buffalo to cape liberty

can anyone recommend the best way to travel by car from buffalo to the cape liberty parking lot

thanks in advance

I'm sure someone who has driven this route will post directions.

Are you coming down the night before? My suggestion would be to look for a 3* hotel in the Parsipanny, NJ area on Hotwire. I'm currently seeing one for $67 plus tax and a 95% approval rating. This will put you about 45 minutes from Cape Liberty, which should be an easy drive on a Sunday morning.

Here are the directions to the port from Exit 14A of the NJ Turnpike.

Please print out my directions. Others have followed them successfully. The signage is poor. When you come through the toll plaza there are lots of choices and you have to make a quick decision as to where you are going. For a first timer there's not time to stop and try to spot the correct little sign and I'm not sure the names of all the streets are clearly marked. GPS is notoriously bad in this area. After you pay your toll you go straight across the toll plaza and get on a 2 lane ramp that goes up and curves left. This is hard to miss. On the ramp you stay on the right and make the first right, stay to the right and make another right. You will come to the light at route 440 where you will make a left, stay left, and make a left at the first light onto Goldsborough Drive. Route 440 is a four lane divided highway. You can only turn left at a traffic light - going south the first light is now at Goldsborough Drive. The left turn into the port used to be at Port Terminal Blvd (and it still is coming the other way), but they shut down that turn fairly recently and made Goldsborough Drive the main port access road coming from the north. Goldsborough Drive will merge with Port Terminal Blvd. You will be able to see the ship and you just follow the crowd about 2 miles out to the ship.

that's exactly the information I was after and thanks for the tip on parsippany

Folks have had good luck with Hotwire hotels in the Parsipanny area. It's much more suburban with newer hotels that cater to business travelers during the week and have empty rooms on the weekend. There are stores and restaurants and most of these hotels on Hotwire have a very high approval rating. On a Saturday there's really no reason to come the extra distance to Newark Airport hotels with their lack of ambiance and services. It should take you less than an hour on a Sunday morning to get to Cape Liberty.

great, thanks

which route do you usually take from parsippany to the turnpike?

Someone else is going to have to answer that question. I'm not current on the two routes and whether there is any construction that should be avoided. If it were me and it wasn't a Sunday morning (best day and time of the week to drive the NY metro area), I'd go the long way on route I80 to the turnpike because the roads have more lanes. It may be a toss up on a Sunday morning.

Assuming that you have & are using real-time GPS-Nav using iOS or Android smartphone (Google Map/Nav has since been nicely integrated with Waze real-time traffic/road/commute data - mobile data required to use) to steer you out of any last minute trouble or unexpected surprises on the road, since it's about 45 minutes from the Parsippany-Troy Hills, NJ area to Cape Liberty (or, use free WiFi at the hotel just before leaving for traffic alerts) - your basic choices of 3 - are via I-80 East & down the NJ Turnpike (the old way) or I-280 or via I-78 Express (all heading toward the direction of Newark Airport) & following signs for Holland Tunnel/NYC to get on the NJ Turnpike Extension for Exit 14A.

I would opt for I-280 East as weekend traffic is usually light, including trucks & buses - whereas I-80 (typically 10 minutes more + extra few miles) tend to get more interstate heavy traffic in both direction. I-78 is fine but for out-of-towners, the Express vs. Local lanes can get slightly challenging for some, figuring out where to get on & off, etc. especially around Newark Airport area.

And/or - tune to AM Radio 880/1010 News for updated traffic-commute info including accidenets & closures, etc. every 10 minutes live on the "8" and "1" - those powerful stations can be picked up in the Pocono's/PA coming down I-81 and definitely in NJ. NJ's DOT has a good network of road webcams - also useful for those that need/must know before leaving the driveway or parking lot. Enjoy the cruise !

when you get on 80 at Parsippiny troy hills you will immediately come to the place 280 splits off. 280 is crowded during the am rush. Its lighter(but not light) most of the day. Much like the airport road traffic around Buffalo.

From Buffalo I would take the NY Thruway to exit 15 to 287(also route 17) to 80 to 280.

If you are going to stop at Parsippiny Troy Hills, these are where 287 and 80 meet.

My husband and I are cruising on the Summit in May. We are driving down the day (or two) before. After reading through a lot of this thread, it seems like one good option is to stay in Parsipanny the night before, with an easy drive to the port in the morning. We like easy!

But I also see that the Hilton EWR has a pretty good price for a cruise package with parking.

We would like to sightsee a bit in New Jersey, (not NYC this trip) and would also like to avoid really busy driving. But the price of the package is pretty good when you factor in parking. So I am a bit undecided.

Would there be enough to see in and around Parsipanny for one full day? Is it too crazy driving around EWR?

Advice?

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I think I probably should have posted this on the Cape Liberty 411 thread, sorry! I have posted it there as well.

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