Princeton & Lambertville

Princeton and Lambertville make a natural pairing for a New Jersey day trip that combines Ivy League campus architecture with a Delaware River antiques and arts town. Princeton lies 80 kilometers (50 miles) from New York City and 60 kilometers (37 miles) from Philadelphia. By NJ Transit, the Northeast Corridor line from Penn Station New York to Princeton Junction, followed by the two-minute Dinky shuttle to Nassau Street, takes about 1h15 with a combined one-way fare of roughly $20. By car, I-95 or I-295 South from New York connects to Route 1 South toward Princeton in about one hour in light traffic. Princeton University's main campus is open to the public year-round. Nassau Hall, the oldest building on campus and a National Historic Landmark, fronts Cannon Green at the center of the grounds. The Princeton University Art Museum, recently completing a major expansion, holds a permanent collection of more than 115,000 objects spanning Greek antiquities, European old masters, and 20th-century American works; admission to the permanent collection is free. The Princeton University Chapel, one of the finest collegiate Gothic structures in North America, is open to visitors without charge. Nassau Street, which borders the south edge of campus, offers independent bookshops, the Garden Theatre cinema at 160 Nassau Street, and several restaurants within easy walking distance of the main gate. Lambertville lies 25 kilometers (15 miles) southwest of Princeton along the Delaware River, a 25-minute drive via Route 29 South. No transit connects the two towns directly, so a car or rideshare is needed for this leg. The town center along Bridge Street and Union Street concentrates more than 60 antique dealers, galleries, and design shops in a compact street grid open primarily Wednesday through Sunday. The Delaware River towpath, accessible from the south end of Bridge Street, follows the former Delaware and Raritan Canal and provides a flat unpaved path between Lambertville and New Hope, Pennsylvania, linked by a free pedestrian bridge across the river. Lambertville Station restaurant at 11 Bridge Street, housed in a restored 1867 railroad depot on the riverbank, serves American cuisine at lunch and dinner with Delaware River views.