We are planning a trip to NYC November 3-6 and have booked a hotel near Newark Airport. We are driving there and will have two adults and two teenagers. From what I have read on this forum, we can expect to pay about $50 each way to get into and out of NYC. I went to Icon parking systems website and found that we can park for $10-$30 per day in many areas of the city. I know there are some tolls to take tunnels into the city, but even with that, we stand to save at least $50 per day by driving into the city.

If we have a good GPS navigator, how bad is it going to be driving in the city?

New York is a grid above 14th Street and east of 6th Avenue above Houston Street. The avenues run north/south and the side streets east to west. For the most part the odd numbered streets run from east to west and the even numbered west to east.

If a side street has East in the address that means it is east of Fifth Avenue, west means west of Fifth Avenue.

Tolls from NJ are paid entering the city but not leaving. You will be taking the Holland or Lincoln Tunnels depending on traffic and your day's activities.

As far as driving we have tough rush hours at the usual morning and evening hours.

When in Manhattan do not use the car, park once and take the subway, buses, cabs,or the NY way, walk.

Traffic can be horrible. Cabs and car service drivers are notoriously unpredictable.

Wedenesday which is matinee day on Broadway is more congested than other days and if there is a parade, the president is in town, or some foreign dignitary is in town, the traffic becomes that much worse.

Like Aduchamp1 says, the problem is not so much driving into the city,but driving IN the city. Driving in may be straightforward, but you may get stuck in really bad traffic that can happen at almost any time of the day or evening, any day of the week. There's rush hour traffic--morning and evening, that literally runs half the work day. There are matineee days, holidays, bad weather, all sorts of reasons for traffic...

You will be here the weekend of the NYC marathon. DO NOT DRIVE IN ON SUNDAY, the day of the marathon, There are 30,000 runners, and hundreds of thousands of spectators, and streets and roads closed for the whole day
On the other days- budgeting in a lot of extra time and patience, you could drive in, park once, and don't pick up the car till you leave for the day.
Driving IN the city makes no sense. The in city traffic will eat up half of your day, and parking lots, aside from being filled up sometimes, charge the most for the first coupoe of hours.
So, if you were going to keep moving and reparking the car, you could be paying $100 day for parking!

There are many public transport options for traveling into NYC. I would focus on using them instead of dealing with the worries and hassles you will face driving in.

There is a NJTransit stop at the airport. Take the train to Penn Sta, or the PATH train from Newark. It will be quicker and less hassle than driving.

Do not drive in N>Y>C> Leave your car at the hotel, or some parking area near there for the time in the city. Manhatten is a public transportation island, driving and parking is highly not-recommended. And, it's so-o-o much easier to get around with buses, subways, taxies, foot. And are you trying to save money? If so, the hotel should let you leave your car there if you book your return night stay at the hotel, used to be no charge.

However, if you must, the city is very easy to get around not bad to get around at all I suggest familerize yourself with the plan of the city by map before you go, because the good GPS as you go will create lots of horn-blowing if you don't move outta the way quick enough. Lastly, change your $20's into change and dollars for ease in either meters or bus/subway fares.

I don't know what transportation you're using to figure $50 each way. Yes, if you take a bus to Port Authority, that's about $14/person or $27 roundtrip. But many Newark hotels have shuttles that will take you to Newark Penn station (train station) from which you can catch a PATH train (like a subway) for $1.50/person. What hotel are you staying at? Is it prepaid?

You should UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES attempt to drive into Manhattan on THAT particular weekend with the Marathon going on and the city jam packed. YOu'll spend the entire day in the car.

Your other option is to drive the car to one of the PATH stations and park there and use the train OR drive to one of the ferry stations and take the ferry over.
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/fer...html#newjersey

Btw, this is a good reason not to stay at airport hotels, but I'm assuming you had a problem b/c of the marathon.

Bringing a car into NYC (unless you're staying her and just leaving it in the garage for the duration) is close to madness.

As someone mentioned you're including Marathon Sunday - when the entire city is packed - and traffic at a standstill - anyplace above about 50th St - and even many places below that.

Also - you should be aware that there are many (major streets) that don;t allow turns off of or onto - so street maps can be useless. You would need a GPS with all the NYC special rules in it.

Plus - getting from EWR into the city by car takes MUCH longer than by train (the helix approach to the Lincoln tunnel can take an hour by itself on bad days).

Separately, I can;t imagine anyplace that lets you park for the day for $10 - usually it starts at about $15 for an hour and goes up from there.

There are actually a lot of garages and outdoor lots where you can park for $20 per day, but only for the day; these rates are aimed at people coming into Manhattan for work or for shopping on the weekend. If you stay into the evening, then most of these require you to pay significantly more ... much more like what NYTraveler says. I think you'll regret trying to drive into the city each day, and that weekend in particular will be one of the worst traffic weekends of the entire year.

If you can park and take the PATH into the city, I'd strongly recommend you do that. McLaurie has given you exactly the right advice. Drive as close to Manhattan as practical and then take the PATH to 33rd Street or the WTC stop. This is a much more practical solution that will save you both time and money.

Regardless, you must allow a minimum of 1 hour each day, each way for travel into the city.

Drive in NYC over any day of Marathon Weekend. Ha! ha! Not recommended.

Leave the car wherever and take the train, a shuttle, a bus. Once in the City, public transport or your feet will get you everywhere and for not much $$$.

NO! Don't plan to drive in NYC, especially midtown. It is nuts! Taxi drivers will cut you off; you can't make turns when you want to; lots of construction areas throwing off the GPS directions; many lanes of traffic; HUGE, LONG delays; FRUSTRATING!! Most New Yorkers depend on the cabs and metro.

Just returned today and I would do just about anything to keep from having to drive in NYC! If you do so - make sure your car insurance is up to date and watch out for cabs and people who walk out in front of you.

Sorry about that thread link. The thread was titled "EWR to NYC cheaply".

Apparently I have messed up something because I responded and included a link that didn't work, so then I responded with that last post and now no longer see my second post.

Bottom line: I wasn't aware of the marathon and will take the advice to take the PATH. We are trying to save money (otherwise we would be staying in Manhattan). We just spent two weeks in Europe so don't have much $$$ left to spend in NYC. We are staying at Fairfield Inn & Suites Newark Liberty International Airport for $120 per night.

Check with your hotel to see how close is the nearest Path train, or if the hotel offers a shuttle bus to the Path.

Everyone has given you really good advice, traffic that weekend will be a MESS, and the city is FULL as you found out when looking for a hotel. There are so many runners in town from all over the country and the world and friends and family and,,,and,,,and,,,it is one of the most crowded weekends of the year with the Marathon.

All that said, you will have fun, the city should be at it's best that weekend, and since the weather is still warm here, you might even get to see some of the colours of the trees, the leaves have not even STARTED to change. All my flowers and trees in my yard are all GREEN GREEN GREEN.

You might enjoy the top of the Met Museum for a beautiful view of the park.

I was out shopping yesterday and some of the stores already have Christmas decorations up so by November you will probably get to see some of the holiday decorations.

There will probably be a street fair the weekend you are here, and I'll post the location if I can find it. A great way to do some holiday shopping.

Have a GREAT time.

you may want to consider staying in nyc,Try priceline.Also Newark is pretty far from NYC.You may want to consider a town closer to the city.I think driving in every day will ruin your trip

Have you read any reviews of this hotel? I don't mean to scare you but the hotel may be fine to sleep in but its really in the middle of nowhere in terms of food and ease of getting to and from. Its a stay over hotel if you are flying in and out of Newark airport and can rely on the hotel van to take you to the airport and back and not very convenient if you are trying to navigate the spaghetti bowl of roads that pass in front because you can only access it from one direction off the highway. I would serioulsy reconsider staying in any hotel in Jersey City near Exchange Place and Newport/pavonia areas which is a walkable area to the Path train to New York. There is a Doubletree and Courtyard as well as a Hyatt Regency located in the area. All are fine and close to the Path train to NY.

Sorry, I pushed post before I wanted to add that you may want to google "Meadowlands Hotels" as an alternative to Jersey City. There are a number of budget hotels and others there. I stayed at the Red Roof Inn many times and the accessibility is far easier than at Newark airport. Also there is a large commuter bus park n ride located nearby with frequent bus service to NYC Port Authority Bus station. Here is a link to the bus :http://www.njtransit.com/pdf/bus/T0320.pdf

Sorry I don't meant to scare you either, but I live around this area and I would never put family there.

You're next to a prison if it's the hotel I'm thinking of, in addition to planes flying continuously overhead. I would never recommend it.

Y'all, it is marathon weekend. Priceline probably isn't going to have any inventory and Jersey City Hotels will be just as expensive as Manhattan hotels if they have availability.