When I was booking my flights to and from South America the cheapest option for my return flight to the UK from Lima involved a 13-hour wait at Newark Liberty International Airport and I thought- great I can head out into New York City for a few hours on my Newark layover.
Newark Airport Layover
I got my ESTA visa online before my flight to the USA which I needed to get anyway because I was connecting in the USA even if I wasn’t going to leave the airport but at least I had it in case I wanted to leave, one less thing to think about!
My first flight was with United Airlines flying from Lima, Peru. We arrived at Terminal C at Newark Airport. All the signs were directing me straight to immigration and baggage claim, there were no ‘transfer flight’ signs at all so I went through immigration very quickly (which was nice considering how long immigration can take in the US) and went onto collect my bag.
My next flight which was with Lufthansa Airlines 12 hours later from Terminal B in Newark Airport and I expected that I would have to go over there myself from Terminal C and beg them to check my bag in (10 hours early) because I’d read there was no luggage storage at Newark Airport.
To my delight, I walked straight out of baggage claim in Terminal C to see a sign saying ‘drop off for connecting luggage’.. .just what I wanted!
Two very friendly guys scanned my luggage tag, confirmed it needed to go onto Munich, took it off my back and put it back on the turnstile. They also confirmed that my next flight would be from Terminal B and I replied my asking ‘so until then I can leave the airport?’ and he replied with the best answer ‘yeah, of course, you wanna head into the city?’ ‘Umm yeah!!’
Note – your experience could be different depending on which terminal you land in but it does seem like it’s easy and possible to leave Newark on an international layover.
He told me to get on the big yellow bus we could see parked outside and said this was the fastest and cheapest way to get from Newark Airport into Manhattan. There was no need to deal with Amtrak Trains like I thought I might have to.
When I was there, this bus from Newark Airport to Manhatten was leaving the airport every 15-20 minutes. It took 45 minutes to reach Central Manhattan and a return ticket from Newark Airport to Manhatten cost me $29.00 USD.
The bus has 3 stops in Manhatten and picks you up from all 3 places just as regularly so it’s just as easy to get a bus from Manhatten to Newark Airport.
I couldn’t believe how easy the whole process was!
I ended up being in Manhattan for 6 hours on my layover which was amazing! I visited Times Square and Central Park and although I was so tired and so cold (I forgot to get another jumper out of my bag before it was re-checked in as I was so excited!) it was brilliant!
To get from Manhatten to Newark Airport I jumped back on the bus at one of the stops, got off at Terminal B and because my bag was already checked in and I already had my boarding pass from when I checked in in Lima I went straight through security and waited until my flight. Super Easy!
Robert
Saturday 5th of December 2020
To clarify, it was $29 toral tound trip? And purchased once on the bus?
TheWanderingQuinn
Monday 7th of December 2020
Yes that's correct. This was a few years ago though so prices may have changed slightly so keep that in mind :)
Dafina Sopi
Saturday 5th of September 2020
Hi! I have a 10hr layover in Newark as well and was worried about whether travel in and out of the airport would be difficult or even possible. There's no information anywhere regarding it so your post is helpful! Quick question, for getting back to the airport, did you just take any bus in Manhattan? If theres any other things to know for traveling during layover I would love to hear it.Thanks!
TheWanderingQuinn
Monday 7th of September 2020
Hello, I'm so pleased to hear you found the post helpful. I took the same bus back that I got in, you can buy a return ticket, it's basically an airport bus and it stops in different places in the city so you could get off at one stop but back on at another :)