DEPARTURE LOCATIONS
When visiting Statue of Liberty National Monument you have the option of departing from Battery Park in New York City or Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey. You must pick a departure location when purchasing tickets online. You’d be crazy to attempt to drive to Battery Park, so use public transportation. Liberty State Park is a more vehicle-friendly destination, and there is plenty of parking for cars and RVs. There is no fee to enter the park.
TYPES OF TICKETS
There are three types of tickets available for Statue of Liberty National Monument. A General Admission ticket gets you onto the grounds of Liberty Island, but not into the Statue of Liberty. A Pedestal Reserve ticket allows you inside the statue’s pedestal, with the highlight being the outdoor balcony at the top of the pedestal where you can get great views of the area. A Crown Reserve ticket allows access to the observation area in the statue’s crown. All tickets include transportation to Ellis Island.
All ticket types can be purchased online at Statuecruises.com, the only National Park Service authorized concessionaire that sells tickets to Liberty and Ellis islands. Other vendors offer you a chance to “see” the Statue of Liberty, but these are either a harbor cruise that passes by Liberty Island or complete frauds (if you depart from Battery Park you will be bombarded by ticket hawkers the moment you step off the bus or subway). Tickets sold by Statue Cruises are the only way to actually set foot on the islands.
Tickets purchased online will be emailed to you, and you can either print them at home or show the QR Code on your phone to the ticket taker at the ferry dock. If you don’t have a cell phone and cannot print the tickets, you can pick them up at the ticket booth Will Call window inside Castle Clinton National Monument (masonry fort located next to the Battery Park ferry dock) or Liberty State Park. Crown Reserve tickets must be picked up at the Will Call window. In both cases, the person who placed the order must pick up the tickets and must present a government-issued ID and the credit card used to make the purchase. If you no longer have the credit card at the time of your trip, call Statue Cruises at (877) 523-9849 to update the information. If a ticket holder cannot attend, a refund can be issued with a 24-hour notice.
For those who decide to visit Statue of Liberty National Monument on the spur of the moment, General Admission tickets are available at the Castle Clinton and Liberty State Park ticket booths. You can also purchase tickets at major hotel concierge desks. Pedestal Reserve tickets that do not sell online the day before are available at booth ticket booth locations. In addition, between 100 and 200 Pedestal tickets—depending on who you talk to—are reserved for same-day walk-up purchases at Castle Clinton only starting at 7:45 AM. I was told that these are gone in a matter of minutes, so if you want a Pedestal ticket, don’t bank on getting one at the ticket booth. Do the smart thing and get one in advance. Crown tickets can only be purchased online.
All tickets include usage of a hand-held Acoustiguide audio tour device, an electronic device that you can listen to as you wander around the park (pick up and return the device at a designated booth on each island). When you see an exhibit with a number on it, punch in that number and listen to a narration that pertains to what you are looking at. If you do get the Acoustiguide, I highly recommend that you bring your own headphones so you don’t have to hold the device to your ear like a telephone. Doing this hinders you from taking photos, not to mention that it’s tough bending your elbow for long periods of time…at least when you are old. Audio Tours are available in Arabic, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, Russian, and Spanish. There are also Acoustiguide tours designed for children ages six to ten that are available in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. In addition, there are separate Acoustiguide devices with descriptive audio for those who cannot see well and a video device with a sign language interpreter for those who cannot hear.
Regardless of ticket type, all visitors must pass through airport-style security before boarding the ferry. A security tent is located near the dock at each departure location. Furthermore, just in case you manage to sneak your bomb past the guards at the ferry dock, those with Pedestal Reserve or Crown Reserve tickets must pass through security once again before entering the Statue of Liberty.
ONLINE VS. ON-SITE TICKET PURCHASES
NOTE: The use of the term online also means by phone.
All types of tickets can be purchased online up to six months in advance, and as mentioned, Crown Reserve tickets can only be purchased online. Keep in mind that the system works in full six-month blocks, not six months from a particular date. For example, on January 1st you can buy tickets for January, February, March, April, May, and the entire month of June. If you want a ticket for June 21st, you don’t have to wait until January 21st to get one. If you wait, you’ll be 21 days late. The six-month advance purchase isn’t that important for General Admission and Pedestal Reserve tickets, but early purchases for Crown Reserve tickets are vital, especially between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
There is a distinction between Pedestal Reserve tickets available for New York City departures versus New Jersey departures. For example, as I write this article on Thursday, November 2nd, New York Pedestal Reserve tickets are sold out for the coming weekend and Thanksgiving week, while New Jersey Pedestal Reserve tickets are available for every day in November. Far less people depart from New Jersey than New York. Crown tickets, on the other hand, are Crown tickets. New York and New Jersey departures pull from the same pool of available tickets.
All tickets purchased online are considered reserve tickets and have a stated date and time for entry into the security line, whereas those purchased at Castle Clinton or Liberty State Park are known as flex tickets and are good for entry any time in the next three days. Holders of reserve tickets are allowed to use the much shorter reserve-ticket security line (same concept as the timed-ticket entrance at amusement parks). Those who purchase flex tickets have to use the much longer general admission security line. During times of peak visitation, flex ticket holders at Battery Park could be waiting anywhere from one to three hours, thus time saved with a reserve ticket can be substantial. When I visited on an overcast Fourth of July with a Pedestal Reserve ticket and entered the security tent around 10:30 AM, there was a line for the flex tickets holders, but I walked right in using the reserve ticket line.
With the assurance of having a ticket in hand and the shorter lines to go through security, online ticket purchases should be everyone’s first choice. Purchasing tickets on-site should only be done for those who decide to visit the Statue of Liberty at the last minute.
DEPARTURE TIMES
My whole-hearted advice about visiting Statue of Liberty National Monument is to be at the ferry dock an hour before the security lines open in the morning. The lines just get longer as the day progresses, and if you leave first thing, you won’t be in a rush to finish your visit by closing time. But what if all you can get online is a 2 PM ticket on the day you plan to visit? Not to worry, because what the National Park Service and Statue Cruises doesn’t tell you is that the ticket times do not matter. You can get a ticket for 2 PM, show up at 9 AM, and still get in line. I was told this on three separate occasions by three Statue Cruises employees who were working the ticket lines. Essentially, they put times on the tickets in hopes that people will show up at these times and thus spread out the number of visitors throughout the day, but if you show up early they won’t make you wait. Again, that’s what I was told at the Battery Park ferry by Statue Cruises employees. I didn’t put it to the test, but if I had a late afternoon ticket and wanted to beat the crowd by showing up at 9 AM, I’d take my chances. If this information turns out to be false, it’s New York City. If you can’t find something to do to kill time in New York, you might as well cut your vacation short and go home.
Technically, the time on your ticket is the time you can get in line to go through security, not the time you can board the ferry. When the place is packed, you might get in line at 1 PM but might not get on the ferry until two hours later. Therefore, when planning how to spend your time on Liberty and Ellis islands you must factor in the time you may have to spend standing in line just to get through security. A park Ranger told me that in the off season, arrive a half hour before the actual time you want to board a ferry. During the summer, one hour in advance should do. Of course, nothing is guaranteed, but I’d bet my house that if the security line opens at 9 AM and you arrive at 8 AM, you’ll be one of the first in line. Even if there are people ahead of you, there won’t be enough to fill up the boat, so you should still get on the first ferry to depart. You can never go wrong at any National Park by arriving first thing in the morning.
But what about people who purchase a ticket for the Hard Hat Tour on Ellis Island? There is a scheduled time for the tour and you can’t be late. If you are leaving from Battery Park, it’s a 45-minute boat ride just to get there. Thus, arriving at the ferry dock an hour ahead of your security entrance time certainly isn’t going to get you to your Hard Hat Tour on time. I attended a 1:30 PM Hard Hat Tour on the Saturday prior to the New York City Marathon (November 4th) and it took two hours to get through security, and that’s with a Reserve ticket. I arrived at the Battery Park ferry at 10 AM, and by the time I docked at Ellis Island it was 1 PM. I asked Statue Cruises about this and was told that Hard Hat Tour ticket holders should arrive at least three hours before their tour time. Sounds about right, because it took me three hours to get to Ellis Island, leaving only 30 minutes to spare. Despite making it, if I did the tour again, I’d get in line four hours ahead of time unless I departed first thing in the morning.
With all this in mind, while all tickets include visits to both Liberty and Ellis islands, to have adequate time to see both you’ll need to be on the ferry at least five hours before the park closes, and the earlier the better. Closing times range from 5 PM in the winter to 7 PM in the summer. My advice is to get an 8 AM or 9 AM ticket. The worst that can happen is that you’ll be done early.
GENERAL ADMISSION TICKETS
General Admission tickets allow access to the grounds of Liberty Island only. You cannot enter the Statue of Liberty itself, but you can join a free Ranger-guided tour of Liberty Island and visit the new Statue of Liberty Museum. The benefit of entering the statue is that you’ll have an aerial view of the surrounding area from the pedestal or crown observation decks.
You should have no problem purchasing General Admission tickets online for any date in the future, even the next day, and no problem getting one at an on-site ticket booth the day of your visit, regardless of season, as long as you arrive in the morning. The Castle Clinton ticket booth opens at 7:45 AM and the Liberty State Park booth opens at 7:30 AM. I was at Battery Park on the Fourth of July, and they were still selling tickets at 11 AM. I was told by a lady working at the ticket booth that the only time they stop selling General Admission tickets is when the wait for the ferry is so long that by the time you got on board the park would be closed. I can’t predict the cutoff times, but you can never go wrong by arriving early.
PEDESTAL RESERVE TICKETS
Pedestal Reserve tickets allow you into the Statue of Liberty and as high up as the top of the pedestal where you can view the surrounding area from an outdoor balcony.
Pedestal Reserve tickets are harder to get than General Admission tickets, but nowhere near as hard as Crown tickets. Between Memorial Day and Labor Day you should be able to get a Pedestal ticket a month in advance. In the off season, a week in advance for weekday tickets should do, and two weeks in advance for weekend tickets. I tried to get New York departure tickets for a Saturday in early November and there were initially tickets when I checked two Wednesdays prior. However, by Friday when I had made a decision and was ready to purchase, they were gone. There were, however, Pedestal tickets remaining for New Jersey departures, but that was not an option for me.
There is a cutoff point at which time no visitors are allowed into the pedestal or crown, and this time changes based on the season. From July 1st through Labor Day this is typically 4:30 PM. Last entrance is at 3:30 PM the rest of the year. If you purchase a ticket online, the current schedule is given.
CROWN RESERVE TICKETS
All I can say about Crown Reserve tickets is that if you want one from Memorial Day through Labor Day, you’d better be on the Statue Cruises’ website the moment they go on sale. I tried to buy tickets in April and everything was sold out until after Labor Day. I also tried to get tickets in late October for early November and there was nothing until January 7th. Needless to say, I was not able to visit the crown.
Only four Crown tickets can be purchased per person. If you have more than four people in your party, you’ll need to make two or more purchases, each one by a different person. Furthermore, only one reservation per person is allowed within a six-month period. If you have children, they must be at least 4 feet tall (1.2 meters) to visit the crown, be able to walk up the stairs on their own, and one adult must be present for every four children.
Tickets can only be picked up at the Will Call window located at the on-site ticket booths. The person who placed the order must pick up the tickets and must present a government-issued ID and the credit card used to make the purchase. If you no longer have the credit card at the time of your trip, call Statue Cruises at (201) 432-6321 to update the information.
Furthermore, the names of the people attending must be submitted at purchase time, and only these people may use the ticket. Each person must be present when picking up the tickets at the Will Call window. With the exception of young children, ID is required to enter the security area on Liberty Island, and the ID must match the name on the ticket.
While there is an elevator to the top of the pedestal, there is not one to the crown. Visitors can opt to walk up the entire way (393 steps) or take the elevator to the top of the pedestal and then walk up 162 steps on a narrow, spiral staircase to the crown. Head clearance is only 6 feet, so if you are taller than that, you must stoop over when climbing the stairs. The crown is a tight space and is not recommended for those with claustrophobia. Furthermore, there is no air conditioning inside the statue. The temperature can be up to 20º F higher than the outside temperature.
Inside the crown of the Statue of Liberty (photo by Dale Cruse)
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Last updated on April 19, 2024