Airports in NYC

Ok you New Yorkers, which of the three airports is best for getting into Manhattan?

Ian - I live in Staten Island so for us Newark wins hands down. LaGuardia is the closest to Manhattan (about 8 miles) BUT, it is the worst of the 3 airports. LaGuardia is well known for flight delays and other problems and, they don't handle a lot of International flights. JFK is about 15 miles from Manhattan and Newark is about 20 miles from Manhattan.

Price-wise, LaGuardia and Newark are almost always cheaper than JFK. Regardless of the airport you select, be ready for traffic and lots of it. ESPECIALLY during the holidays.

In fact, NYC is so bad during the holidays we have what is known as Gridlock Alert days. This is where the MTA (Metropolitan Transit Authority) adds more trains and buses and urges people to take mass transit to help ease the congestion. Even though the airports are physically close to Manhattan, figure it's going to take about an hour to get from the airport to your hotel in Manhattan.

Hope this helps in your decision making.

This link is going to be your best friend for New York City transportation information:

http://www.panynj.gov/COMMUTINGTRAVEL/airports/html/ewr_transportation.html

Great link.thanks......

We have AA vouchers to use before next Feb......trying to decide where to go.......thought about NYC........My husband has never been,......Me??Im a ex Long islander.....in fact,I used to work at JFK(loved that job).........anyway,since it has been awhile,I have no clue(till now) how to get into the city......

Our only other thing is to find a reasonable priced hotel and one in the city since we'll only be there a couple of days........

I, personally, have always found Newark a bit easier. JFK is just too big and confusing for my taste.

I live North of NYC and Newark is also my first choice.

Thank you for all the excellent information!