Advice wanted for visiting The Cloisters in NYC
 

We'll be in New York City in mid-September and want to visit The Cloisters. We're staying in midtown Manhattan and will take the bus or subway to The Cloisters. If we try for a weekday 9:30 opening time, will we encounter rush hour subway/bus traffic going that direction at that hour?

Will mass transit traffic be reduced substantially on a Sunday morning? We need to visit TC in the morning either Friday or Sunday because of other committments later those days.

How long should we allow to actually tour the museum and grounds?

Thanks to everyone for their advice!

Bus - Take M-4 bus, which runs along Madison Ave, to the last stop. It will be a long slow ride. Subway - take the A train to 190th St. stop. Walk up the hill to the Cloisters or take the M4 bus up the hill to the museum (about a 10 minute walk}. "A" train can be picked up on 8th Avenue at 42nd St. or 59h Street. Cloisters is closed Monday.

Definitely take the bus -- and I speak from experience! 12 years ago I was pregnant and a friend and I decided to head for NYC for one last fling before the baby arrived. It was February, and we took the subway to the closest stop, several blocks away from the Cloisters. The neighborhood we had to walk through did not seem the safest, and we linked arms and tried to look brave as we headed toward the museum, which was at the top of a huge hill. The stairs leading uphill were iced over and, being pregnant, I didn't want to risk a fall. So we headed around the park in an attempt to find the entrance -- and walked right into the oncoming traffic of a freeway! Fortunately for us, a cop passed by and then slowly backed up to us. He yelled out his window, "What the hell do you think you're doing??!!" We played up the "damsels in distress" bit and he graciously agreed to drive us to the entrance. After a nice 2-3 hour visit in the museum, we took a bus back, which left right from the entrance. Frankly, we wouldn't have cared if it took 36 hours to return to our midtown hotel. We were not about to climb down that hill and ride the subway again!

DO NOT take the bus it will take at least 2 hours to get there from midtown. I SPEAK from experience since I live in Washington Heights, 60 blocks south of the Cloisters. Take the A train, and ask for or look for signs that say Ft. Washington. The other poster got off the train and headed for Broadway which is well below Ft. Tryon Park which is where the Cloisters is located.

The A train is express and it will take about 30 minutes MAX from midtown. Get off at 190th St and walk through the park, follow the signs and the Cloisters is at the back end of the park with amazing views of the river.

The bus takes a long time. Take the subway, but it is a bit of a walk for those who are not used to walking. I didn't notice anything odd about the neighborhood and found the walk rather nice (we were there on a perfect day). What I really loved was that the subway let out in a park, I found that juxaposition quite refreshing, like nothing I've seen at home getting off the subway/el. The Cloisters are definately worth the trip, I particularily loved the gardens.

By all means take the subway. The rush-hour traffic will be coming into the city--not going out, as you will be doing. The streets are safe for walking. Take the opportunity to enjoy how the shops, residents, restaurants are different from what is in your neighborhood. After all, "traveler" is your last name.

Definitely take the subway - the bus will take forever - unless you are physicially challenged. (I can understand that the walk up the hill can be a surprise to people who aren't used to walking - esp if it's icy and you're pregnant. But it really is quite a small hill with a perfectly good path. You can stroll it - there's no hiking or climbing involved.)

FYI - for those who don;t know - once outisde of downtown Manhattan is actually quite hilly (small hills) not really flat.

we took the subway on the saturday morning between christmas & new years 2004 - no need to say anything further since its been covered sufficiently (other than to say we had no problems)...

as far as the cloisters itself, time is always relative to your interest but i'd think 2-3 hours would suffice for most people, probably a bit closer to 3 if you don't want to rush through everything - and after the time it takes to get there you'd probably want to enjoy your visit...i seem to recall we gave ourselves 2-2.5 hours and it was a little tight for us since we were pretty into the whole aspect of it...

I've taken both the bus and the subway to the Cloisters. Yes, the bus takes longer, but the last time I took it on a weekend, it wasn't bad -- and the view sure is much better!

On Friday morning it might be a nightmare. All public transportation will be crowded, however.

Both the subway and bus run less frequently on weekends, so you might wait awhile if you've just missed a bus/train.

Enjoy!

Thanks for all the helpful advice! We are fit walkers and would enjoy the walk from the subway to the museum. I thought the bus would certainly be the scenic route, but sounds like time would be better spent taking the subway to maximize our museum time.

Thanks for giving me the advice to allow about 2.5 to three hours at The Cloisters.