visit Statue Cruises
• Ferry cost is $12/adults and $5/children (4-12).
• Getting to Ferry
• From New York City
You need to go to Battery Park and locate the Statue Cruises Port.
(DOWNTOWN) to the last stop - SOUTH FERRY or (DOWNTOWN) to BOWLING GREEN.
• From New Jersey
• You need to take the NJ Light Rail from Jersey City headed to West Side Avenue or 22nd Street.
Take the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail to the Liberty State Park Station. From there you can catch the Liberty State Park Shuttle bus, which will take you down Audrey Zapp Drive to the Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal Museum. Statue Cruises ticket offices are located inside the museum. It is approximately one mile from the Liberty State Park Light Rail Station to the Terminal.
• You can get to the Light Rail from the Marriott Hotel by taking the Airport Shuttle to the Airport, the Airtrain to Newark Penn Station and then a PATH train to Exchange place. Get off there and transfer to the Light Rail headed to West Side Avenue or 22nd Street.
  
• The Light Rail is $2.10/per person/per trip. Tickets must be purchased before boarding and validated using one of the validation machines.
• Train operators randomly check to make sure that passengers have a validated ticket with them, but you do not need to give or show your ticket to anyone when boarding the train.
• Empire State Building
• The building is located at 34th and 5th Avenue in Midtown NYC
• On a clear day, offers stunning views of NYC and NJ.
• Cost (before surcharges) is approx. $18.45 Adult (13-61), $12.92 Children (6-12).
• An Express Pass is available at approx. $41.52/person, which provides immediate entry. A regular ticket takes anywhere from 15 minutes to 2-3 hours depending on volume of people visiting.
• Buy Tickets
• Official Site with More Information
• World Trade Center site
• The former site of the World Trade Towers is located in Downtown NYC. It's an active construction site now so it's difficult to see much, but it's become a popular tourist stop. The best site views is from the pedestrian briges that cross West Street (aka West Side Highway) between Liberty and Vessey Street.
• To get to the World Trade Center from New Jersey, you can take the WTC-bound PATH from Newark, Jersey City or Hoboken. Cost for the PATH is $1.75/per ride/per person. QuickCards can be purchased in an ATM-like machines at the station. You can also use a MasterCard PayPass card or NYC MetroCard.
• From NYC, you can take any of the following Subway lines:
  at Park Place
  at Chambers Street - World Trade Center
  at Cortlandt Street
  
• More information on Visiting the WTC and areas around WTC, including Wall Street.
• Metropolitan Museum of Art (aka Met)
• The Museum is located at 1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street (East side of NYC). It's closed on Mondays. (General Visitor Info including additional directions and hours)
From East Side of Manhattan: Take the train to 86th Street and walk three blocks west to Fifth Avenue; OR take the M1, M2, M3, or M4 bus along Fifth Avenue (from uptown locations) to 82nd Street or along Madison Avenue (from downtown locations) to 83rd Street.


From West Side of Manhattan: Take the train to 86th Street, then the M86 crosstown bus across Central Park to Fifth Avenue; OR take the C train to 81st Street, then the M79 bus across Central Park to Fifth Avenue.

From Penn Station: Take the M4 bus to 83rd Street and Madison Avenue; OR take the local train to 81st Street and transfer to the M79 crosstown bus across Central Park to Fifth Avenue.

• Cost: $20/adult. Students are $10. Children under 12 are free.
• Some of the special exhibits at the museum during August include American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity (through August 15th), Picasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (through August 15th), and Doug + Mike Starn on the Roof: Big Bamb� (through October). Information on other special exhibits.
• Official Site of the Met which includes additional information about the regular museum collection.
• American Museum of Natural History
• The Museum is located at Central Park West at 79th Street (West Side of NYC, near Central Park). It's open daily from 10am to 5:45. (General Visitor Info)
Take the (weekdays only) or to 81st Street. Two blocks west of the Museum, the train stops at Broadway and West 79th Street.
• Suggested Cost: $16/adult, Chidren (2-12): $9.(Buy Tickets)
Suggested General Admission, which supports the Museum's scientific and educational endeavors, includes admission to all 45 Museum halls and the Rose Center for Earth and Space. Should you wish to pay less than the suggested admission, you may do so by purchasing tickets at any admissions desk at the Museum.
• Some exhibits include Fossil Hall, Arthur Ross Hall of Meteorites, Lizards & Snakes: Alive! and Mysteries of the Great Lakes. (More on Exhibits)
• Official Site of the American Museum of Natural History
• FAO Schwarz
• The famous toy store is located at 767 5th Avenue (East Side of NYC; 58 street).
Take the to Fifth Avenue (59th).
• Besides a giant dance-on piano keyboard, the store features a special Muppet Whatnot Workshop which lets you decide your very own Muppet for $129.99.
• Store Information
• Chinatown
• New York City's Chinatown is one of the largest ethnic Chinese communities outside of Asia.
• If you want to grab some great food, we recommend Wo Hop which is located at 17 Mott Street. It's downstairs small, extremely casual, but excellent restaurant that will give you a real chinatown experience.
• More on Wiki and Explore Chinatown
• Times Square
• Famous Times Square is known for the annual New Year Eve Ball Drop and amazingly bright billboards. Times Square is starts at 42nd and 7th Avenue and goes to around 53th Street. (More on Wiki)
  Broadway Shows Theatres surround Times Square. It features a Hard Rock Cafe, a huge Toys'R'Us, M&M Store, Ed Sullivan Theater (Home of Late Show with David Letterman) and ABC's Good Morning America Studio (a fun location on mornings).
Times Square is a major transportation hub surround by Port Authority, a massive subway station and Grand Center Station a few blocks away.

• Times Square is one block from Port Authority (42nd and 7th Avenue) and close to Bryant Park (42nd and 6th). Home of many events including NYC Fashion Week and Good Morning America Concert Series (August 6th concert to be announced, according to GMA.)
• Broadway Shows
• New York is home to many Broadway and Off-Broadway Shows. Most shows in the Times Square Area.
• We recommend purchasing tickets in advance via TicketMaster or BroadwayBox.com Discount Site (which gives you coupon codes for TicketMaster).
• You can get half price tickets to many shows the day of a show at the TKTS Ticket Booth in the middle of Times Square. More details. (Popular shows are likely not available.)
• TV Shows
• Many TV Shows Tape in New York City and offer free tickets. It's not uncommon to get tickets the same day as the show, but the best best is to view ticket information for some popular shows:
• The Daily Show
• The Colbert Report
• Late Show with David Letterman
• Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
• The View
• Live with Regis and Kelly
• Rachael Ray Show
• The People's Court
• Maury
• You can watch the Today Show (see Rockefeller Center directions), Good Morning America (see Times Square directions; for indoor tickets) and CBS Early Show (See FAO Schwarz directions) for free.
• Central Park
• Central Park covers an area of 843 acres (3.41 km2; 1.317 sq mi). It is 2.5 miles (4 km) long between 59th Street (Central Park South) and 110th Street (Central Park North), and 0.5 miles (0.8 km) wide between Fifth Avenue and Central Park West.
A good place to enter 59th and Central Park South

• Central Park Zoo
• Cost: $12/adult, $7/children (3-12)
• Not a very large zoo, but it's home to many animals such as Polar Bear, Snow Leopard, Penguins, and Frogs.
Take the trains to the Fifth Avenue/59th Street station in Manhattan, and walk north four blocks to 64th Street. Or take the Lexington Avenue train to the 68th Street/Hunter College station, walk west 3 blocks to Fifth Avenue, then take a left and walk four blocks south.
• Office Site - Wiki Article
• Macy's
• Located in Herald Square (Broadway between 34th and 35th and 7th Avenue), Macy's was the largest store from 1924 to July 2009. The store is right near Penn Station, Empire State Building and 34th Street PATH station. It's size is remarkable and worth checking out if you're in the area, but it's a department store, so nothing overly special.
• Grand Central Station
• The massive and historic transportation hub is located on the east side of NYC 42nd Street (Park Avenue) near the Chrysler Building (42nd and Lex).
• The terminal features shops and restaurants and a very cool massive waiting room that's worth checking out.
• Official Site
• Rockefeller Center / Top of the Rock
• Home of NBC, The Today Show (great location for mornings if you're interested in being in the audience or watching one of their free summer concerts (8/6/2010 will feature Train), Ice Skating Rink and famous Christmas Tree.
• Located between 49th and 50th, 6th Avenue and 5th Avenue.

• They have a very cool observation deck that's not as famous as the Empire State Building Obversation Deck, but offers incredible views. $21/adults and $14/children (6-12).
• NBC Studio Tour (1 hour and 10 minutes; $19.25/adults and $16.25/children (6-12))
• Sporting Events
• Mets
• Sunday, 8/1 versus Arizona
• Tuesday, 8/10 to Thursday, 8/12 versus Colorado
• Friday, 8/13 to Sunday, 8/15 versus Phillies
• Yankees
• Monday, 8/2 to Wednesday, 8/4 versus Toronto
• Friday, 8/6 to Monday, 8/9 versus Boston (a very expensive and difficult ticket to get)
• Red Bulls/Soccer
For any of the soccer matches, if you are interested, contact Keith. Keith will likely attend the Brazil/USA game on Tuesday.
• United States Mens National Team versus Brazil National Team (International Friendly) @ New Meadowlands Stadium
• Red Bulls versus Toronto FC, Wednesday, August 11th @ Red Bull Arena
• Red Bulls versus Galaxy, Saturday, August 14th @ Red Bull Arena

[ Return to Top ]

Places to Eat

Heartland Brewery

• A chain of places throughout the city. The food and beer are good.
• Locations include Times Square, Port Authority, Empire State Building, Union Square West.

Republic excellent noodle place in Union Square

Wo Hop in Chinatown

Tao

• An excellent and famous Asian Bistro. (Plus, it's Keith's client.)
• Recommended for a special lunch or dinner. A bit pricey.
• Near Central Park (58th and Madison)

Half King Bar

As far as bars go, this place is nothing special and not near anything (it's at 23rd and 10th), but it's where Sandi and Keith met.

(6/20/2010 Note: Will update with more places in the near future)

[ Return to Top ]