Park and ride coming to Manhattan from Washington DC?
 

Is there a place thats secure somewhere between DC and Manhattan to park a vehicle and get transportation into Manhattan? We would need to leave our car for a few days, as we are hoping to stay in Manhattan. Do we need to call and reserve a parking space does anyone know? Any helpful ideas would be greatly appreciated. We have never been to NYC. We dont want to go without at least having an idea of what to do with our vehicle, because we have heard all the nightmares about driving into NYC and not being able to park anywhere!

As long as you don;t come during rush hour getting into the city isn;t difficult and there are plenty of garages in which to leave the car - but it will be $35 to $40 per night. You can go to iconpaarking,com to find a garage near your hotel and reserve a spot in advance and kow what the cost will be.

If you don;t mind dragging your luggage in you have a couple of choices. there are several places where you can park and ride - but some I wouldn;t be comfortble leaving a car for several overnights. You can drive to the ferry in NJ - google the ferry services - and park for I believe about $15 per night. Or you can leave the car in the Metropark train station and take the train into the city. (Most local station lots can;t be used since 1) they are usually for local residents with permits and 2) are often packed solid before 8 am.)

MetroPark in Iselin, NJ off the NJ TPKE is a popular place to park and train in. Secaucus Junction, has some parking and the ferry mentioned above is the nywaterway.com ferry terminal at Port Imperial in Weehawken,NJ.

But unless you're a large family, I'd seriously consider using public transportation between the 2 cities. Traffic is bad. Megabus.com and boltbus.com are cheap and relatively easy. Amtrak.com train is more comfortable. No driving, no parking hassles, and no schlepping bags on trains.

Wow you 2 have no idea how much help you have been to me!!! I have been searching on the internet and browsing the many many websites on New York and have spent hours on a computer and I posted this a couple days ago and you guy's have been more help then all my searches and phone calls and emails put together! So Thank you so much, I will be thinking of you The Hudson's

If you're still considering options, I'll add bestparking.com is another place to look for prices on parking in Manhattan. centralparking.com is sometimes cheaper than Icon.

MetroPark is a very good option. Just be aware, it's actually off the Garden State Parkway, not the NJ Turnpike. It is close to the Turnpike, but you would need to get off the Turnpike at Exit 11 and take the Garden State Parkway North about 2 to 3 miles. There are numerous signs for MetroPark.

They have two multi-level parking decks, which can become quite crowded with daily commuters. Just be prepared that you might not find a spot during the week until you get to the roof of the second garage.

Should you decide to drive into Manhattan, I'll add to mclaurie's post that, if you are a AAA member, you can visit this site: http://www.autoclub.centralparking.com/ for possible additional savings. http://nyc.bestparking.com includes not only Icon and Central, but a number of other participating parking lot operators.

You should also consider the ferry from Weehawken, NJ:

www.nywaterway.com/

Not sure about others who have posted here, but I make the commute from New Jersey every weekday. The closer you get towards the city the more likely the risk becomes that you will hit traffic. The commute from Weehawken is nice. But, if you're going to do that, then you'll be putting yourself smack in the middle of traffic heading either towards Lincoln Tunnel certainly and possibly BOTH tunnels depending on route.

More importantly, during rush hour the Weehawken approaches to the highway puts you at the mercy of badly timed light, potentially heavy congestion for those trying to use the one tunnel into the city, and a very slow entry into traffic exiting the city.

If you want to head into the city, so be it. But, with multiple park and ride options that mean less driving in the worst of the traffic, why this need to drive?

One other option to consider is long-term parking at Newark Airport. With the monorail, you could park in their daily lot and connect to the NJ Transit station at the airport. Benefit is the easy off, easy on exit from the NJ Turnpike at exit 13A.

Do you guy's think it would be better to visit on the weekend versus the weekdays? I think we should park and drive for sure it sounds like. I am checking into the Ferry right now! Thanks so much.

Believe it or not, depending on the hour, weekend traffic can be as bad as weekday, both in and out. Also, weekends are often the periods devoted to highway/street repair, both in Jersey and in NYC.