Are you planning your holiday trip to New Jersey? Before you go, it is worth setting aside whatever preconceptions you may have arrived with, because New Jersey is one of the most genuinely misunderstood states in the country. The jokes write themselves and most visitors have heard them all and most visitors who actually spend time here end up revising their opinions considerably. New Jersey covers 8,722 square miles, making it the fifth smallest state by area, yet it is the most densely populated state in the nation with approximately 9.3 million residents, and that density of population has produced a density of culture, food, history, and natural variety that rewards travelers who look past the highway corridor impressions.
Regardless of what your reason to visit is, be it a family vacation, a couple’s retreat, a solo adventure, or a weekend get-away, there are plenty of places and activities that await every kind of traveler in this state. Tourist attractions, a 130-mile Atlantic coastline with Victorian resort towns and legendary boardwalks, the Pine Barrens wilderness that covers nearly a quarter of the state, Revolutionary War battlefields where the course of American independence was decided, and entertainment zones – there are lots of places where tourists will be able to have a blast and combine their interests in New Jersey.
What genuinely distinguishes New Jersey as a travel destination is the compression of experience available within its borders. The state sits between two of the greatest cities in the world New York and Philadelphia and has absorbed and generated its own distinct cultural identity in the space between them. It produced Thomas Edison, Bruce Springsteen, Frank Sinatra, and Albert Einstein. It was the site of the first professional baseball game in 1846 and the first collegiate football game in 1869. And its 130 miles of Atlantic coastline have been drawing summer visitors since before the Civil War.
Why Travelers Visit New Jersey
New Jersey draws visitors for a wider range of reasons than its reputation among non-residents typically suggests. Here is an honest account of what genuinely brings people here:
The Jersey Shore 130 miles of Atlantic coastline encompassing Victorian resort towns, legendary wooden boardwalks, and barrier island beach communities that have been drawing summer visitors since the 1850s, including Cape May, the country’s oldest seaside resort, and Asbury Park, the city where Bruce Springsteen launched his career at the Stone Pony in 1974
Cape May the southernmost point of New Jersey and one of the finest concentrations of Victorian architecture in the United States, with over 600 Victorian-era buildings in the historic district, a migratory bird concentration that makes it one of the premier birdwatching destinations on the East Coast, and a designation as a National Historic Landmark district since 1976
The Pine Barrens 1.1 million acres of coastal plain wilderness in the center of the most densely populated state in the nation, the largest undeveloped tract of land on the Eastern Seaboard between Boston and Richmond, designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1983 and a National Reserve in 1978, with crystal-clear cedar-stained rivers and a unique ecology found nowhere else on Earth
Princeton home of Princeton University, founded in 1746 as the College of New Jersey and the fourth oldest university in the country, with a campus that ranks among the most beautiful in the United States and a town that supported Albert Einstein for the last 22 years of his life at the Institute for Advanced Study
Liberty State Park and Ellis Island Liberty State Park in Jersey City provides the closest mainland views of the Statue of Liberty and the most direct ferry access to both Ellis Island and Liberty Island, with the Ellis Island Immigration Museum documenting the arrival of approximately 12 million immigrants between 1892 and 1954
Special events including the New Jersey State Fair at the Meadowlands and the Cape May Jazz Festival, held twice yearly in April and November in one of the most atmospheric Victorian resort settings on the East Coast
New Jersey provides tourists with all sorts of experiences that can be enjoyed by families, couples, singles, and first-time tourists year-round. The state’s position between New York and Philadelphia means that it draws on the cultural energy of both cities while maintaining its own distinct character a character shaped by the boardwalk culture of the Shore, the agricultural traditions of the Garden State interior, and the working-class cities of the northeast that have produced some of the most distinctive popular music and food culture in the country.
Popular Attractions in New Jersey
Cape May
Cape May occupies the southernmost tip of New Jersey, a peninsula where the Delaware Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean, and it has been welcoming summer visitors since the 1760s, making it arguably the oldest seaside resort in the United States. The historic district was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976 and contains over 600 Victorian-era buildings painted ladies, Queen Anne cottages, Italianate villas, and elaborate Second Empire mansions in the highest concentration of preserved Victorian architecture in the country. The town’s survival in this form is largely due to a catastrophic fire in 1878 that destroyed a significant portion of the earlier resort development and was rebuilt almost entirely in the Victorian styles fashionable at that moment.
Beyond the architecture, Cape May is one of the most significant birding destinations in North America. Its position at the tip of a peninsula creates a natural funnel for southward migrating birds in fall, concentrating species that have been traveling along the Atlantic flyway and producing daily counts during peak migration in September and October that can exceed 100,000 individual birds of more than 300 species in a single day. The Cape May Bird Observatory, operated by New Jersey Audubon, runs year-round programming and the Cape May Hawk Watch at the Cape May Point State Park lighthouse platform is considered one of the finest raptor migration observation points on the continent.
Why Visitors Explore This Place
Over 600 Victorian-era buildings in the National Historic Landmark district the finest concentration of Victorian architecture in the United States
Cape May Bird Observatory and the Cape May Hawk Watch one of the premier migratory bird observation points in North America, with fall counts exceeding 100,000 birds of 300+ species on peak days
Cape May Point State Park and the Cape May Lighthouse a 157-foot 1859 lighthouse open for climbing, with beach access and the Hawk Watch platform
The Washington Street Mall a pedestrian shopping street in the historic district with independent shops, restaurants, and the Victorian character of the surrounding architecture
Whale and dolphin watching cruises from the Cape May-Lewes Ferry terminal, with humpback whales, fin whales, and bottlenose dolphins regularly sighted in the Delaware Bay approach
Visitor Information
Ideal visiting time: May and June for spring migration birding; September and October for fall hawk watch; summer for beach and Victorian architecture
Targeted audience: Birders, architecture enthusiasts, beach travelers, couples, and families
Optimal visit length: Two to three days to combine the historic district walking tours, the hawk watch platform, and the beach
The Cape May-Lewes Ferry connects Cape May to Lewes, Delaware in 85 minutes and is worth taking as an experience in itself for views of the Delaware Bay
Asbury Park and the Jersey Shore
The Jersey Shore is not a single place but a 130-mile stretch of Atlantic coastline encompassing dozens of distinct communities, each with its own character and its own relationship to the ocean. At the northern end, the Shore communities closest to New York Sandy Hook, Sea Bright, Long Branch draw day-trippers from the city. In the middle, Asbury Park and the boardwalk communities of Ocean City and Wildwood anchor the culture that most people associate with the Jersey Shore. At the southern end, Stone Harbor and Avalon represent a quieter and more exclusive beach culture. Cape May at the very tip occupies its own category entirely.
Asbury Park deserves particular attention because it carries a cultural weight that goes considerably beyond its geography. The city was founded as a planned temperance resort in 1871 by James A. Bradley, developed into a major resort destination through the early 20th century, fell into severe decline through the 1970s and 1980s, and has undergone a remarkable creative renaissance since the early 2000s. The Stone Pony on Ocean Avenue, where Bruce Springsteen first performed in 1974 and where he has returned for surprise appearances ever since, is still an active music venue. The 1930 Convention Hall and the adjacent Paramount Theatre on the boardwalk have been restored and host major concerts. The boardwalk between Convention Hall and the casino building has become one of the finest stretches of public space on the New Jersey coast.
Popular Activities
The Stone Pony, Asbury Park the legendary music venue where Bruce Springsteen launched his career in 1974, still operating as an active club with outdoor summer stage concerts
Asbury Park Boardwalk a restored boardwalk between Convention Hall and the casino building with independent restaurants, bars, and the Asbury Park Festhalle and Biergarten
Ocean Grove a National Historic Landmark Victorian planned community adjacent to Asbury Park, founded as a Methodist camp meeting site in 1869, with a tent city that still operates each summer and one of the finest concentrations of Victorian cottages in New Jersey
Island Beach State Park, Seaside Park a 10-mile undeveloped barrier island beach, one of the last remaining natural barrier beaches on the Jersey Shore, with excellent surf fishing and tern nesting colonies
Wildwood’s Doo Wop architecture Wildwood preserves the largest collection of Doo Wop commercial architecture in the world, with over 200 mid-century modern motels, restaurants, and businesses in the exuberant Space Age style of the 1950s and 1960s
The Jersey Shore is quite busy from Memorial Day through Labor Day, with the peak weeks of July and August bringing enormous crowds to the most popular boardwalk communities. The shoulder seasons of June and September offer warm water temperatures with significantly reduced crowds and more available accommodation, and many Shore regulars consider September the finest month of the beach season.
The Jersey Shore has been drawing people to the Atlantic for over 150 years, and the boardwalk culture that developed along that coast the salt water taffy, the funnel cake, the amusement rides, the evening promenade is as genuinely American as anything the country has produced. When Bruce Springsteen wrote about the Shore it was not nostalgia, it was documentary. That particular combination of aspiration and working-class grit that runs through the boardwalk towns is still present, still recognizable, and still worth experiencing on its own terms rather than through the lens of what you think you already know about New Jersey.
The Pine Barrens
The New Jersey Pine Barrens known locally simply as the Pinelands cover approximately 1.1 million acres of the New Jersey coastal plain, roughly 22 percent of the entire state, making them the largest undeveloped tract of land on the Eastern Seaboard between Boston and Richmond, Virginia. The ecological uniqueness of the Pine Barrens is difficult to overstate: the region sits on a 17-trillion-gallon aquifer of exceptionally pure water, supports a flora of over 850 plant species including 54 that are threatened or endangered, and its cedar-stained rivers which run amber-colored from tannins leached from the surrounding cedar swamps are among the cleanest naturally flowing streams in the eastern United States. The area was designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1983, one of only a handful in the United States, and a National Reserve in 1978.
The cultural landscape of the Pine Barrens is as distinctive as the natural one. The region’s relative isolation for centuries produced the Pineys, a community of people who lived by the forest’s resources charcoal burning, bog iron smelting, glassmaking, cranberry and blueberry farming and developed a culture and a dialect distinct enough to attract the attention of sociologists and writers including John McPhee, whose 1968 book The Pine Barrens remains the finest portrait of the region. The ghost towns of Batsto Village, Atsion, and Harrisville represent the remains of the bog iron and glass industries that flourished here in the 18th and 19th centuries before anthracite coal made the Pine Barrens’ charcoal-fueled furnaces obsolete.
Highlights
Batsto Village, Wharton State Forest a remarkably complete 19th-century iron and glass industrial village with 33 preserved buildings open for tours, including the ironmaster’s mansion, the grist mill, and the workers’ cottages
Wading River, Batsto River, and Mullica River canoe and kayak routes amber-colored cedar streams through undisturbed Pine Barrens wilderness, with primitive camping on sandbars available through the state forest system
Cranberry harvest season in October New Jersey is the third largest cranberry-producing state in the country, and the flooded cranberry bogs in full harvest are one of the most visually dramatic agricultural spectacles in the Northeast
Carranza Memorial, Tabernacle a remote obelisk in the deep Pine Barrens marking where Mexican aviator Emilio Carranza crashed and died on July 12, 1928 while attempting a goodwill flight from Mexico City to New York
Pine Barrens tree frogs a species found only in the Pine Barrens and a few other southeastern coastal plain habitats, calling from the cedar swamps in spring and early summer in one of the most distinctive wildlife soundscapes in New Jersey
Recommended For
Paddlers and canoeists the Pine Barrens rivers offer some of the finest flatwater paddling in the Mid-Atlantic, with minimal current, clean water, and undisturbed wilderness shoreline
Naturalists and botanists the unique flora including carnivorous pitcher plants, sundews, and orchids in the bogs rewards careful attention
History enthusiasts the ghost town industrial villages represent a chapter of American industrial history almost nowhere else preserved in this completeness
Anyone who wants to experience genuine wilderness within two hours of 20 million people
Liberty State Park and Ellis Island, Jersey City
Liberty State Park occupies 1,212 acres on the Jersey City waterfront at the mouth of the Hudson River and provides the closest mainland vantage point for the Statue of Liberty and the most direct ferry access to both Liberty Island and Ellis Island. The park was developed on land formerly occupied by the Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal, a Beaux-Arts passenger terminal completed in 1889 that processed millions of immigrants from Ellis Island who then boarded trains to destinations across the country. The terminal building, vacant since 1967, has been stabilized and partially restored and stands as one of the most evocative architectural remnants of the immigration era in the New York Harbor area.
Ellis Island, accessible by ferry from Liberty State Park, processed approximately 12 million immigrants between its opening on January 1, 1892, and its closure in 1954 a figure representing roughly 40 percent of the current US population whose ancestors passed through the Great Hall. The Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration in the restored Main Building is one of the most visited historic sites in the United States, with interactive exhibits, a database of over 65 million immigration records searchable by family name, and the American Immigrant Wall of Honor inscribed with the names of over 700,000 immigrants honored by their descendants. The views of Lower Manhattan from the Liberty State Park waterfront are among the finest available from any publicly accessible location in the New York area.
What Visitors Can Explore
Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration the restored Great Hall of the Main Building where 12 million immigrants were processed between 1892 and 1954, with searchable immigration records for over 65 million individuals
The Statue of Liberty accessible by ferry from Liberty State Park, with pedestal and crown access available by advance reservation through the National Park Service
Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal the 1889 Beaux-Arts terminal where immigrants from Ellis Island boarded trains into the interior of the country, partially restored and open for exploration within Liberty State Park
Liberty State Park waterfront promenade a mile-long walkway with unobstructed views of Lower Manhattan, the Hudson River, and New York Harbor, free and open year-round
Liberty Science Center a major science museum adjacent to the park with interactive exhibits and an IMAX dome theater, one of the finest science education institutions in the New York metropolitan area
Recommended For
Families the combination of Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, Liberty Science Center, and the waterfront makes this a genuinely full-day family experience
History enthusiasts tracing immigrant ancestry the Ellis Island database is searchable and free online but has additional depth through the on-site research facilities
Photography and urban landscape enthusiasts the Manhattan skyline views from Liberty State Park are among the most dramatic in the New York area
Visitors approaching New York from New Jersey who want the finest harbor experience without Manhattan ferry prices and crowds
Neighborhoods Worth Exploring in New Jersey
In addition to popular tourist spots, people can check out different neighborhoods and towns located across New Jersey. The state’s density means that remarkable places are often within a few miles of each other, and the towns that most visitors drive past on the way to somewhere else frequently contain the most rewarding stops.
Hoboken
Known for:
A walkable waterfront city of about 60,000 people directly across the Hudson River from Midtown Manhattan, with the finest views of the New York skyline available from a walkable street level, and the birthplace of both Frank Sinatra in 1915 and the first professional baseball game on June 19, 1846, at Elysian Fields
Washington Street, a mile-long commercial corridor with independent restaurants, coffee shops, and bars that reflect the city’s mix of long-established Italian-American community and newer professional residents
A waterfront walkway running the full length of the Hudson River shoreline with unobstructed Manhattan views and direct PATH train access to Lower and Midtown Manhattan
Red Bank
Popular because of:
A Monmouth County river town on the Navesink River that has developed into one of the finest independent restaurant and arts destinations on the Jersey Shore, with a restaurant scene drawing visitors from across the region
The Count Basie Center for the Arts, a 1,500-seat performing arts center named for the jazz great who was born in Red Bank in 1904, hosting nationally recognized performers year-round
A concentration of antique shops, independent galleries, and boutiques that make Red Bank one of the most rewarding small-town shopping destinations in the state
Historic Downtown Princeton
Recommended for:
A genuinely beautiful college town built around Princeton University, founded 1746 as the College of New Jersey, with Nassau Hall completed in 1756 and the largest stone building in the American colonies at the time and a campus of exceptional architectural variety including buildings by Ralph Adams Cram, I.M. Pei, and Frank Gehry
Palmer Square, a colonial revival commercial district adjacent to the campus with independent bookshops, restaurants, and the Nassau Inn, which has operated as a tavern and inn since 1756
The Princeton University Art Museum, one of the finest university art museums in the country with a permanent collection of over 92,000 works, free to visit
The Institute for Advanced Study, where Albert Einstein worked from 1933 until his death in 1955, with a wooded campus open for walking
Outdoor Places to Visit in New Jersey
Those who enjoy being outdoors have many options in New Jersey, and the state’s variety from the barrier island beaches of the Shore to the Appalachian ridgeline in the northwest to the Pine Barrens wilderness in the center packs more ecological diversity into a small area than most visitors expect.
Recommended Outdoor Destinations
Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area 70,000 acres straddling the New Jersey-Pennsylvania border along the Delaware River, with 27 miles of the Appalachian Trail, waterfalls including Dingmans Falls and Buttermilk Falls, and some of the finest river canoeing in the Mid-Atlantic
Island Beach State Park a 10-mile undeveloped barrier island preserving the natural Atlantic shoreline as it existed before the development of the rest of the Jersey Shore, with tern and skimmer nesting colonies protected in the southern third of the park
High Point State Park New Jersey’s highest elevation at 1,803 feet above sea level, in Sussex County near the tri-state corner with New York and Pennsylvania, with a 220-foot obelisk monument at the summit and views across three states
Barnegat Lighthouse State Park a 172-foot 1859 lighthouse on the northern tip of Long Beach Island, one of the finest surviving 19th-century lighthouses on the New Jersey coast, with beach access and views of Barnegat Inlet
Such places tend to attract the largest number of visitors during the summer months for the Shore beaches and water recreation, and during the fall foliage season in late October when the Delaware Water Gap and the Kittatinny Ridge in the northwest produce exceptional color against the river landscape below.
Hidden Gems in New Jersey
In addition to the popular tourist attractions in New Jersey, there are several other places that people should visit when they go to this state. New Jersey’s density of history, culture, and natural variety means that genuinely remarkable places are often hidden in plain sight within a few miles of major highways.
Some of those places include:
Edison National Historic Site, West Orange the preserved laboratory complex where Thomas Edison invented the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and improved the incandescent light bulb, the most productive private research laboratory in American history, with Edison’s actual laboratory intact and his home Glenmont open for tours
Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton a 42-acre sculpture park and museum on the former grounds of the New Jersey State Fairgrounds, with over 270 works by American and international sculptors in landscaped outdoor settings, one of the finest sculpture parks in the country
Ringwood State Park a former iron-producing estate in the Ramapo Mountains with Ringwood Manor, a 51-room Victorian mansion that served as the headquarters of ironmaster Abram Hewitt and the American Iron Company during the Civil War, surrounded by 4,000 acres of forested Highlands terrain
Allaire State Park a preserved 19th-century bog iron industrial village in the Pine Barrens fringe with a working steam railroad, the New Jersey Museum of Transportation, and 3,000 acres of surrounding forest
The Macculloch Hall Historical Museum, Morristown the 1810 Federal-style mansion of George P. Macculloch, the man who conceived the Morris Canal and helped shape New Jersey’s early transportation network, with one of the largest private collections of original Thomas Nast political cartoons in the country
Thomas Edison’s laboratory complex in West Orange is the kind of place that reframes how you think about invention as a process. The building where Edison worked with a team of researchers and craftsmen on dozens of simultaneous projects is not a sleek modern facility it is a Victorian-era industrial complex that looks more like a small factory than a research institute, which is exactly the point. Edison understood invention as manufacturing: organized, systematic, iterative. Walking through the actual laboratory where the phonograph was developed, with the original equipment still present, makes that insight concrete in a way that no biography quite manages. New Jersey produced Edison and has been quietly holding his workshop for everyone to see ever since.
The above places provide a good opportunity for tourists to explore the local area instead of the crowded tourist destinations, and in New Jersey that often means turning off the Garden State Parkway or the Turnpike and finding something of genuine national significance within a few minutes of the exit ramp.
Best Time to Visit New Jersey
Several options are available for visiting New Jersey, and the right season depends considerably on which part of this geographically compact but ecologically diverse state you are prioritizing:
Summer season June through August is peak season for the Jersey Shore beaches, boardwalks, and barrier island communities. The Atlantic water temperature reaches the low 70s Fahrenheit in July and August the warmest beach water readily accessible from New York City and every Shore community is fully open and operating. Cape May’s Victorian resort culture is at its most animated. The Pine Barrens cedar streams are warm enough for swimming from canoes.
Fall season September through November is the finest season for Cape May birding, with the hawk watch at peak intensity through October and the songbird migration filling the bayberry and cedar thickets through November. The Delaware Water Gap and the Kittatinny Ridge produce excellent foliage through mid-October. September on the Jersey Shore offers the finest weather of the year with significantly reduced crowds.
Spring season April and May bring spring migration to Cape May in concentrations that rival the fall hawk watch, with warblers, shorebirds, and raptors moving north through the peninsula. The Princeton campus and the historic sites of Morristown and Trenton are at their most pleasant before summer heat arrives.
During these seasons, one may experience:
Comfortable temperatures for boardwalk walking, Pine Barrens paddling, Delaware Water Gap hiking, and Cape May Victorian district exploration
Migratory bird concentrations at Cape May that represent some of the most significant wildlife spectacles on the East Coast
Outdoor experiences across the Shore barrier islands, the Pine Barrens cedar rivers, and the Appalachian ridgeline that demonstrate the ecological range compressed into New Jersey’s 8,722 square miles
Travel Tips for Visiting New Jersey
Stay Close to Popular Places
One should stay in hotels near popular tourist spots to avoid traveling long distances to reach attractions. Cape May has a concentration of Victorian bed and breakfasts within the historic district that are among the most atmospheric accommodation options in New Jersey. For the northern Shore communities, Asbury Park has developed several boutique hotel options in the last decade. For Liberty State Park and Ellis Island, Jersey City’s growing hotel sector offers Manhattan proximity at lower prices. Princeton and the historic Morristown area both have established inn and hotel options for visitors exploring central New Jersey history.
Use Local Public Transportation
Rental cars and rideshare vehicles are common among tourists who visit New Jersey. However, New Jersey Transit is one of the more useful state rail systems in the country for tourists the North Jersey Coast Line connects New York Penn Station directly to Asbury Park and Bay Head, making the northern Shore communities accessible without a car. The Cape May-Lewes Ferry provides a scenic alternative to driving for visitors approaching from the south. Within the northern part of the state, the PATH train system connects Jersey City and Hoboken to Manhattan with high frequency. For the Pine Barrens, the Delaware Water Gap, and most of Cape May, a car is essential.
Go to Tourist Spots Early
Popular attractions have many visitors throughout the day, especially on weekends and holidays. Cape May hawk watch crowds peak between 9am and 11am on good flight days in October arriving when the platform opens and staying through the morning gives the finest viewing. Ellis Island ferry queues from Liberty State Park are shortest on weekday mornings and on days when Manhattan ferry departures are most in demand. Jersey Shore parking fills rapidly on summer weekend mornings at the most popular beach accesses arriving before 9am or using public transit on peak summer days is the most practical approach.
Explore Places Outside Tourist Locations
Some tourists discover Thomas Edison’s actual working laboratory in West Orange, 270 sculptures in a 42-acre Hamilton park, a Victorian Methodist camp meeting community still operating in tents adjacent to Asbury Park, and a Pine Barrens ghost town with a working steam railroad while exploring New Jersey. The state’s highway system widely mocked but genuinely efficient makes it possible to reach most of these places within 90 minutes of almost anywhere in the state, which is one of the more useful travel facts about New Jersey that its reputation tends to obscure.
Frequently Asked Questions About New Jersey
How many days do tourists need to stay in New Jersey?
The majority of tourists stay from 3 to 7 days in New Jersey, where they can visit the Jersey Shore, Cape May, Liberty State Park and Ellis Island, and either the Pine Barrens or the Delaware Water Gap depending on interest. Cape May alone rewards two full days. Asbury Park and the northern Shore communities can be covered in a day trip from New York or in an overnight stay. The Pine Barrens requires at least a full day and preferably an overnight canoe trip to experience its character properly.
Is New Jersey a good choice for a family vacation?
Yes, and across a wider range of interests than most families who have not visited might expect. The Jersey Shore boardwalk communities particularly Wildwood, Ocean City, and Seaside Heights are among the most family-oriented beach destinations on the East Coast, with amusement rides, water parks, miniature golf, and the full boardwalk experience. Liberty State Park and Ellis Island offer a genuinely excellent family history experience. The Delaware Water Gap has beginner-friendly hiking and river activities. Edison National Historic Site is excellent for families with older children interested in science and invention.
What kind of cuisine do tourists eat in New Jersey?
Tourists usually try the New Jersey pork roll known as Taylor Ham in North Jersey and pork roll in the south, a processed pork product developed by John Taylor of Trenton in 1856 that is a breakfast staple across the state and the subject of an identity debate that New Jerseyans take with remarkable seriousness. Beyond the pork roll, New Jersey pizza particularly the Trenton tomato pie style in which the cheese goes on first and the crushed tomatoes on top is a regional style distinct from New York pizza and genuinely worth seeking out. The Rutgers Scarlet Tomato, developed at Rutgers University in 1934, set the standard for what a New Jersey summer tomato should taste like, and the state’s farm stands in August produce tomatoes that the rest of the year cannot match. Italian ice from a Shore boardwalk stand is the definitive summer dessert.
Where do tourists prefer to stay when traveling to New Jersey?
Many tourists like to stay close to Cape May, Asbury Park, Jersey City near Liberty State Park, and Princeton. Cape May’s Victorian bed and breakfasts within the historic district are among the most distinctive accommodation options in the state. Jersey City has grown significantly as an accommodation base for New York visitors who want to avoid Manhattan hotel prices while maintaining easy transit access. For the Delaware Water Gap, the towns of Delaware Water Gap borough in Pennsylvania and Columbia in New Jersey both offer accommodation on opposite sides of the river.
Conclusion
New Jersey is a diverse state where tourists can see genuinely significant attractions the finest concentration of Victorian architecture in the United States in Cape May, the laboratory where Edison invented the phonograph and the motion picture camera, the closest mainland views of the Statue of Liberty, the largest undeveloped wilderness tract on the Eastern Seaboard between Boston and Richmond, and 130 miles of Atlantic boardwalk culture while also discovering interesting local places in a state that has been hiding them in plain sight along the Garden State Parkway for decades.
From walking Cape May’s Victorian historic district in the October light while raptors migrate overhead in numbers that stop birdwatchers in their tracks, paddling an amber-colored cedar river through Pine Barrens wilderness two hours from 20 million people, standing on the Liberty State Park waterfront with the Manhattan skyline reflected in the Hudson River at dusk, eating a pork roll egg and cheese on a hard roll from a Trenton diner, and hearing live music on the Stone Pony stage in Asbury Park on a summer Saturday night, there are many interesting things travelers can enjoy while exploring New Jersey.
Tourists visiting New Jersey often enjoy a combination of Victorian seaside resort culture at its most intact, Atlantic barrier island beach experiences, a Pine Barrens wilderness unlike anything else on the Eastern Seaboard, Revolutionary War and immigration history of national significance, and a food culture shaped by Italian, Portuguese, Latin American, and South Asian immigrant communities that has made New Jersey one of the most culinarily interesting states in the country per square mile.
Whether it is a holiday, vacation, special event, or anything else, there are always people who choose to visit New Jersey looking for memorable experiences and attractions and New Jersey, having endured the jokes for long enough, simply delivers them without comment and lets the experience speak for itself.
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