Book Jersey City attraction tickets

Across the Hudson River from Lower Manhattan, Jersey City occupies a stretch of the New Jersey waterfront that has been remaking itself for decades without ever quite losing the industrial grain that gives it character. The views from Exchange Place and the Liberty State Park shoreline rank among the most photographed in the entire metropolitan area, with the Manhattan skyline reflected in the water and the Statue of Liberty standing in the middle distance, closer here than from most vantage points in New York itself.

Liberty State Park is the geographical and emotional anchor of a visit. The park's lawns and esplanade draw families, cyclists, and anyone who simply wants to stand at the edge of the Upper New York Bay and take stock of where they are. It is also home to the Liberty Science Center, a substantial science museum that has been a fixture of the waterfront since 1993 and remains one of the most visited cultural institutions in New Jersey. The centre's permanent exhibitions cover everything from the physics of infection to the engineering of structures, and the Jennifer Chalsty Planetarium, one of the largest in the Western Hemisphere, runs programmes that reward a visit on their own terms. For those who prefer the museum after the crowds have thinned, the Liberty Science Center After Dark admission offers the same galleries and planetarium in a quieter register, which suits the scale of the place considerably.