Times Square is also known as the crossroads of the world and with good reason. At more than 3 lakh visitors every day and around a million on New Year’s Eve. Times Square is one of the most famous tourist destinations in the whole world. It is located in Midtown-the geographical heart of Manhattan, the lights of Times Square are so shining that you can see them from space. All of the energy is palpable and it sometimes feels like Ney York City gets its energy from all the activities in Times Square.
Which airport is closest to Times Square?
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The characters, the lights, the shopping and the marques of Broadway all come to a head in the 5 blocks that stretch from 42nd Street to 47th Street. All of that actions can be overwhelming. Times Square is a place that also hits hard times, the good times stopped when the Great Depression hit in 1929 and financial difficulties made it almost impossible for theaters and other forms of entertainment to survive, which is Times Square began to devolve into the crime heavy place.
Empty theaters of Times Square were transformed into radio stations, TV studios and some shady establishments with bad reputations. The nearness to highways, tunnels and the bus station made this place the first stop for vagrants from out of town. In the 1990s and early 2000s, NYC mayors decides that they had enough funds and they began to crack down on crime to make Times Square safer.
Then Disney opened their hit Broadway version of “The Lion King” in 1997 which is still operational today and decided they needed to make Times Square more family-friendly for their kids-oriented shows. Broadway producers partnered with the city and real estate developers to knock down illicit establishments, make more family shows and start transforming Times Square into not only one of the most famous but one of the safest areas in New York City.
What airport is near to Times Square?
There are several airports that are located near Times Square such as-
- New York Skysports Seaplane Base Airport
- LaGuardia Airport
- Teterboro Airport
- Newark Liberty International Airport
- John F Kennedy International Airport
New York Skysports Seaplane Base Airport
New York Skysports Seaplane Base Airport is a seaplane base that is located in the East River VFR corridor in NYC, at the foot of East 23rd Street between Waterside Plaza and Stuyvesant Cove Park.
A seaplane ram was built at East 23rd Street in the mid-1930s and the seaplane base became part of the marina that was opened in 1962. This airport is coded as NYS. There are no instruments that approach the airport and pilots must receive special training and have to be approved by a member of the North East Seaplanes Pilot’s Association and are not allowed to fly over the Queensboro Bridge.
Most operations at NYS occur between May and September, when flights are weekend getaways to Fire Island and The Hamptons, although seaplanes can land throughout the year offered that there is no ice in the river.
LaGuardia Airport
LaGuardia Airport in New York is a hub for Delta Airlines. This airport is coded as LGA and has a rule that prohibits all flights of more than 1500 miles. There are 4 operating terminals A, B, C and D.
This airport is the 3rd largest airport that serves New York City. Most international and transcontinental flights are operated from John F Kennedy International Airport and New Wark Airport. LaGuardia Airport is located in the northern part of Queens and is just 4 miles away from Manhattan. LGA offers you services such as restaurants and cafeterias, shops, duty-free, charging areas, ATMs, currency exchange, MetroCard machines, pet relief areas and spas.
Several transportation options are available to and from LGA such as there are lots of bus routes from just the airport to New York and other places around, by hiring a taxi you can get to New York City in just 35 miles from the airport and there are several car rental companies that are operating at LGA.
Teterboro Airport
Just 12 miles from midtown Manhattan, Teterboro Airport is considered a general aviation reliever airport. As a reliever airport, it does not provide scheduled airline service, nor does it permit operations of any aircraft in excess of 100,00 pounds on any airport surface.
Its goal is to remove the non-scheduled, general aviation aircraft from the region’s air traffic that would cause major congestion at the Port Authority’s commercial airports. Getting to Teterboro airport is easy.
Buses, trains, limos and taxis all operate on or near Teterboro airport. The bus and train stops are around one mile from the airport. There is no central parking facility available at this airport to park your vehicle.
Newark Liberty International Airport
Manhattan is located 15 miles northeast of Newark Airport and this airport is coded as EWR. Newark Liberty International Airport is a hub for several cargo airlines. EWR was the first major airport in the U.S, along with John F. Kennedy Airport and LaGuardia Airport, combine to make the largest airport system in the U.s, the second largest in the world in terms of passenger traffic and the largest in the world in term of total flights operations.
This airport works as a hub for FedEx Express and United Airlines. EWR has 3 passenger terminals, with 3 concourses each. terminal A and B were originally built in 1973. Terminal A is the only terminal with no immigration facilities, Terminal B is the only terminal in EWR which is directly operated by the Port Authority and Terminal C is the newest terminal, owned by United.
There are 3 terminals and 3 runways. This airport was opened in 1928, being the first major airport in the NYC area and in the U.S. London, Tel Aviv and Paris are the busiest international routes. At Newark Airport you will get the facilities such as shops, charging stations, accessible services, a pet relief area, TSA pre-check office, ATM, concierge services, restaurants and cafeterias, duty-free, shoeshine service, medical offices, welcome center and currency exchange.
John F Kennedy International Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport is 12 miles southeast of Lower Manhattan. This airport is coded as JFK and is located in Jamaica, Queens, in the southeastern part of NYC. This international airport is operated by the port authority of New York and New Jersey, which manages the 3 other major airports in the New York metropolitan area, EWR, LGA and Teterboro Airport.
JFL is also a hub for JetBlue and Eastern Airlines. This international airport has 6 operating airline terminals, 4 runways and 128 aircraft gates that serve the terminals. Top destinations from JFK are a combination of international as well as domestic routes San Francisco, Milan, Madrid, Santiago, Santo Domingo and Amsterdam.
JFK has terminals such as Terminal 1 opened in 1998 and has 11 gates, Terminal 2 is exclusively used by Delta Airlines., Terminal 4 opened in 2013 and is the terminal that operated with more international arrival flights and also has a huge shopping mall, Terminal 5 is major operating at the terminal os JetBlue and is also known as TWA Flight Center, Terminal 7 is operated by British Airways and has gates from 1 to 12 on the building has arrivals departures and concourse levels and Terminal 8 is the largest terminal in the airport and has 2 concourses that are B and C with 12 and 17 gates respectively.
Things to do and see in Times Square
Shopping and Attraction Hopping
Times Square is also home to some of the quirkiest stores and attractions in the world, that attract people of all age groups. If you have an insatiable sweet tooth, the M&M’s store and Hershey’s Chocolate World offer you more candy than you could eat in a lifetime.
A trip to Times Square is incomplete without a visit to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, you must explore this place and click a photo with life-sized wax sculptures of celebrities, sports stars and some of history’s most popular figures.
New Year’s Eve
About a million people pack the five blocks of Times Square on New Year’s Eve, so it is not for the faint of heart, New Year’s Eve begins early in Times Square, around 8 am. You must get there early to get a good spot with a view of the ball on top of the old New York Times building. Once you are there you are there all day, as the NYPD closes off the areas and if you leave then you cannot get back in.
So you will be standing around from 8 am-midnight with nowhere else to go. People pack their food and books, they also offer portable restrooms for your convenience but you will be sharing them with a million people.
Once the clock strikes midnight, it is celebration unlike anywhere else in the whole world. Confetti dust the entire neighborhood and some of the most popular celebrities and musical artists usher you into the new year because they will direct all one million visitors out of the area by 12.30 am.
Broadway
You cannot turn your head in Times Square without looking at a billboard or marquee for a Broadway show. Broadway is one of the most famous things to do when you are in Times Square.
All the Broadway shows make more money than all of the sports themes in New York combined. That probably makes them one of the most famous destinations in the world and you can only do it in NYC. There are currently 41 theaters in Times Square, each one providing a different play or musical waiting to entertain you with the best actors and artists in the world. It is one of a kind experience and an absolute must for any trip to NYC.
Rooftop Bars
One of the best things to do in any city is to move toward up to a rooftop bar to take in the views and Times Square is no exception. Haven at the Sanctuary Hotel is located on the 9th floor and Saint, Cloud Rooftop at Knickerbocker Hotel is a great place to have a glass that is filled with bubbly while taking in the views of NYC.