I'm not familiar with area surrounding EWR and would appreciate recommendation for hotel near airport preferably with shuttle service. Plan to arrive midday on 12/26 for next day flight out of Newark.

The only place I'd even remotely consider staying at near the Newark Airport is the Marriott.

Any other hotels, Best Western, Ramada, Four Points, etc, you are taking a chance with your life.

Good grief, is it that bad?! Thanks for the info.

Yes. The area immediately surrounding Newark Airport is horrible.

Newark has one of the highest violent crime rates in the country.

It's so incredibly easy to get to EWR via rail from Manhattan that you really don't have to try to stay on-site at the airport. It's worth getting up no more than an hour earlier just to avoid staying out there.

It's so incredibly easy to get to EWR via rail from Manhattan that you really don't have to try to stay on-site at the airport. It's worth getting up no more than an hour earlier just to avoid staying out there. Just find a hotel pretty close to Penn. Station or even spring for an early-morning car service from hotel to airport.

A similar question came up on Fodors last month. There were a few good Newark Airport hotel suggestions.

fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=1&tid=35063457

Thanks for the replies and the link. I didn't see it when I searched.

EWR hotels are also a lot cheaper than those in Manhattan.

I'd use Priceline 3* (Hilton, Doubletree, Marriott) or Hotwire 3.5* (use betterbidding.com to check which hotel it may be).

rkkwan, that's another reason I was considering EWR area. A couple of days ago prices on kayak were around 100. I have never tried Priceline but may try it for this trip. Thanks

The Sheraton closest to the airport was perfectly fine when I stayed there a year ago. I'd recommend it to anyone. There were shuttles to the airport, the rooms had their lovely "sweet sleeper" beds and the hotel was clean and completely safe. I also put my college kids up there after they landed at 4:30 am returning from India.

We've stayed at the Marriott on several occasions and were very pleased with the location and the shuttle service.

Thanks for the suggestions.