New York: how to get from the airport to Manhattan [GUIDE]

New York airports

Sorry, there won't be a neat introduction, but I assume that if someone reads the "how to get there" guide, they want to find out quickly and precisely how to get there. We will leave the history of the airport, statistics and stories about how cool New York is for another time. In this entry you will find a detailed description of the connections, helpful maps, and a picture guide with step-by-step photos. If before reading this text you were worried about whether you could cope, after reading it you will definitely gain courage and self-confidence. Here we go!

There are three main airports in New York, whose international abbreviations and names are provided below:

JFK (John F. Kennedy Airport)
The main international air traffic and part of local traffic passes through this airport.

EWR (Newark-Liberty Airport)
It serves as a support facility for JFK Airport, handling some international and local traffic.

LGA (La Guardia Airport)
From a tourist point of view, a less important airport. It serves local US air traffic and connections to Canada and the Bahamas.

You can see the location of all three airports in relation to New York, and actually its most important part, Manhattan, on the map I prepared.

The vast majority of tourists arrive at the airport JFK, so I will devote most of my time to describing the access route from there. Are you landing at another airport? Don't worry! Many of the descriptions related to traveling to New York City Center are identical for all airports. Purchasing tickets at ticket machines (the machines are the same everywhere), payment methods, information signs, and the principles of operation and fees in the metro are identical regardless of which direction you are traveling from. So I recommend reading the entire description of travel from the airport JFK regardless of which airport you land at. Below you will find shorter descriptions of access from the airports EEA (Newark-Liberty) and LGA (La Guardia) will then be fully understandable to you and as easy to do as the detailed commute from JFK.

Getting from JFK airport to downtown New York

JFK airport has 6 terminals with numbers 1 to 8. The numbering is a bit surprising, but it results from the fact that terminals 3 and 6 were demolished, so currently there are no terminals with these numbers. So we have terminal numbers: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 and 8.

Airlines are permanently assigned to specific terminals. When flying with a specific airline, you know in advance which terminal you will land at and from which terminal you will depart. Changes are very rare and are related to emergency situations. For example: LOT Polish Airlines have a permanently assigned Terminal 7, Air France Terminal 1, a Delta Airlines Terminal 4.

A full list of airlines and their terminals can be found later in the article. The airport is served by dozens of airlines. The list is long and takes up a lot of space, so to maintain the readability of this guide, I decided to move it to the end.

Where to go in the airport terminal?

After getting off the plane, you first have to go through passport and visa control (ESTA or US visa is required) to cross the contractual border of the USA. After passing through security, you normally go to collect your luggage and then go to the main hall of the terminal. Here you need to decide where to go next. Once you walk through the doors from the baggage claim area to the main concourse in the terminal, you will likely encounter huge signage like the image below.

Large green and white signage with a description Ground Transportation (land transport) directs you towards all ground transport stops, i.e.: taxi stops, bus stops and, most important for us, the train stop. The access routes to them split later and are also marked.

Options to get from JFK to New York

You have three options to choose from. I will briefly describe all of them so that everything is clearly described in one place.
If you ask me which option I recommend, it's definitely the THIRD option (AirTrain + metro). It is fast, cheap and reliable (no traffic jams).

- yellow taxi: basic price is $70 (year 2024)
The price is imposed in advance by the city. Unfortunately, it is worth getting used to the fact that in the United States, the price you see is often NOT the price you pay. Taxis are a perfect example of this. To the basic price of $70, state tax (equivalent to our VAT, here about 9%), toll road costs (in this case $8 for a tunnel ride) and about a 15% tip for the driver will be added 🙂
Additionally, you may be charged $5 for service during peak hours (16:00 p.m. - 20:00 p.m.) and $2,5 for difficult driving in traffic jams... and that's probably all. So you can go ahead and prepare $100 and it should be enough. Taxis that are not yellow cost even more because they are not subject to the basic price imposed by the city.

- NYC Express Bus (formerly JFK Airport Express Bus): price: $19 one way (2024)
NYC Express Bus has stops at Terminals 1, 4, and 8. You can purchase your ticket from an authorized NYC Express Bus agent before boarding the bus (sellers have a yellow vest with the Golden Touch logo on the back). Most often, ticket sellers stand on the street, at the curb near the bus stop, or when the weather is bad, you have to look for them at the Welcome Center at the airport.
All NYC Express buses are black and are easily identified by the Golden Touch Transportation logo on the side of the bus.
The bus only makes three stops in Manhattan: Grand Central, Bryant Park (Times Square), and the Port Authority Bus Terminal. All stops are along 42nd Street.
Buses run from 11.00 a.m. to 19.00 p.m.

- AirTrain+ rail (subway or LIRR)
AirTrain price: 8,5&
metro price: $3
LIRR price: $10,75 (peak hours); $7,75 (off-peak)

In my subjective opinion, this is the best and cheapest way to get from the airport to the center of New York. The quoted travel times for this connection are usually longer (about 20 minutes) than for taxis and buses, but in practice this is often not the case. No one misses traffic jams in New York, and the subway doesn't get stuck in traffic jams. Trains run literally every few moments and there is virtually no waiting anywhere. The metro stops you pass along the way are connected to other lines, so if necessary, you can quickly change to another line that will take you close to your hotel.
Stops AirTrain they are at all terminals.
Below is a detailed description of how to get there using AirTrain and subway.

Getting to New York: AirTrain + (subway or LIRR)

This variant of access from the airport is based on two perfectly connected connections and runs in two stages. First, we take the cable car called AirTrain, and then we change to one of the lines metra or to the high-speed urban rail network, i.e LIRR (Long Island Rail Road).

First, a simple AirTrain map that will explain a lot.

Three color-coded AirTrain lines pass and stop through all airport terminals:
- red line: goes to the station Jamaica station
- green lines: goes to the station Howard Beach Station
- yellow line: does not travel outside the terminal area and travels in circles between airport terminals. The yellow line is completely free. You can also travel on the red and green lines between the terminals free of charge.

The route of the line and the location of the AirTrain terminal stations can be found on the map below.

Which AirTrain line should you choose?

You could say that it doesn't really matter. Both lines create connections that reach their destinations in a similar time.

AirTrain Red Line

The red line is slightly more universal, with a station at the end Jamaica station, because it offers a wider range of connections. WITH Jamaica station we can change to two different lines of the metro:
- metro line E (blue) – it touches slightly in Upper Manhattan, and then passes through Middle Manhattan and Lower Manhattan.
- subway line J and Z (both brown) – goes to Lower Manhattan (does not reach Middle Manhattan and Lower Manhattan).

From Jamaica Station you can also transfer to the light rail network Long island rail road (in brief LIRR), which reach Manhattan several minutes faster than the subway, but have terminal stations only in Midtown Manhattan and Brooklyn. In total, there are seven LIRR lines with different colors. The route of the LIRR lines can be seen on the map below.

AirTrain Green Line

At the transfer station (Howard Beach Station) of the green AirTrain line, we have a much smaller choice of connections to the center of New York, because we only have one at our disposal line A (blue). This line runs throughout Lower, Middle, and Upper Manhattan, all the way to the Bronx.
You can see a simplified map of the route of Line A below.

Getting from JFK airport to Manhattan (fees, practical tips) – pictorial instructions

Everything seems difficult until you see it with your own eyes. It's exactly the same with getting from JFK airport to downtown New York. Once you go through it and see everything in order, it becomes very simple. So if a few pictures can make your life easier, why not make a picture report? All the more so because on all access routes (even from other airports) everything looks very similar! So ride this route with me and see some key points as they look in situ.

After collecting your baggage

Once you have successfully passed passport control and collected your luggage, your next steps will be towards the exit and you will find yourself in the main hall of the passenger terminal. Here you need to look for markers leading to the railway line AirTrain. In my case (I got off at Terminal 4), after entering the main hall I had to turn right behind the giant green Ground Transportation sign (picture below)

Next - walking in the indicated direction - look for signs leading to AirTrain (as picture below).

Following the next signposts, we reach the AirTain railway station (as below).

At the AirTrain station

There are information boards at the station giving the arrival time and color of the trains.

We were interested in going to the Jamaica Station transfer station (i.e. the red train), which, as shown on the information board, was just entering the station. According to the information, the green train was supposed to arrive after 4 minutes (to Howard Beach Station), and the next red train was supposed to arrive after 7 minutes.

WARNING!!!
To the AirTrain at the airport you get in without a ticket. You don't need to buy any tickets in advance. For the journey from the airport to the final station you only pay when you leave!

When you arrive at the last station, you get off and go where everyone else goes. There is only one exit so you won't get lost. Along the way, you will see information about the toll amount (as in the picture below).

There are ticket machines at the exit, but there is no point in using them. Exit gates offer the option of contactless payments, so just approach the gate, place your payment card, phone or other device on the reader with which you can pay contactless and that's it! You can move on.

If you do not want or cannot pay by card and want to pay in cash, you will need to use a machine. At the machine you need to buy an AirTrain MetroCard (card cost 1$ non-refundable) and then top it up with money that you deposit in cash into the machine. So if your reluctance to make contactless payments with a payment card is due to the fact that the bank will charge a commission for currency conversion (about 3%), you will not save anything by paying in cash. 3% commission from $8,5 is 0,25$, and the non-refundable fee for the AirTrain MetroCard is $1. It's really not worth messing around.

WARNING!
The machine at the AirTRAin station, although it looks the same as the machines in the metro, does not sell metro cards.

Continuing the topic of paying by card, it is definitely better to activate the multi-currency service, free of charge in most banks, before leaving. It consists in the fact that the card itself recognizes the currency in which you are paying and withdraws the exact amount from the appropriate account without any commissions. So, if you activate the multi-currency service for payments in dollars, the bank will open an additional dollar account for you (also free of charge in most banks) from which it will collect payments in dollars, without any commissions. Now all you need to do is buy dollars at a favorable exchange rate at an online currency exchange office, which will be credited to your dollar account and that's it. You can pay by card directly in dollars, without currency conversion or commission. But let's get back to our journey.

Transition from AirTrain to subway

Once you've paid your AirTrain fee and passed through the gates, it's time to make your next decision and head in the right direction. We wanted to take the E (blue) line to Midtown Manhattan. Behind the gates we saw something like this (it's simple, isn't it? You immediately know where to go!):

Subway entrance and fees

Signs directed us outside and after a few steps led us to the entrance to the metro station, where again there were gates and machines for purchasing metro cards.

WARNING!!!
Cards Metrocard (card cost $1) for a regular metro is something different than AirTrain MetroCard. However, this does not change the fact that there is currently no point in buying any of them. However, before I realized the situation, I bought two metro cards with unlimited rides for 7 days. And it's not about the fact that it's not worth it, but about simple convenience. Let me explain this simply.

One subway ride costs $3. A 7-day card with unlimited rides costs $33, which is the equivalent of 11 rides. This is a really nice option, especially if you plan to do a lot of sightseeing using the metro. Recently, however, the New York subway has introduced an even more convenient mechanism! All you need to do is pay for the ride with the same contactless card (or phone) at each subway entrance. The metro system constantly counts the number of trips purchased with the same card and when it reaches $34 (if they took place within 7 days), it stops charging money and subsequent fees are automatically $0. So we have exactly the same as when purchasing an unlimited MetroCard for 7 days, but we don't have to carry any card and keep an eye on it in our pockets.
Using this option requires that each person always uses the same card assigned to them.

WARNING!
I tell those who are already trying to figure out how to bypass the system to stop trying. The idea that we use one card to pay for, for example, four people who go through the gate one by one and after three such passes we already have over 11 payments, so for the rest of the week the whole family travels for free... this idea will not work. After paying by card and passing through the gate, you can make the next payment with the same card only after 15 minutes. This way, if you wanted to pay with the same card, four people would pass through the turnstile for 60 minutes :)

After entering the subway station, choosing a direction was easy… Manhattan! Now all we had to do was make sure we got off at the right station. We are in New York!

Getting from Newark Liberty Airport to New York (Manhattan)

Access from Newark-Liberty Airport is very similar to that from JFK Airport, or even easier. You have fewer connection options to choose from, which means that the path to the public transport stop is much simpler because it always leads in the same direction.
I definitely recommend taking the train because it is the fastest and cheapest (buses and taxis are also available).
The familiar AirTrain train runs constantly between the airport terminals. This time the line is marked in black.

You need to take the AirTrain to the station Newark Liberty International Airport. Here you need to change to a train connection NJ TRANSIT (NJCL), which will take you to New York Penn Station.
Penn Station is a large transportation hub where you can transfer to the subway. And get wherever you want. I have already described the prices, fees and rules for purchasing a subway card and subway rides in detail above (in the description of access from JFK airport).

The ticket issue is as follows:
– an AirTrain ride costs $8,5 and is paid for at the machines at the exit of the queue at the Newark Liberty International Airport station. Transfers between airport terminals are free. If the AirTrain trip is connected to another NJ TRANSIT trip (N.J.C.L), then the AirTrain fee is already included in the NJ TRANSIT ticket (you need to scan the barcode from the NJ TRANSIT ticket at the gate) and you do not have to pay for AirTrain separately. Tickets are purchased from vending machines at the airport or railway stations, or from ticket agents selling tickets at the stations.

– a NJ TRANSIT (NJCL) ride from Newark Liberty International Airport to Penn Station in New York costs about $15 and this price also includes an AirTrain ride. Tickets can be purchased from vending machines at the airport and railway stations, and from ticket agents selling tickets at the stations.

more information about transport can be found at Newark Liberty Airport website

Getting from LaGuardia Airport to New York (Manhattan)

La Guardia Airport has no direct rail connection to New York. You have to use a bus or a taxi. Bus transport from Łtonisko connects with the metro at several junctions, so after changing the bus you can get basically anywhere.

A bus line connects Manhattan with the airport M60-SBS (letter M at the beginning before the number 60 means that the bus is going to Manhattan). An example of a connection with this line with a change to the metro line E (blue) is presented in the image below. You must get off the bus at the stop Roosevelt Av/74 St and walk only a few dozen meters to the subway entrance Jackson Hts-Roosevelt Av, and then get on the line E (blue) towards World Trade Center / Downtown.

You can also take the line to Queens Q70-SBS, which connects the airport to major transit hubs in Queens, stopping near subway stations Jackson Heights Roosevelt Ave and Woodside, which allow you to change to a train LIRR (Long Island Rail Road) or subway: 7, E, F, M, R.

WARNING!
We can ride these buses exactly like the metro, using the MetroCard, which is valid not only in the metro, but also on buses.

more information about transport can be found at La Guardia airport side

New York City Sightseeing Plan

This entry is part of a large guide to New York, which is available at: New York - sightseeing plan [click].
If you are here and have skipped the main post, then definitely I recommend that you read it first. It contains a lot of practical advice related to moving around the city, access to attractions, organizing sightseeing, access to the Internet, etc. It contains additional maps with the location of all attractions, supporting the creation of your own routes and sightseeing plans, and a lot of helpful information allowing for quick orientation in the area.

In the main post you will find plans and descriptions of tours of some of the most interesting neighborhoods in New York:
- Central Manhattan
- Upper Manhattan
- Lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty
- Brooklyn (neighborhoods: Brooklyn Heights, Dumbo, Williamsburg)

JFK airport – list of airlines and assigned terminals

Airline	Departures	Arrivals
Aer Lingus	Terminal 7	Terminal 7
Aeromexico	Terminal 4	Terminal 4
Aerolíneas Argentinas	Terminal 7	Terminal 7
Air Canada	Terminal 7	Terminal 7
Air China	Terminal 1	Terminal 1
Air Europa	Terminal 4	Terminal 4
Air France	Terminal 1	Terminal 1
Air India	Terminal 4	Terminal 4
Air New Zealand	Terminal 1	Terminal 1
Air Serbia	Terminal 1	Terminal 1
Air Senegal	Terminal 1	Terminal 1
Alaska Airlines	Terminal 7	Terminal 7
American Airlines	Terminal 8	Terminal 8
ANA (All Nippon)	Terminal 7	Terminal 7
Asiana Airlines	Terminal 1	Terminal 1
Austrian Airlines	Terminal 1	Terminal 1
Avianca	Terminal 4	Terminal 4
Azores Airlines	Terminal 1	Terminal 1
British Airways	Terminal 8	Terminal 8
Brussels Airlines	Terminal 1	Terminal 1
Cape Air	Terminal 5	Terminal 5
Caribbean Airlines	Terminal 4	Terminal 4
Cathay Pacific	Terminal 8	Terminal 8
Cayman Airways	Terminal 1	Terminal 1
China Airlines	Terminal 4	Terminal 4
China Eastern	Terminal 1	Terminal 1
China Southern	Terminal 8	Terminal 8
Condor	Terminal 7	Terminal 7
Copa Airlines	Terminal 4	Terminal 4
Delta	Terminal 4	Terminal 4
Eastern Airlines	Terminal 1	Terminal 1
EgyptAir	Terminal 1	Terminal 1
El Al	Terminal 4	Terminal 4
Emirates	Terminal 4	Terminal 4
Envoy Air
Ethiopian Airlines	Terminal 7	Terminal 7
Etihad	Terminal 4	Terminal 4
EVA Air	Terminal 1	Terminal 1
Finnair	Terminal 8	Terminal 8
Flair Airlines	Terminal 1	Terminal 1
Frontier Airlines	Terminal 7	Terminal 7
Hawaiian Airlines	Terminal 4	Terminal 4
Hainan Airlines
Hi Sky Europe	Terminal 7	Terminal 7
Iberia	Terminal 8	Terminal 8
Icelandair	Terminal 7	Terminal 7
ITA Airways	Terminal 1	Terminal 1
Japan Airlines	Terminal 8	Terminal 8
JetBlue	Terminal 5	Terminal 5
Kenya Airways	Terminal 4
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines	Terminal 4	Terminal 4
Korean Air	Terminal 1	Terminal 1
Kuwait Airways	Terminal 7	Terminal 7
LATAM	Terminal 4	Terminal 4
Level	Terminal 8	Terminal 8
BATCH	Terminal 7	Terminal 7
Lufthansa	Terminal 1	Terminal 1
Neos	Terminal 1	Terminal 1
North Atlantic Airways	Terminal 7	Terminal 7
Philippine Airlines	Terminal 1	Terminal 1
Qantas	Terminal 8	Terminal 8
Qatar Airways	Terminal 8	Terminal 8
Royal Air Maroc	Terminal 1	Terminal 1
Royal Jordanian	Terminal 8	Terminal 8
Saudi Arabian Airlines	Terminal 1	Terminal 1
Scandinavian Airlines	Terminal 1	Terminal 1
Singapore Airlines	Terminal 4	Terminal 4
Sun Country Airlines	Terminal 7	Terminal 7
SWISS	Terminal 1	Terminal 1
TAP Portugal	Terminal 1	Terminal 1
Turkish Airlines	Terminal 1	Terminal 1
Ukraine International Airlines	Terminal 7	Terminal 7
Uzbekistan Airlines	Terminal 4	Terminal 4
Virgin Atlantic	Terminal 4	Terminal 4
Viva Aerobus	Terminal 1	Terminal 1
Volaris	Terminal 1	Terminal 1
WestJet	Terminal 4	Terminal 4
XiamenAir	Terminal 4	Terminal 4

Newark Liberty Airport - list of airlines and assigned terminals

Airline	Port	Check in
Aer Lingus	Terminal B	Level 3
Air Canada	Terminal A	Level 3
Air France	Terminal B	Level 2
Air India	Terminal B	Level 3
Air Award	Terminal B	Level 3
Alaska Airlines	Terminal B	Level 2
Allegiant	Terminal B	Level 2
American Airlines	Terminal A	Level 3
Austrian Airlines	Terminal B	Level 3
British Airways	Terminal B	Level 1
Delta	Terminal A	Level 3
Egyptair	Terminal B	Level 3
El Al	Terminal B	Level 3
Emirates	Terminal B	Level 3
Ethiopian Airlines	Terminal B	Level 3
Frenchbee	Terminal B	Level 2
Frontier Airlines	Terminal B	Level 2
Icelandair	Terminal B	Level 1
JetBlue	Terminal A	Level 3
The Company	Terminal B	Level 3
LOT - Polish Airlines	Terminal B	Level 1
Lufthansa	Terminal B	Level 3
Porter	Terminal B	Level 3
Scandinavian Airlines	Terminal B	Level 3
Singapore Airlines	Terminal B	Level 3
Sun country	Terminal B	Level 2
Spirit	Terminal B	Level 2
SWISS	Terminal B	Level 3
TAP Air Portugal	Terminal B	Level 3
Turkish Airlines	Terminal B	Level 3
United	Terminal C	Level 2 and 3

La Guardia Airport – list of airlines and assigned terminals

Airline	Departures	Arrivals
Air Canada	Terminal B	Terminal B
American-Shuttle	Terminal B	Terminal B
Delta Air Lines	Terminal C	Terminal C
Delta Shuttle Boston, Chicago, and Washington, DC	Terminal C	Terminal C
Frontier Airlines	Terminal B	Terminal B
JetBlue	Terminal B	Terminal B
Southwest Airlines	Terminal B	Terminal B
Spirit	Terminal A	Terminal A
United Airlines	Terminal B	Terminal B

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