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So I will be visiting my family in Illinois for an extended amount of time and decided to finally do a 3-4 weekday trip to Niagara falls and NYC that we've been planning for ever.
Monday: Head out early from IL to Niagara Falls get there 3-4 pm check in. explore. 1 night in Canada
Tuesday: spend all day in the area. Spend one more night to head out early.
Wednesday: Drive to NYC. Explore. Sleep.
Thursday: Explore. Drive back in the afternoon to IL have about a 12 hour drive.
Things I want to do in NY: go to ground zero, statue of liberty and time square. Maybe Ellis Island if they are close enough? So far I plan to go to time square and the statue of liberty the day we arrive. Can you do both of these in one day? How about all 3 going to Ellis Island? What is there in Ellis Island? Anything other recommendations? and my aunts will probably want to see all the shopping or is that in time square?
So back to the original question where should we spend that one night? We are a large group 14 adults, 7 "older" adults my parents and aunts, 7 of us cousins and 2 small children. Where could we stay since flying is not an option at this point in time? Ive read about staying in NJ but would like something affordable as we obviously need several rooms, is $150 per room doable or am I out of my mind? and how far of a drive is NJ to NYC? is my plan doable or is that too much to do in a day and a half?
also, if any recommendations about Canada are also welcomed!
One needs at least half a day to visit the Statue of Liberty combined with Ellis Island (which one gets to by same ferry for one price). So your planning is off as you would need to at least spend 2 overnights in the NYC area.
There hotels in NJ right near the Hudson River in particular near the Lincoln Tunnel and some these hotels have paid shuttle service into Manhattan. I think $150 a night is doable in those hotels.
Also the drive from Niagara Falls to the NYC area takes 6-7 hours and one can always hit traffic in the NYC area at all hours of the day. So I wouldn't count on you being able to do much sightseeing after such a long drive.
The drive from Niagara Falls to NYC will exhaust you - it's a good 6.5 drive and that's with only a little bit of traffic.
In Canada I recommend viewing the Falls from the Canadian side - you get the better view of Horseshoe Falls from that end.
The drive from NJ to NY varies depending on which part you're driving to and which area you're coming from. Parking in the city is either non-existent or expensive so you need to take that into consideration as well.
I would like more experienced NYC people to read my plan, to be sure it's not too ambitious.
Everyone's right, it'll be a solid 6.5 hour drive on highways, from Niagara to here, but if you leave very early and don't take a ridiculous long lunch stop, after enduring rush hour traffic, you could still arrive here by 5 p.m. Since we're now at the longest time of year for evening light, you have time left on your first evening. If you can wait until the touring day has ended before checking into a hotel, that'll save you some precious daylight time to see NYC the first evening. If you'd rather check in from the road first, which makes sense to park and leave the car, just beg your relatives not to waste time admiring the hotel pool etc. Just drop suitcases and keep moving them towards NYC for the evening.
Here's where I hope other NYC folks chime in to be sure I've timed it okay.
Start your summer evening in Battery Park, walk around the Ground Zero area, and you'll see the Statue from a distance. If you have time get onboard the Staten Island Ferry to sail under Lady Liberty, the return next ferry right back to Manhattan, inexpensively, all before/during sunset.
As darkness sets in, move the group up to Times Square, which is lit up bright as day. There's plenty of shopping there if what your aunts want are things like tourist souvenirs, t-shirts, Disney memorabiia etc. When everyone's exhausted from that, head back to your hotel.
The next morning, consider breaking up your group. The aunts who want to shop could head to one of several neighborhoods, depending on what they mean by shopping. If looking for fanciest designer boutiques, like you'd find on Rodeo Drive in L.A., then go to Madison Ave or Park Ave. around the 80th St., or parts of Fifth Ave. If they just want a big all-purpose department store, try Macy's or Bloomingdales. If they want many tiny shops and ethnic products, send them to Chinatown or Greenwich Village to poke around.
Meanwhile, if others do not enjoy shopping, spending that same morning/afternoon taking the tourboat to Ellis Island. That same boat passes close under the Statue (especially if you didn't do that the night before on Staten Island Ferry), but to save time you could skip the stop-off on Liberty Isalnd and just go to Ellis. (You'd miss climbing inside the Statue.) To get off the boat in both places will really make a full day of it. I prefer to sail by the Statue and get off at Ellis, but everyone's different.
If you're a very early riser and move well, you'd save time and crowding by boarding the very first tourboat of the day. Even for that you must arrive a half hour or so before sail time, to line up for first tickets.
You asked what's at Ellis. It's the large hall where hundreds of thousands of immigrants arrived late 19th/early 20th century from Europe to America. You'll see the Great Hall where the immigrants lined up after a month-long ocean voyage. Also, the medical exam rooms, and finally the posts and meeting places where relatives waited to greet new arrivals approved for entry (the "Kissing Post.") By passing underneath the statue on a boat on your way to Ellis, you're recreating the arrival many experienced a hundred years ago. But it does take a solid half-day to visit only Ellis, only available by tourist boat. To stop and explore both islands (Liberty where the statue sits, and Ellis) becomes 3/4 or a full day of touring, because you get on and off that boat twice with a big crowd.
If you're especially interested in immigration, but don't want to visit Ellis, look up The Tenement Museum instead. It's in a different neighborhood, the Lower East Side, and approaches the toppic of immigration from the viewpoint of how immigrants settled in to live in NYC, after they got through Ellis Island. Reserve your spot on a guided tour to see the inside of the tenement apartment building, and interact with actors/historians who represent characters from various actual families, based on historical research. It's a different experience than Ellis. Both are very moving. If you choose Tenement Museum, be sure to see their introductory video there, and now reserve a tour time, as it's popular.
If all the aunts want for "shopping" is a few NYC souvenirs, then Times Square will satisfy them.
Last edited by BrightRabbit; 07-01-2015 at 04:19 PM..
Arriving at approx. 5pm puts one in rush hour traffic which will add to your travel time and to your exhaustion. Again I suggest a min. of 2 nights in the NYC area.
In the Meadowlands area of NJ, thats not a town but an area, maybe for towns Secaucus, Rutherford and so, you can get a motel/hotel and have a bus door to door to midtown NYC easily.
^I really agree, Chava61. I can't imagine getting a big group of relatives checked out, breakfasted and actually on the highway at 7 a.m. to arrive NYC by 3 p.m. So once it becomes 4 or 5 p.m. here, you're in worst rush hour, very draining on the driver especially. Not fun to sit in traffic for 2 hours when you thought you were 30 miles from NYC...ugh. Cranky, frustrated passengers.
The cost of staying around Niagara is less, but if this is a once-in-a-lifetime trip, 2 nights of hotels in NYC might be worth it. It's not exactly cheap to stay in Niagara, either, so just crunch the math and see how much you really "save" by sleeping upstate.
If you lighten up on restaurant eating in NYC and just eat off of street trucks in an outdoor park, with a group that large staying together, you might buy yourself the second hotel night!
Last edited by BrightRabbit; 07-01-2015 at 04:01 PM..
So I will be visiting my family in Illinois for an extended amount of time and decided to finally do a 3-4 weekday trip to Niagara falls and NYC that we've been planning for ever.
Monday: Head out early from IL to Niagara Falls get there 3-4 pm check in. explore. 1 night in Canada
Tuesday: spend all day in the area. Spend one more night to head out early.
Wednesday: Drive to NYC. Explore. Sleep.
Thursday: Explore. Drive back in the afternoon to IL have about a 12 hour drive.
Things I want to do in NY: go to ground zero, statue of liberty and time square. Maybe Ellis Island if they are close enough? So far I plan to go to time square and the statue of liberty the day we arrive. Can you do both of these in one day? How about all 3 going to Ellis Island? What is there in Ellis Island? Anything other recommendations? and my aunts will probably want to see all the shopping or is that in time square?
So back to the original question where should we spend that one night? We are a large group 14 adults, 7 "older" adults my parents and aunts, 7 of us cousins and 2 small children. Where could we stay since flying is not an option at this point in time? Ive read about staying in NJ but would like something affordable as we obviously need several rooms, is $150 per room doable or am I out of my mind? and how far of a drive is NJ to NYC? is my plan doable or is that too much to do in a day and a half?
also, if any recommendations about Canada are also welcomed!
Thanks in Advance
I've driven from Niagara--->NYC and back before---it is a LONG trip and I cannot imagine doing that with a large group in such a time crunch. I don't really understand the purpose of the trip to NYC if you're going to only spend about a day here. Seems very rushed for a trip that you've been planning "forever." Personally, if it were me, I would hold off and do it another time. Then again, I don't like feeling rushed.
As for Niagara Falls, the better view is in Canada. There are nice hotels that have the view---those are pricier, obviously. If that doesn't matter, you just get a hotel a few blocks away---I found it to be very walkable but just as touristy as NYC.
I like both sides of Niagara Falls, in different ways.
Long view of the all the Falls is grand as you stand in Canada, but you can stand closer to rushing water on the American side. The NY side has some good places to hike and explore, especially a NY State Park right there, and Goat Island if you have plenty of time. When I had to choose and only had a short time to show someone, I chose Canadian side.
Main Street and houses on the Canadian side are appealing; but Niagara Falls NY is a sad, sorry broken-down town with many boarded up properties.
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