Advice on driving to New York City

To make a long story short, I will be coming from upstate (Syracuse area) to NYC by car. I would like to park somewhere outside of the city and take a commuter train or subway or something into Manhattan, and I'd like to leave the car over night. Anyone know of parking lots/garages/safe places to park outside of the city?

Or is this not really a cheaper option in the long run? Just for one night!

One thought... take Amtrak.

I usually go into NYC from Vermont, and go to Albany then to NYC via Amtrak. Trains run every hour, and it only takes 2 hours to get tere. Tickets are 40-50 dollars.

You could take a train from Syracuse, I took one from Rochester recently and it wasn't too bad.

Or, if you want to drive, the point where the ticket gets to be half-price is Poughkeepsie

What I used to do was park on Staten Island near the Ferry Terminal. You have to pay bridge tolls to get there, but street parking was free (last I did this was Spring 2006) and the Ferry to Manhattan is free as well. And it's a neat way to enter the city.

Not sure how safe the street parking is supposed to be there, but I never had any trouble. I've done it three times.

EDIT: Ferry website

Amtrak is an incredibly expensive, unreliable and inconvenient option because my grandparents live in a little town called Utica (half way between Syracuse and Albany). There are only a few trains, and we are in a bit of a time crunch. We fly into Syracuse, and the airport is no where near the train station, thus furthering the costs. Amtrak was going to cost us around $150 per person and would take upwards 5 hours.

The Staten Island could work actually. There is a private lot that charges $6/day and allows over night parking, it is just a matter of getting all the way down there!!

Thanks for the info!

I'd drive to Albany then, I've done it. Trains are sometimes late (20 min the max I've seen) but they come every hour and the tickets are $40. 2 hours there (central Manhattan) is much better than the drive.

Enjoy your trip though, which ever you choose... NYC is quite fun

I lived in Poughkeepsie and always found it easier to just drive into the city and park there... there's a website where you can reserve a parking spot ahead of time, so you don't have to worry about finding parking:
http://www.iconparking.com/ExpressParking.asp

Enjoy your trip

@kerri- great website

Hi there--not sure if you've left already, but thats a somewhat long trip for one night. I'd check out jet blue (www.jetblue.com) to see if there is a cheap flight or www.trailwaysny.com to see if there is a cheap bus... I went to college near syracuse and it's a somewhat annoying trip to do in 2 days!

Haven't gone yet. Will check out those sites though, thanks.

I think what we are going to do is just rent a car in Syracuse, drop it off in NYC and take the train to my grandparents in Utica the next day. Shouldn't be too bad.

No, not too bad at all--but if you can reverse your days at all, I'd consider Syracuse to Utica to NYC

Update- the trip went off without a hitch. In the end we drove from Syracuse to NYC via the Lincoln Tunnel. We drove in around 4pm and it was SO EASY. We were shocked that it went so well. No major traffic, no issues, great directions. We reserved a spot for parking a block from our hotel so that was also perfect. It was even easier to drive out of the city the next day.

Two thumbs up for Icon Parking, TomTom and the Ford Escape we rented (which consequently can drive over medians with ease).

Driving over medians, busting toilet seats - I begin to see a pattern here. Sparty is the Dutch Demolition Man.