Cruising to the Monument
Statue Cruises is the only authorized official provider of tickets and tours to the Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island. There are 2 possible departure points. We embarked in The Battery at the southern tip of Manhattan in New York (the other one is in Jersey City).
The views from the boat looking down on Manhattan are a great start, even though it was pretty cloudy that morning.
Going up & way up
After about half an hour boat ride, we arrived at Liberty Island, got our headphones and started exploring.
We first went to the “first floor” looking up the monument. After 290 steps in total we arrived at the tip of the monument – the Crown. That second part is a nice-to-have – not really spectacular though. It’s rather cramped in there and because of the cloudy skies the views weren’t breath-taking. The experience of actually going up and down is the best part, really. The stairs are quite small. My BFF who has fear of heights needed to go back down after a few steps. And it’s hot in there!
Unfortunately we weren’t able to go to Ellis Island, because of the fact that a storm had destroyed the pier at the entrance point. But visiting Ellis Island is normally an option to take on the tour.
