How do you get from LaGuardia Airport to Downtown Manhattan?

The simplest way is to just take a cab. Of course, this is also the most expensive way. You can get a yellow cab at the taxi stands, or you can call a car service: Carmel (212-666-6666) and Dial 7 Car & Limo (212-777-7777) are the biggest car service companies in the city.

You can also take Super Shuttle (1-800-BLUE-VAN, or see the first Related Link below). This is your somewhat less simple but more moderately priced option.

Your cheapest (and most complicated) option is public transportation. Unlike JFK, LaGuardia is not accessible by subway, but the MTA-NYCTA operates a bus that runs between LaGuardia and Manhattan (the NYCTA is the city's transit authority, and they are part of the MTA, which is the New York State transit authority).

Unfortunately, the M60 bus only makes five stops in Manhattan, and they're all in Upper Manhattan: West 106th Street and Broadway (in the Morningside Heights neighborhood), West 116th Street and Broadway (also in Morningside Heights), West 125th Street and Amsterdam Avenue (in Harlem), West 125th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard (Harlem), East 125th Street and Lexington (East Harlem). So you will have to transfer from the bus to the subway.

See the second Related Link below for information about the M60 bus, and see the third Related Link for an M60bus schedule.

All five of these stops are near subway stations that will take you to Lower Manhattan, but you will want to get off at one of the 125th Street stops, so you can get an express train. All of the express trains stop at 125th Street. The subway ride from Upper Manhattan to Lower Manhattan will be 45 minutes to an hour on the local trains, and only 10 to 15 minutes on the express trains.

If you pay by MetroCard (instead of coins) you will get a free transfer from the bus to the subway, so the total cost would only be $2.25, which is the current bus and subway fare (as of November 2010). I'm assuming that you won't have a New York City MetroCard with you when you get off the plane, so, unless you can buy one at the airport, the total cost will be $4.50 for one bus fare and one subway fare. Still, $4.50 for a ride from LaGuardia to Lower Manhattan is by far the cheapest price you'll get.

The 1-2-3 (the red line) and the A-C-E (the blue line) will take you to Lower Manhattan on the West Side, and the 4-5-6 (the dark green line) will take you to Lower Manhattan on the East Side.

From West 125th Street and Amsterdam, you would walk two avenue blocks east to 125th Street and St. Nicolas Avenue (it'll go: Amsterdam Avenue ---> Morningside Avenue ---> St. Nicolas Avenue). At 125th Street and St. Nicolas Avenue, get on the Downtown A train (the A is express, the C is local, and the E is also local, but it doesn't run this far Uptown in Manhattan).

The stops on the A train, from 125th Street to Lower Manhattan, will be: 125th Street ---> 59th Street-Columbus Circle ---> 42nd Street-Port Authority Bus Terminal (connection available to the 42nd Street-Times Square Station) ---> 34th Street-Penn Station ---> 14th Street ---> West 4th Street ---> Canal Street ---> Chambers Street.

You will want to get off at either 14th Street (at 14th Street and 8th Avenue, at the northern edge of the West Village), West 4th Street (at 6th Avenue, in Greenwich Village), Canal Street (at 6th Avenue, at the western edge of Chinatown) or Chambers Street (at Church Street, in the Financial District, near Battery Park).

From West 125th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard, you can get the Downtown 2 or 3 trains (the 2 and 3 are express, the 1 is local). The station is at 125th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard, but it's called the 125th Street-Lenox Avenue Station because Lenox Avenue becomes Malcolm X Boulevard at 125th Street.

The stops on the 2 and 3 trains, heading Downtown from 125th Street, are: 125th Street-Lenox Avenue ---> 116th Street-Lenox Avenue ---> 110th Street-Central Park North ---> 96th Street ---> 72nd Street ---> 42nd Street-Times Square ---> 34th Street-Penn Station ---> 14th Street ---> Chambers Street.

You will want to get off at either 14th Street (at 7th Avenue, at the northern edge of the West Village) or Chambers Street (at West Broadway, in the Financial District, near Battery Park).

At 125th Street and Lexington, you can get the Downtown 4or 5 trains (the 4 and 5 are express, the 6 is local). The stops on the 4 and 5 trains, heading Downtown from 125th Street, are: 125th Street ---> 86th Street ---> 59th Street ---> 42nd Street-Grand Central Station ---> 14th Street-Union Square ---> Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall.

You will want to get off at 14th Street-Union Square or Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall. The 14th Street-Union Square Station is at 14th Street and Park Avenue, at the northern edge of Greenwich Village and the East Village. As the name suggests, the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall Station is in the City Hall neighborhood, at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge (at Centre Street).

See the fourth Related Link for a complete New York City subway map.