Exploring central new jersey (Trenton, Princeton: rental, homes, theater)

[cool-breeze]

Quick question. My family of 4 will be moving to the Princeton area (Princeton, West Windsor, Plainsboro, Cranbury) this summer. We are going there tomorrow for 5 days to find a rental property. While there, what areas would you recommend to visit just to get the feel for the area. We will be checking out a few schools which we are interested in. What are the good areas to visit to see the downtown, shopping, libraries and parks/recreation. We have two young children (3 and 1). Thanks in advance.

[kort677]

Originally Posted by cool-breeze

Quick question. My family of 4 will be moving to the Princeton area (Princeton, West Windsor, Plainsboro, Cranbury) this summer. We are going there tomorrow for 5 days to find a rental property. While there, what areas would you recommend to visit just to get the feel for the area. We will be checking out a few schools which we are interested in. What are the good areas to visit to see the downtown, shopping, libraries and parks/recreation. We have two young children (3 and 1). Thanks in advance.

other than princeton boro there really aren't any downtowns, the other places are typical suburban areas, tract homes and strip malls.

[jerseyj]

Princeton does have a lovely downtown, lots of shops, a small movie theatre and Halo Farm for ice cream. The Princeton Campus is across the street and is a fine walk through, beautiful Architecture and lovely grounds.
Mercer County Park is a huge park in West Windsor, tennis courts, gaming fields, 2 golf courses, a large lake with paddle boats and tons of space for kids to run. The Trenton Kennel Club is having their annual competition this weekend, in the park, and that is a really fun thing to go to. Thousands of dogs, some vendors and again a fun run for the kids.
Market Fair is an upscale mall on Route 1 North and has a great kid friendly restaurant, the Big Fish.
All of the towns you mention have their own libraries.
West Windsor has tons of shopping opportunities and across Quaker Bridge Rd, in Lawrenceville is the Quaker Bridge Mall, the usual big mall stores.
Have fun exploring!

[sj3]

I was going to suggest Mercer County Park. Sayan Gardens in Hamilton is pretty. There is also the Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton.
Washington Crossings Park is also nice.

I would definately walk around Princeton, it is very charming.
You can also take a ride up along the Delaware River, either the NJ or PA side and go see New Hope PA. Adorable town as well

[TomWaits]

Yes, consider Hamilton also as a possibility. It's a large town and the school districts are very different from each other (I don't know the names of them). Friends live by the Grounds and by the MC Park/Community College and are quite nice. Lots of parks in the town.

If you go to Princeton, save room for ice cream... there are a couple of places there with homemade stuff... I'm a sucker for Halo Farms chocolate brandied hazelnut.

[tinamcbuddy]

Cranbury is really pretty take a walk down the main street and check out Brainard lake. Princeton is the main town in this area . Theater, university, plenty of restaurants, parks good schools. Housing very expensive. I live in west windsor which has an excellent school system combined with Plainsboro another nice town , they have just built a nice village centre. but both ww and plainsboro were originally farming communities and the farmers sold the land for mcmansions .... we have plenty of those. But we have some nice parks, a community pool , called waterworks. The town is getting bike paths sorted out and they are going to build a village type centre at the train station.We also have the canal in the township between ww and Princeton you can rent canoes at the turning basin on Alexander road.Mercer county Park is in ww the lake is the centre for the U.S. rowing team .Good Luck enjoy your time looking around.

[LittleMissSunshine]

Nassau Street in Princeton is nice for walking and shopping and eating. There is a really fun ice cream chain for kids there, Ricky's, it has a giant green dinosaur outside.

Six Flags Great Adventure is not too far from Princeton. My SO lives in Robbinsville and we have season passes. They have new stuff for kids now like Wiggles World and some more Bugs Bunny stuff but it can be expensive to go there if you're not used to the prices.

You can also drive up route 31 into Hunterdon County, another activity we enjoy on weekends. It's nice to walk around in Lambertivlle or New Hope, PA.

Cranbury has a cute main road too, I think someone already mentioned it. I think it is called Main Street. It's a lot smaller than Princeton's strip though.

For malls there is Princeton Market Fair on Route 1 (small mall), Quaker Bridge Mall (QuakerBridge Road, medium sized mall), Freehold mall (a lil further than the others, but not a bad ride take 33 east) huge mall if you have heavy duty shopping to do.