Gateway Region

The Gateway Region covers the densely populated northeastern corner of New Jersey across the Hudson River from New York City, the urban-and-suburban belt running from the Hudson Highlands south to the Raritan. The terrain is gently rolling — the Hudson Palisades rising along the river, the Watchung and Ramapo mountains breaking the western counties, and the broad alluvial plain of the Meadowlands filling the low ground at the center. Most of the state’s population lives here. Six counties cover the region. Essex holds Newark (the largest city in New Jersey); Hudson holds Jersey City and Hoboken; Bergen holds Hackensack, Fort Lee, and the Meadowlands Sports Complex; Passaic holds Paterson and the Great Falls; Middlesex holds Edison and New Brunswick (with Rutgers University); Union holds Elizabeth. Major attractions include the Liberty Science Center and Liberty State Park in Jersey City, the Newark Museum, the Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park, and the MetLife Stadium and Meadowlands complex in East Rutherford. Most trips here run as Manhattan-extensions or sports-and-museum themed. The Liberty State Park ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island handles the largest single-stream visitor traffic; MetLife Stadium runs Giants and Jets games; Hoboken’s waterfront and Frank Sinatra Park draw Manhattan day-trippers; Paterson’s Great Falls anchor the historical itinerary.