New Jersey

New Jersey lies across the Hudson from Manhattan, between New York City and Philadelphia. Newark's airport, the Statue of Liberty ferry from Jersey City and a coast running south to Cape May are all inside the state. Gateway National Recreation Area, whose New Jersey unit is Sandy Hook, counted 7,696,939 visits in 2025, sixth in the whole National Park System. That figure includes its New York units too.

Only one of the state's national park sites charges an entrance fee, so a visitor from abroad pays mainly for trains, ferries and taxes. We read the figures below on 27 October 2026 on the National Park Service's pages and data, the Port Authority's Newark Airport site, the state's tax and labour pages and NOAA's normals.

Why does the $250 park pass pay off only at Edison in New Jersey?

Thomas Edison National Historical Park is New Jersey's only national park site with an entrance fee: $15 for each visitor aged 16 or over. No New Jersey site is on the 2026 list of eleven parks that add $100 for each visitor from abroad.

Two adults from abroad pay $52 for the Statue of Liberty ferry and $30 at Edison, and nothing at Paterson or Morristown. The America the Beautiful pass covers only the $30 at Edison. It does not cover the ferry, the Sandy Hook beach parking or the Water Gap's amenity fee, so the $250 pass does not pay off here. Our guide to national park fees for international visitors explains where it does.

Fee-free days, such as 11 November, apply to US residents only.

Can you sail to the Statue of Liberty from Liberty State Park?

The Statue of Liberty ferry sails from Liberty State Park in Jersey City as well as from The Battery in Manhattan. Statue City Cruises is, in the Park Service's words, "the ONLY NPS-authorized" ferry operator. Same-day tickets are sold at its windows in the historic railroad terminal inside the park.

The ticket covers both islands and costs $26 for an adult, $23 for a senior aged 62 or over and $17 for a child aged 4 to 12. Pedestal and crown access add $0.30. The Park Service calls the ticket "a transportation fee", not an entrance fee, so no federal pass and no fee-free day covers it. The GPS address for the New Jersey side is 1 Audrey Zapp Drive, Jersey City.

The Park Service calls driving and parking at Liberty State Park "easier", and says parking there is available "for a fee". It prints no amount, and the state parks site would not load for us, so we cannot give the park's parking charge or hours. By public transport, the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail station is about a 1-mile walk from the ferry.

Ferry times decide when you reach the islands, so we quote no opening hour. The Park Service's data lists both islands as closed on Thanksgiving, 26 November 2026, and on 25 December. For the Manhattan side, the museum on Liberty Island and the crown, see our New York City guide.

What does the train from Newark airport to Manhattan cost?

The NJ Transit train from Newark airport's rail station to New York Penn Station takes about 30 minutes and costs "approximately $17.25", by the Port Authority's airport site. The AirTrain carries you from the terminals to that station. Its $8.75 fee is included in an NJ Transit or Amtrak ticket, so one fare pays for all.

From the airport station to Newark Penn Station the train takes 5 minutes and costs $12.05. Trenton is 68 minutes away by NJ Transit at $23.25, or about 40 minutes by Amtrak, whose fare varies. NJ Transit's own site refused our requests, so every fare here is the Port Authority's.

Terminal A is not on the AirTrain: the airport gives a 15-minute covered walk or a 5-minute shuttle. The AirTrain is free between the terminals, the parking lots and the rental cars. The Port Authority says the AirTrain is being modernised, and that shuttle buses will run whenever the train is out of service. An express bus to the Bryant Park, Port Authority Bus Terminal and Grand Central area takes about 50 minutes, at $23.50 one way or $39.50 return.

Newark Liberty has 37 airlines, by the airport's own list. Among them are Air India, Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Ethiopian, EgyptAir, El Al, Turkish and LOT, as well as Aer Lingus, British Airways, Lufthansa, TAP and Icelandair. United flies from all three terminals. The airport publishes a departures search rather than a route map, so it does not say which flights are nonstop or seasonal. Check the route with the airline before you plan around it.

Why do the Edison laboratory and Morristown close for the winter?

Thomas Edison National Historical Park closes from 1 January to 25 February 2027, and Morristown's buildings from 28 December 2026 to 11 February 2027. Both closures come from the Park Service's data, so check before going.

At Edison, the Park Service's data lists the Laboratory Complex as open Thursday to Monday, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Glenmont on Saturday and Sunday only. Every visitor starts at the Laboratory Complex visitor centre, Glenmont ticket holders included. The $15 entry for visitors aged 16 or over is paid by credit or debit card, since the park takes no cash. A guided tour of the Glenmont house is a separate ticket, whose price we could not find.

Edison sits at 211 Main Street, West Orange, and NJ Transit bus 21 stops in front of the gate. The park counted 22,370 visits in 2025, about a third fewer than in 2024.

Morristown's Washington's Headquarters Museum and Jockey Hollow Visitor Center open Thursday to Monday, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., until the winter closure. The Ford Mansion is shown by guided tour only, with free passes given out first come, first served. The grounds open from sunrise to 6 p.m. Everything at Morristown is free. On 27 October 2026 its alerts said the Lloyd W. Smith Gallery in the museum was closed for construction, with no end date.

The Park Service says the winter of the Morristown encampment, from December 1779 to June 1780, was "the coldest winter on record".

How do you reach the Great Falls in Paterson without a car?

The Great Falls in Paterson can be reached by NJ Transit train from New York Penn Station, changing at Secaucus for the Main Line to Paterson. From the station it is about a mile's walk, by the Park Service's directions. Bus 190 also runs from New York.

Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park tells the story of what the Park Service calls "America's first planned industrial city", founded in 1792 around the falls. The park charges no entrance fee. The grounds open from sunrise to sunset, and the park has no indoor facilities, only portable toilets from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The park's hours page says rangers are on duty from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. every day, while the Park Service's data says Wednesday to Sunday. Both suggest calling on the day. Ranger walks start at 2 p.m. from Monday to Thursday, and at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. from Friday to Sunday, staffing permitting.

Drivers park at the Overlook lot, open from dawn to dusk, and cars left after sunset are towed. The park warns that weekend parking is extremely limited. On 27 October 2026 its alerts said the 11 a.m. tour on 6 November 2026 would give way to the park's 15th-anniversary programme.

What does Sandy Hook charge for a day on the beach?

Sandy Hook charges $20 a car a day, or $100 a season, for beach parking from the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day. The fee is collected from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., cashless, and America the Beautiful pass holders get no discount. Outside that season, and at Fort Hancock all year, parking is free.

Sandy Hook is the New Jersey unit of Gateway National Recreation Area, and it opens daily from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. The Park Service calls its lighthouse "250-year-old". Tours of the tower run Friday to Monday from 1 to 3:30 p.m. The visitor centre in the Lighthouse Keepers Quarters opens on the same days, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The Seastreak ferry from Manhattan sails to Sandy Hook only from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day. Out of season, NJ Transit bus 834 stops seven miles from the entrance. Drivers from the north leave the Garden State Parkway at exit 117 and follow Route 36 east, 12 miles to the park, by the Park Service's directions.

Dogs are barred from the ocean beaches from 15 March to 15 September. The GPS address is 128 South Hartshorne Drive, Highlands.

What is open on the New Jersey side of the Delaware Water Gap?

The Delaware Water Gap's New Jersey side has the Kittatinny Point Visitor Center, at the gap itself. The Park Service's data lists it as open Friday to Monday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., on seasonal hours. Park roads are open around the clock, and most day-use areas from sunrise to sunset.

Old Mine Road is the main road through the park on the New Jersey side. On 27 October 2026 the park's alerts said it had been closed to all traffic between Jager Road and Route 206 since 6 April 2026. The 3.5-mile rehabilitation has no end date. Main Street in Walpack Center was closed at the Flatbrook Bridge until further notice.

Delaware Water Gap charges no entrance fee. Its $10-a-day vehicle fee, charged at Turtle Beach on the New Jersey side and at four other sites, ended for 2026 on 13 October. The annual pass does not cover it. The recreation area counted 3,986,709 visits in 2025, Pennsylvania and New Jersey together. Our Pennsylvania guide covers the other bank.

Can you pump your own petrol in New Jersey?

New Jersey's statute still says no: N.J.S.A. 34:3A-7 forbids anyone to dispense fuel at a gasoline station "unless the person is an attendant". The state Labor Department's reprint of the Act shows the ban in force. Its fines run from $50 to $250 for a first offence and up to $500 after. We could not reach the Legislature's site, so we could not check whether a 2025 or 2026 bill has changed it.

Tolls are the other unknown. We could not read toll rates for the New Jersey Turnpike, the Garden State Parkway or the Atlantic City Expressway. The Turnpike Authority's, NJ E-ZPass's and the Expressway operator's sites all refused our requests. This page therefore gives no toll, no cash rule and no toll-by-mail charge. Ask the rental company how it bills tolls; our guide to renting a car in the USA covers the contract.

The distances are our own routing, with no traffic, from Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City and the Washington Street Mall in Cape May. The route to the Water Gap follows I-80, not the closed stretch of Old Mine Road.

How much cooler is Atlantic City than Newark in July?

Atlantic City's island station averages 80°F on a July afternoon, 7°F below Newark's 87°F, on NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals. It reaches 90°F on 5.7 days a year, against 28.3 at Newark.

The table gives NOAA's average highs and lows. The Sussex station, in the north-west near the Water Gap, stands at 667 feet. Newark averages 31.5 inches of snow a year and Cape May 14.8. Sussex gets about 38.7 inches, a figure NOAA still marks provisional.

New Jersey lies wholly in the Eastern time zone, the same as New York and Philadelphia. Daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. on 1 November 2026, when clocks went back an hour.

What does the luxury tax add to an Atlantic City hotel bill?

An Atlantic City hotel room pays a 9% Luxury Tax, 3.625% sales tax and a 1% State Occupancy Fee, 13.625% in all, by the Division of Taxation's table. A casino hotel adds $7 a night in fixed charges: a $2 tourism fee, a $3 casino room fee and a $2 surcharge.

A hotel room elsewhere in New Jersey pays 6.625% sales tax, a 5% State Occupancy Fee and up to 3% municipal tax, from 11.625% to 14.625% in all. Newark, Jersey City and Elizabeth, like Atlantic City, pay a 1% state fee instead of 5%, because they levy room taxes of their own.

We could not read Newark's or Jersey City's rate, so no total is given for either. Rooms in Wildwood, North Wildwood and Wildwood Crest carry a 3.15% state fee instead, and the three towns add a 2% tourism sales tax.

New Jersey's sales tax is 6.625%, and most clothing and footwear are exempt. Fur clothing, accessories, and sport and protective equipment are not exempt. We could not read Cape May's beach-tag prices or its municipal room tax. Our guide to sales tax in the USA explains why prices are shown before tax.

For the states around New Jersey, see our guides to New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland.