We will be leaving our tour group for the day to go to the Statue of Liberty. I figure we can ride the subway to Battery Park. But, if we are late meeting our group, we have to get back to the hotel on our own. Can someone tell me the best way to get from Battery Park to Elizabeth, NJ? We are staying at the Residence Inn.

You can take the 1 subway train uptown to Penn Station/34th Street. Then take a Northeast Corridor or Jersey Coast Line NJTransit train to the Newark Airport Station (two or three stops: Secaucus Junction (most of the time), Newark Penn Station, Newark Airport). Your hotel shuttle should be able to pick you up at the train station.

You can also access Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty from NJ.

For the Statue of LIberty you need to take the subway to South Ferry.

And that hotel location is absolutely awful. Strongly consider if you can change to a more conveninet one (you are in the middle of nowhere).

nyt, if Debbie is with a tour group, I doubt that she picked or can change the hotel.

Probably not - but some tours offer different hotel options. I'm sure this one is a huge bargain - but it's just about the worst place possible for a tourist to New york.

It is a particularly unfortunate location to stay in unless you have access to a tour bus.

My advice: Don't miss your group. This is probably an EWR airport hotel, and it will be pretty expensive to get there (not to mention difficult) from Battery Park. You have to go up to Penn Station and take the train to EWR Airport, then get a hotel shuttle from there (at a cost of about $13 per person), or you have to take a taxi for about $75 to $100 give or take directly from Battery Park. I think it's closer and easier to reach the airport from there than from Midtown, so perhaps $75 will do it ... but it's not cheap.

Thanks so much for your help! I think we will just stay with our group. You all gave such informative answers. Thanks again.

A more efficient route from Battery Park would be to take the PATH train from World Trade Center to Newark Penn Station (the last stop), avoiding the trip to midtown Manhattan.

From there you can
1) take a tedious local bus to the airport and catch an airport shuttle to your hotel
or
2) switch to a New Jersey Transit train for one stop to the airport, then AirTrain and hotel shuttle
or
3) take a taxi from Newark Penn Station to your hotel, about 7 miles away. Your hotel can probably advise on the cost of such a trip.

The hotel is by Jersey Gardens, which has limited New Jersey Transit bus service (#111) from Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown Manhattan. This is not the best option since no buses go to Elizabeth after about 4PM. Check the schedule carefully.

Keep in mind that it's about a mile walk from South Ferry to the WTC PATH station. You could take the #1 to Chambers Street, then walk five short blocks down West Broadway to the PATH station. (Or just stay on the #1 to Penn Station/34th Street; one change of trains instead of two.)

Sorry, but I didn't consider the PATH. That's probably the better choice from downtown if you decid to see the statue.