Staten Island Ferry
A twenty-five-minute crossing that passes the Statue of Liberty.
Duration
1 hr – 1 hr 30 min
Best time
A sunset departure
Open
Every day
Entry price
Free
The ferry has linked Manhattan to Staten Island since 1905 and has been free since 1997. It is not an excursion: it is the daily commute of tens of thousands of people, and the deck is full of people going to work.
The crossing takes twenty-five minutes and passes a few hundred metres from the Statue of Liberty, on the west side of the boat. You have to get off at Staten Island and board the next one: you cannot stay aboard.
Getting there
Whitehall terminal at the southern tip of Manhattan. Subway lines 1, R and W to South Ferry or Whitehall Street.
Rules on site
Stand on the starboard side leaving Manhattan for the statue: from the other side you see nothing. The boat empties completely on arrival — you exit and rejoin the queue.
Other places in New York
Central ParkThree hundred and forty hectares drawn by hand in the middle of Manhattan.
- High LineA disused elevated railway turned into a planted walkway, two kilometres long.
- Brooklyn BridgeOne point eight kilometres of 1883 steel cable, crossed on foot along the upper deck.
Metropolitan Museum of ArtTwo million works, and a whole Egyptian temple rebuilt inside.