Statue of Liberty; an iconic monument in New York City is a beautiful gift from French people to America. This statue symbolizes liberty, peace, abolition of slavery, democracy, and opportunity.
If you are planning to visit Statue of Liberty, then you have three choices to make.
1. Crown ticket:
This ticket allows visitors to access the crown, pedestal, and the museum. This ticket is very difficult to get as there are limited tickets available, so you need to book it in advance (often reserved up to six months in advance). Climbing up the crown is little hard as there are no elevators and it is a spiral staircase. So be mindful of this before booking.
2. Pedestal ticket:
Pedestal tickets allow visitors to access up to the top of the pedestal, which includes lower pedestal levels and the museum. These tickets are also limited and need to be booked in advance. There are some tickets available at the office each morning but gets sold before the departure of first ferry.
3. Grounds only:
This ticket gives public access to the island only and not to the Pedestal, Crown, or museum. It is widely available.
You need to get to the island through ferry which departs from Liberty Park, NJ or Battery Park, NYC.
First ferry starts at 8:30 AM. For more departure schedule click here.
Use this link to book your tickets: https://www.statuecruises.com
I planned this trip well in advance so was able to get Crown tickets. There is an airport like security screening before the departure of ferry. You can spend as much time as you want on the island.
The time slot you have on your ticket is for security screening. You can access crown anytime of the day before 5:00 PM.
We had tickets for 9:00 AM so we got at Liberty Park around 8:30 AM. Since we did online booking we had to pick our tickets at the office. There was a line for security screening and also to get in the ferry.
Tickets booked online needs to be picked up so, plan to arrive earlier than the time slot of your ticket
Ferry departs from Liberty Park every 45 minutes. It takes around 10 – 15 minutes to reach the island.
We took plenty of pictures with this iconic monument, walked around the statue. You get awesome view of NYC skyline. Then we visited both the levels of Pedestal.
There is another security check before you enter the building to visit the crown and there are limitations on what you can carry with you. There are lockers available to keep your belongings.
Following website gives you these guidelines: https://www.nps.gov/stli/planyourvisit/visit-the-crown.htm
Below are the picture and a video that will give you the idea about the stairs and difficulty level.
After the crown and pedestal, we visited the museum in the same building. I would suggest not to miss the museum as it gives good information about the statue.
We spent around 3-4 hours on Liberty Island and then we visited Ellis Island. It is a national museum of Immigration. We got some good insights here. It will take around 1 or 2 hours.
Important Notes
- Plan your visit well in advance so you won’t miss on Crown.
- Try to be present at least 40-45 minutes before the time on your tickets.
- I would suggest booking morning tickets as we observed that there was less line for security and ferry. Later in the day it really gets very crowded.
- Carry your identity proof and visit NPS site to check what items you can carry.