Liberty Harbor RV Park, NJ Near New York City Review

by Julie Bennett
Updated: April 10, 2022
2 Comments

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We would not normally plan to take a big RV anywhere near New York City, but we booked a stay at Liberty Harbor RV Park to coincide with a visit from one of Julie’s friends from Australia who was going to be in NYC for a wedding. This is one of the closest campgrounds to the Big Apple. We had a terrible drive into the city, with our RV GPS failing us multiple times. We heard from other visitors that also had GPS fails, trying to take the under low bridges, through tunnels or other challenges. So if you go… plan your route in advance and double check with the campground folks or other locals.

Date of Stay: October 2015

Overview

Liberty Harbor RV Park is a relatively small park, as you might expect, being so close to New York City. It is part of a harbor in New Jersey. A short walk/bike ride from Liberty Park which has fantastic views of the NYC skyline. The RV park allows for very quick and easy access into the city with a subway station approximately a 10 minute walk away. The park itself is little more than a gravel parking lot with 50 partial hook-up sites (water and electric only, but there is a dump station as well. Most folks probably only stay a few days, so full-hook-up probably isn’t that important.

Address: 11 Marin Blvd, Jersey City, NJ 07032. Telephone: 201–516–7500.

RV Sites

It is relatively level, but VERY tight. To give you an example of how tight it is, we have a 36′ class A motorhome with 4 slides We used every bit of the length, and once we extended our slides, we were literally on the line of our campsite. We couldn’t exit our coach without stepping onto our neighbor’s site. Fortunately, our neighbor had a travel tailer with no slides. So that afforded us a few extra inches of breathing room. We tow a small MINI Cooper Convertible on a tow dolly. And your tow vehicle / dolly MUST fit entirely on your campsite. If it does not, you will have to pay extra to park it in the storage area. Fortunately, ours did. As our dolly slides most of the way under the rear of the motorhome.

At the time of writing this review, campsites were just shy of $100 per night (plus tax) and additional parking $20 per vehicle, if they do not fit on your campsite. If you stay 6 nights, you get the 7th night free (not including holidays or holiday weekends). So it’s not cheap for a tight spot in basically a parking lot. But hey, you’re a hop, skip and a jump from NYC and it’s still cheaper than a hotel in the city. They also offer tent camp sites. Visit their website for details on current rates.

There was a high-rise under construction just over the fence from the campground, and was noisy during daylight hours. Worked stop at night, so it was OK to get a night’s sleep.

Area Attractions

Most people who are RV camping near downtown NY, or camping in NJ are not staying here to hang out at their site. This is NOT a campground. We imagine most are using it as a base for them to visit family, friends, or the sites of NYC. They are therefore not hanging out at their site much of the time anyway. The RV park feels safe and secure for being in a big city. The park is open year round, but we can’t imagine wanting to stay here in winter. Yikes!

Pros

Proximity to NYC attractions
Nice short bike ride or ferry ride to Liberty park which is very nice
Easy and quick access to the city
Feels safe and secure with 24 hour security
Some sites will indeed accommodate a big rig, but it would be tight fit

Cons

Extremely tight spaces unless you have a small RV
Big city ‘energy’ is very evident. Not tranquil
Need to pay extra for parking your tow vehicle/trailer if it does not fit completely on your campsite
Can be a tricky and stressful drive in, especially with larger RVs (ours is 36′)
Expensive campsites, but still cheaper than most NYC hotels

WIFI & Mail

Being in a big city, we definitely had good cell coverage, but we didn’t test it much because we were hardly at the coach. We were exploring the city of Manhattan!

We did not receive any packages here, and probably would not recommend trying to. But if you need a delivery, check with the office first.

Summary

If you want a way to have quick access to NYC or Jersey City from your RV, this RV park will definitely fill that need. But you will need to be ready for a very tight and cramped space.

Campground Rating: 2/5

Other Comments

We have since heard that there are some nice campgrounds in CT that are relatively easy to access the city from the trains/subways and yet are much more tranquil and spacious. Be sure to check those out as an option.

We headed from Liberty Harbor RV Park to a campground in our Thousand Trails network of campgrounds. Being Thousand Trails members, we can stay for no nightly fee. It saves us a ton of money as full time RVers, but can even save money for those who RV much less.