Hi

I'm planning to travel from West 103rd on the A train to the Cloisters on a Saturday morning. Approx how long would this take?

The A train does not stop at 103rd ST. You must walk to 103rd and Central Park West. Take the C train (Uptown) to 125th St. station where you transfer to the A train. Get off at the 190th St. station. From there you can walk up the hill to the Cloisters (about 10 minutes) or take the M4 bus one stop. Door to door should take a minimum of 45 minutes

Or walk up to Cathdral Prakway (110th) and take the M4 the whole way. Yes, the bus is much slower than the subway but by the time you hassle the transfers it probably works out the same.

And the view is certainly better from the bus.

Agree to take the bus. This will giv eyou a chance to see a couple of areas of the city most tourists don;t see. And with the random package searching starting to delay some subway travel - I'm not sure it wil take much longer.

Thank you for your replies!
On returning, where can I catch the M4 bus back to? Does it go all the way downtown?
Also, can I use a metrocard on this bus?

Yes, you can use your Metrocard on the bus.

You can get all sorts of details, including a nice PDF map of all the bus lines, at:

http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/

You get the M4 bus right in front of the Cloisters. The bus travels down the West Side to 110th Street where it heads east to Fifth Avenue. It travels down 5th and and it ends its run at 32nd Street and 7th Ave.

You have excellent travel advice here. Enjoy the Cloisters. It is one of the coolest places in NYC.

Thanks everyone!!!
I REALLY want to visit it but am a bit pressed for time and my travel companion still needs a bit of convincing to sit on a bus for an hour there and an hour back to see it.
What about a cab? How long would it take and how much do you think it would cost (from our hostel on 103rd/Amsterdam Ave?).

If you are staying in a hostel, don't even think about a cab. It takes the same road and would get stuck in the same traffic as a bus. Get an early start on the day and get to the Cloisters when they open, so the first hour of travel doesn't count.

If you are pressed for time, take the subway. To be honest, uptown is not all that pretty, alot of brownstones in the area, and alot is rather rundown. Take the subway it will save you alot of time.