<p>does anyone know the easiest/best route to take in order to get from Yale to Princeton. I am visiting both schools and would appreciate any advice. THANKS</p>
<p>mapquest- it’s not a bad drive.</p>
<p>actually i wouldn’t have access to a car so id have to take trains probably</p>
<p>Take the train from campus to Princeton Junction, then take a train to NY Penn Station (be sure you get off at NEW YORK Penn Station, some people get confused and get off at Penn Station in Newark!). You can see schedules at njtransit.com</p>
<p>I think you have to take a Metro North train to New Haven from Grand Central Station, so you’ll need to get from Penn Station to Grand Central (I’m not a New Yorker, so I don’t know the best mode of transportation between the two). [mta.info</a> | Metro-North Railroad](<a href=“http://as0.mta.info/mnr/schedules/sched_form.cfm]mta.info”>MTA Schedules) </p>
<p>Have fun visiting!</p>
<p>It will cost more, but you can go from New Haven to New York via Amtrak and then switch to an Amtrak train, right in Penn Station, that goes to Princeton, or go via NJ Transit. That way you won’t have to navigate the subway system to get from Grand Central to Penn Station.</p>
<p>This trip is completely do-able by train. The New Haven train station is about a mile from the Old Campus at Yale, and trains will take you from there right to the edge of the Princeton campus. There is a real cost-time-complication-comfort trade-off, though. Amtrak is fastest and most convenient, most comfortable, and least complicated, but more than double the cost of the commuter trains. And if you go all-commuter-train, you have the extra challenge (which is not that challenging, but maybe a little scary the first time) of taking two subways to get from Grand Central Station to Penn Station in Manhattan (and also walking the equivalent of a couple of long blocks underground, with hundreds of other people who know what they are doing and want to move faster than you).</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The simplest (and most expensive) thing to do is to take an Amtrak train from New Haven that stops at Princeton Junction. There used to be lots of them; I think there are still a few.</p></li>
<li><p>If that doesn’t work, the next simplest (and second most expensive) is to take an Amtrak train from New Haven to NY Penn Station, and transfer there (in Penn Station) to the NJ Transit train to Trenton, which stops at Princeton Junction, and runs at least hourly, and sometimes every 30 minutes. There may be other trains that only go as far as Princeton Junction – not sure about that. This is an easy train change, essentially involves walking down a single, well-marked flight of stairs.</p></li>
<li><p>The cheapest, slowest, and most complicated way is to take a Metro North commuter train from New Haven to Grand Central Station. At Grand Central Station, you go into the subway system, and follow the signs to the Times Square Shuttle (a separate subway line that runs between GCS and TS with no other stops). At Times Square you follow the signs (and a lot of people) either to the Broadway IRT Line (1,2,3 trains) or the 8th Avenue IND (A train, I think). Take any train heading south/downtown one stop, to the Penn Station stop. Follow the signs to NJ Transit, and take the Trenton train to Princeton Junction.</p></li>
<li><p>In all cases, once you get to Princeton Junction there is a short-line train called (I think) The Dinky that takes you from the Amtrak/NJ Transit Princeton Junction station to the Princeton campus (2-3 miles away). The Princeton website should give you information about the Dinky. I think it’s basically coordinated with the Amtrak trains.</p></li>
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<p>JHS, you can no longer go from New Haven to Princeton without switching in NYC. The trains which originate in Boston all skip Princeton. Sad, but true (I just double-checked Amtrak’s website). </p>
<p>And yes, it’s called The Dinky. :)</p>
<p>Oops, sorry, I gave backward directions</p>