My friend and I are both in our mid 30's and will be coming to New Jersey in Early November. We like nightlife where there are people our own age and during the day we like to visit all of the touristy spots. I am having a hard time finding any real touristy things to do during the day, though. We would like to either stay in one place as we will be flying in from CA, or could stay 2 days in one city, rent a car and stay 2 days in another. I just don't have a clue what to do there besides visit the colleges and the beaches, which are probably desserted in November! Help!

What part of NJ are you visiting? Depending on where you are located, there are different to-do's

Please let us know and we'll give some suggestions.

Visit Philadelphia based on your criteria. The beaches are dead in November.

New York City?

love
roxy

I'm a little confused - don;t wish to denigrate New Jersey - I know that there definitely are some things to see and do - but is there some specific reason you are choosing to stay there vs New York - or Philly? They both have a lot more tourist activities and nightlife - which seems to be what you're looking for.

And the beaches are out unless you're a member of the polar bear club (this is the North Atlantic, after all).

New Jersey is a big state. Some of it serves as "bedroom communities" for NYC and Phildadelphia, some was/is farm land, some is industrial. The area around Princeton is very pretty. The area around Lambertville (next to Bucks County Pa.) is also very pretty and countrified. Good antiquing but it doesn't sound like that's your thing.

There is some great shopping in NJ. They don't have sales tax on clothing. There are a number of outlet malls as well as some very upscale malls.

There are also some historic spots (like where Washington crossed to Delaware).

Here's the NJ tourism website. Pick a category that interests you and see what they list. You can also put in your dates and see what's going on.

http://njgin.state.nj.us/OIT_TravelGuide/index.jsp

If you were visiting during the summer, I'd suggest plenty of spots along the Jersey shore. But, for the most part, those towns become fairly quiet in early November. Certainly Atlantic City would provide the nightlife, though likely much more subdued than you'd see in Vegas.

As suggested, large parts of New Jersey are bedroom communities for Philadelphia and New York. People in those areas in their mid 30's, are generally married with kids.

Places you might think about are Atlantic City, the Princeton area, and perhaps Hoboken. The latter is just across from New York and has numerous bars and restaurants. On a typical Saturday night, the town is a magnet for people from the surrounding areas. Conservatively, I'd say there are at least 25 bars within a town that is a square mile.

There are no places to stay in Hoboken but very close by (less than a mile away) in the Newport area of Jersey City or in Weehwaken are hotels. But, if you're going to come to Hoboken you really ought to consider going into New York city as more than half the towns working population likely does Monday through Friday.

You've gotten some excellent advice so far. Wanted to add a few of our favorite spots:

Morristown National Historic Park. It's a wonderful diverse park with guides in period costumes.

Gateway National Recreation Area. Many things to do, and even in early november you'll have excellent views of the city from Sandy Hook. You can tour the historic lighthouse all year also (i think?)

Thomas Edison's compound is in W. Orange and definitely worth a visit, also.

November is a strange time of year for a vacation in the Garden State. Most vacations here are in summer.

In November, I'd do day trips to NYC, Philly & Atlantic City. There are also historic sites throughout the state. For live music, you might try NJ Performing Arts Center in Newark, Maxwell's in Hoboken (I find Hoboken's bar scene is much more for early to mid 20's...now in our mid 30's; we used to go in college and haven't now for ages). New Hope, PA & Lambertville & Frenchtown are a nice country settings for a little shopping. There's also a playhouse in New Hope. The Papermill Playhouse in Millburn, NJ also has quality theatre performances. Montclair has a nice Art Museum and great restaurants. Camden has an Aquarium, Jersey City has Liberty State Park & Liberty Science Center Museum, with IMAX movie theatre too. As previous posters have mentioned, much of NJ is residential communities with proximity to larger cities for entertainment & activities. There's also outlet shopping centers in Jackson & Elizabeth, and regular malls all over the place.

My personal opinion is skip Atlantic City unless you want to gamble. I walked around while my husband was in the casino and the place was a dump! Go to NYC or Philadelphia.

I agree, Atlantic city is a dump. I'm also curious as to why NJ?

I let this post go by this AM - but above posters have asked some of the same questions I have (and I grew up in NJ and had family all over the state). Why in the world would anyone choose to visit NJ if not to visit family, go to Atlantic City, have a beach vacation, or commute to Phil. or NYC?

Here's why NJ. My friend and I who travel together all the time have set a goal to visit every state in the US. She is a teacher and is off all summer and I am in the fair business and summer is my busy time. She has these frequent flyer miles that we are going to get to use on this trip and we need to go someplace that we don't want to spend a lot of time in, but that we also have never been before, as we only have 4 days (Friday - Monday). For some reason she is set on NJ! What can I say? They're her frequent flyer miles! I'm just along for the ride and am trying to do some research so that we have some kind of a plan once we get there! Believe me, we talked about DC and Philly, but want to visit both of those places for more than 4 days. We've already been to NY so don't want to go there again. Our last 4 day trip like this was to Nashville and Memphis and we had a total blast! More fun than we ever thought we would, so who knows? NJ might surprise us! Or not!

There is certainly enough to do in NJ over the course of 4 days - it just was a surprising choice - even for someone from NJ. Given your reasons here are my ideas - some of which have already been mentioned.

I'm thinking maybe you could spend 3 days in the northern/central part of the state and 1 day south.

I have more to say about the NORTH:
From Liberty State Park you can go to the Statue of Liberty (in NJ water). The Lib Science Center is there too. Also nearby is Hoboken NJ home to thousands of 20 and 30 somethings, bars, restaurants, shops and home of Frank Sinatra.

If you're into history - All over northern NJ George Washington's retreat route is marked and can bring you by or into colonial homes/museums in towns from Fort Lee to Morristown.

Rutgers University (in New Brunswick) and Princeton have beautiful campuses and their own museums. You may want to check out if there are any events going on at any of the schools at the time to see if they are of interest to you.

There are all sorts of museums - Edison, US Golf, etc.

If you like to shop there is tons of shopping all over NJ. There are shopping malls (Garden State in Paramus is the largest in NJ), outlet malls (Elizabeth, Secaucus, etc.), quaint towns with quaint shops......

Lambertville, Frenchtown and Flemington are all nice towns with shopping (outlets taking over former farm country and older antique shops).

There are great regional theatres/ concert venues - Paper Mill Playhouse, George Street Playhouse, State Street Theatre, Newark PAC....

The Meadowlands in East Rutherford is where the the NJ Devils, NJ nets and of course the New York football teams play.

for the SOUTH:

Although Atlantic City might not be a draw if you're not into gambling, spending an hour or two walking through the hotels and casinos could be fun and harmless. Remember this quite a historical place - the Monopoly city - and how can we forget Miss America!

All the way south along the coast is Cape May which is full of beautiful Victorian homes. I hear it is pretty festive there at Halloween so maybe you will be able to experience that if you get there early enough.

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There is a magazine called Weird NJ. When you get here you can probably find it in a bookstore - and perhaps something in there will pique your interest. Or if you're already interested, check out weirdnj.com.

Hope this info is helpful. Have a great trip and please post a trip report when you get back!

Oh I forgot - don't forget to have a meal in a diner. NJ is famous for them!

I'll put in the suggestion for downtown New Brunswick (Rutgers area). The area is very nice/upscale right now ('other side of the tracks')...great great restaurants, and restaurants w/ great bars. Your age crowd would fit in fine. There is a hyatt downtown as well for lodging. And of course you can pick up the #1 voted sandwich in Maxim this month..the Fat Darrell!
If you decide for a night to hit the area I can give you more info.

www.wierdnj.com You don't even have to wait for the magazine!

Hamlet has given you a great assortment of things to do here in the Garden State!

Have a great trip!

Well, if you are trying to get the highlights of the state, there is a lot to see in a long weekend. AC is an obvious choice, as is Lambertville. In fact, if you come in early November, you should catch some of the intense colors on the trees, which would make for a great drive... I like the idea of starting at one end of the state, and ending at the other. Of course, if you are flying in, you'll have to go back to the other end.. Anyway, Liberty State Park has such great views, you should definitely go. While you're up there, hit Jersey Gardens Outlet Mall, or the Seacaucus Outlets. Make your way down & see New Brunswick & Princeton. Head west about 20 minutes from Princeton, and see Lambertville. If there's time, go south to AC.

You could also make a theme out of your visit. People have mentioned Morristown. You could do a history trail type thing, and see places where Washington stayed, etc. Or, you can do a cultural theme, and go to NJPAC, the State Theater in New Brunswick, McCarter in Princeton, a show in AC, etc, etc

If you have any preferences to things you like to do, tell us...!

By the way, AC is not bad in November. The teacher convention is the Thursday & Friday after election day. The city is mobbed then. Otherwise, you should be able to get good rates on hotels then. There is also an outlet mall in AC, now.

Well, welcome to NJ!!!

Early November the autumn leaved trees should still be pretty. NJ has many state parks in which you could hike. Delaware Water Gap area (near the PA Poconos) is pretty and a little mountainous. Southern NJ would probably have prettier leaves at that time, tho.