Manhattan to Coney Island to Grimaldi's then walk across bridge...

[momthecruisedirector]

We are visiting this summer and this is the best forum to get answers from locals! We want to spend a morning/early afternoon on Coney Island from Manhattan (Secaucus actually) On our return we want to stop at Grimaldi's then walk over the Brooklyn Bridge back to Manhattan. Yes - TOURIST!! but I'm okay with that - haha. Anyway.... hoping someone can tell me the easiest way via public transportation to accomplish this.

 

We have 'scheduled' our Brooklyn day on a Sunday in July - not the 4th - if that information helps.

 

Thank you, in advance, for you assistance.

[cruiserking]

We are visiting this summer and this is the best forum to get answers from locals! We want to spend a morning/early afternoon on Coney Island from Manhattan (Secaucus actually) On our return we want to stop at Grimaldi's then walk over the Brooklyn Bridge back to Manhattan. Yes - TOURIST!! but I'm okay with that - haha. Anyway.... hoping someone can tell me the easiest way via public transportation to accomplish this.

 

We have 'scheduled' our Brooklyn day on a Sunday in July - not the 4th - if that information helps.

 

Thank you, in advance, for you assistance.

 

You can catch a bus from Secaucus into Manhattan, it's about a twenty minutes ride.

 

http://www.secaucus.org/transportation.html

 

If you take a gander at: http://www.hopstop.com you can plot out which trains to take to Coney Island and what stop for Grimaldi's. On a hot summer day you will be like mashed potatoes with this itinerary.

 

Have fun.

 

Jonathan

[madelinerose]

On a hot summer day you will be like mashed potatoes with this itinerary. Have fun. Jonathan

 

Amen! Phew! :D

[Brighton Line]

Scroll to the bottom of http://www.grimaldis.com/2/Index.htm for directions to the Brooklyn Grimaldis.

Your problem is the subway that is closet does not go to Coney Island. Take any of the Coney Island bound (D/Q/N/F) to Coney Island Stillwell Ave. To get to Grimaldis I would take the F from Stillwell and transfer to A or C at Jay street (cross platform transfer) and then get off at High Street for the Grimaldis as well as the Brooklyn Bridge. High Street is the closest to the Bridge on the Brooklyn side.

Use HopStop and use the MTA Trip planner at http://tripplanner.mta.info/_start.aspx which will also include service changes that happen most weekends.

[momthecruisedirector]

Thanks..... Yes - we may be over doing it and may not end up doing 1/4 of it but thought I better have it all planned out ahead.

[GTJ]

You can catch a bus from Secaucus into Manhattan, it's about a twenty minutes ride.

 

http://www.secaucus.org/transportation.html

 

Do not rely on that website . . . it is not well-maintained. Better to rely on New Jersey Transit's own website, http://www.njtransit.com.

 

That being said, there's a few buses and a rail route that travel between Secaucus and New York. Most of the hotels are located within Harmon Meadow, and bus route 320 conveniently connects these hotels with New York City. The fare is $3.95 per person (no need to worry about exact fare). Get the schedule here. http://www.njtransit.com/pdf/bus/T0320.pdf You could also go by train for $4.00 per person, but the train station in Secaucus is quite distant from Harmon Meadow.

 

Once you arrive at Port Authority Bus Terminal (or Pennsylvania Station if by train) go to the lower level and follow signs for the subway. You'll want to get the downtown "A" train. Buy MetroCards at machines in the subway station. You'll need at least three fares per person for your intended journey, and at $2.25 each, that means $6.75. However, for an additional $1.50 each ($8.25 total) you can instead buy a 1-day "Fun Pass" that provide unlimited bus and subway rides (and neighboring Nassau and Westchester counties) until 3:00 a.m. the next day.

 

Ride the downtown "A' train into Brooklyn, and change trains at the second station in Brooklyn: Jay St-Borough Hall. The "F" train is boarded across the platform there (and there's a good chance it will be waiting for you as the "A' train arrives). Ride the "F" train to the last stop: Coney Island-Stillwell Av.

 

On your way back get the "F" train back to Jay St-Borough Hall, and again go across the platform to the "A" train. This time only go one stop and alight at High St. Leave the station through the forward-most (i.e., in the direction the "A" train was operating) station exit . . . you may see signs to the Fulton St exit. Once out of the station and on the sidewalk immediately make a U-turn so that you will be walking northward along Fulton St. You'll need to walk the equivalent of about five blocks (be careful as you cross the exit and entrance ramps of the elevated Brooklyn-Queens Expwy). Grimialdi's is on the opposite side of the street.

 

To get to the Brooklyn Bridge you'll want to get to the stairway on Cadman Plaza East south of Prospect St. From Grimaldi's walk back up Fulton St as if you were returning to the subway station (but stay on the Grimaldi's side of Fulton St). Cross under the expressway again, and turn left onto Prospect St. Go under the bridge and make the first right turn onto Cadman Plaza East. The stairs will be on the right hand side, under the bridge.

 

One last note. While Grimaldi's is a very good choice for pizza (much better than John's in the City), the Brooklyn restaurant is small, with cramped tables and sometimes a good wait to get inside. There's another Grimaldi's location in Hoboken, not far from your hotel. I think the service there is much better, and the pizza is at least as good. To get there from Manhattan (presumably this would be on the way back to the hotel) you would want to get the PATH train from World Trade Center, 32 St (at Sixth Av), or one of the other PATH stations along Sixth Avenue or in Greenwich Village. The fare is $1.75 per person. Alight at Hoboken. From the terminal you'll walk north on River Street three blocks to 2 St, turn left, then seven blocks to Clinton Street. Grimaldi's is on the corner (133 Clinton Street). Returning to your hotel, walk east on 2 St (back towards Hoboken terminal) one block, turn right onto Willow St, then three blocks to the end of Willow St (this is Observer Hwy). Around the corner on the right is the bus stop going back to Harmon Meadow. Board the no. 85 bus--you'll need $2.35 (exact fare this time). It is about 30 minutes back to the hotels, but make sure to download a timetable since the buses operate only once per hour at night on this route. http://www.njtransit.com/pdf/bus/T0085.pdf

[A&Emom]

Much better pizza to be found at DiFara's Pizza as well as a "more" Brooklyn experience.

 

http://www.difara.com/

[GTJ]

Much better pizza to be found at DiFara's Pizza as well as a "more" Brooklyn experience.

 

http://www.difara.com/

 

I don't know if it is "more" Brooklyn or not, but indeed a great place for pizza. Some may, however, gripe at the price. (My first memories of Brooklyn were going to visit my grandmother on E 15 St, half a block north of Av J, in the 1960s, and so I've been in this neighborhood many times.) It's also just as easy--no, make that easier--than Grimaldi's. From Coney Island get the "Q" train to Av J, leave the station, turn left, go half a block.

 

Other good pizza in New York includes Nick's in Forest Hills, Queens. Interestingly enough, Nick's manages to make great pies using just a standard gas-fired pizza oven, forgoing the "coal-fired brick oven" that so many other restaurant tout. But the pizza comes fabulously. It's on Ascan Av between Austin St and the LIRR railroad tracks. Take the "E", "F", "G" (until 26 June 2010), "M" (starting 28 June 2010), "R", or "V" (until 25 June 2010) train to Forest Hills-71 Av, then one block south to Austin St and then four blocks east to Ascan Av. Or take the LIRR to Forest Hills, one block north to Austin St and walk four blocks east to Ascan Av.

 

Or for great Italian food Roberto's in the Bronx. It's on Crescent Av, one-half block off of Arthur Av in the Belmont section. Metro-North Railroad from Grand Central Terminal to Fordham, then walk about six block south on Third Av, left on E 184 St for two and one-half blocks (E 184 St becomes Crescent Av). No subways nearby anymore, but there are local buses.

[Brighton Line]

Quick note, the Ave J station on the Brighton Line (Q) is under construction. Exit the rear of the Coney Island bound train for the exit on the temporary platform. While the train platforms its entire length the only exit from the platform is at the rear of the train. Also note the train will skip Ave H and Ave M stops on its way to Coney Island. Manhattan bound is normal.

I agree about DiFara, I live at the Kings Hwy stop, 2 station away. >G<

[momthecruisedirector]

Thank you! I am going to have to print this out and read it a few times! I appreciate your input. Thanks for the ideas on the Brooklyn experience - I will check out the other pizza places in addition to your helpful hints on transportation. I will google map our hotel from the 'other' grimaldi's and see how close they are.

[goldesq]

I know I will get flamed for this but I am giving DiFara's a BIG thumbs down. I just am not a fan. I don't like that it is sooooooo oily and I do not like the price of $5 a slice for not even a regular sized slice. I like The Original IV on Avenue U or The Original on Ralph Ave but I know that this topic (best pizza) can be a massive thread onto itself.

 

Also, I do agree that Grimaldi's will have a HUGE line, especially on the weekends and week nights.

 

PS I am close to all you 'Brooklyn people' (or at least I grew up there and am there every weekend these days). I am off the Ave M (where the train is not stopping-GRRRRR) stop.

[Love the beach]

Article on Coney Island's new Luna Park:

 

http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/33/23/all_coneypreview_2010_06_04_bk.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheBrooklynPaper-Headlines+%28The+Brooklyn+Paper%3A+Headlines%29

 

There are links to other articles about Coney there as well.

[JohnLauben]

Beware of construction related subway service interruptions on weekends. The "F" train in Brooklyn is especially prone to this right now.:confused:

[asylum575]

DiFara's is great pizza, no doubt. The price is a bit much.

 

I prefer L&B Spumoni Garden for a few squares and top it off with some spumoni. That was a regular spot of ours when the Mrs and I were dating as well as John's pizza on Bleeker st. John's was great for the whole Village thing on a Friday night.

 

I grew up a stones throw away from what is now Grimaldi's and I still call it Lombardi's.

 

BTW, A pie at the Harlem Lombardi's hit's the spot, then across the street to Rex for italian ice.

[GTJ]

Also, I do agree that Grimaldi's will have a HUGE line, especially on the weekends and week nights.

 

I've even seen a good-sized line on a weekday midday. My best luck has been in the winter (and indeed it was on a blustery December day that I met my now-wife there for our first date together . . . she had taken the "A" train there from Manhattan while I had taken the ferry there from Hunter's Point, Queens . . . there was no line).

 

Generally, I've been just as happy with the pizza at Grimladi's other locations in Douglaston, Queens and in Hoboken, New Jersey. Actually, Douglaston is closest to my home in Flushing, Queens, but its location in a shopping center off the side of the Long Island Expwy makes it an inconvenient 2-bus journey 9not to mention that the front of the restaurant faces the lower level of the parking garage). The Hoboken location is more accessible to patrons on foot . . . provided one knows the way from Hoboken Terminal. At neither Douglaston nor Hoboken have I ever experienced a line for a table. But in the end, however, we probably go to Nick's in Forest Hills, Queens, most often since the subway are buses are most convenient to there from Flushing and elsewhere.

[GTJ]

I prefer L&B Spumoni Garden for a few squares and top it off with some spumoni.

 

Another good place for pizza, but not the thin crust fresh mozzarella. Spumoni Gardens is the Sicilian pie, and similar to the style popular in Chicago the cheese goes on under the sauce. Whenever attending meetings at the Transit Authority facility nearby we would typically stop here for lunch. However, while it is in Brooklyn it is not especially convenient to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. Those who want to visit will find it at 2725 86 St, "D" train to 25 Av or "N" train to 86 St, or bus routes B1, B3, or B4.