Visiting Ellis Island

Is Ellis Island included with the Statue of Liberty ticket?

Yes. The National Park Service states that all ferry tickets include access to the Statue of Liberty Museum and the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration, and it charges no entrance fee on either island.

The ticket you buy is for the ferry, and the ferry is a loop: Manhattan or New Jersey, Liberty Island, Ellis Island, and back. Statue City Cruises is the only ferry service the National Park Service authorizes to carry visitors to Liberty and Ellis Islands, so a General Admission, Pedestal Reserve or Crown Reserve ticket covers Ellis Island. The operator lists General Admission as including round-trip ferry transportation from New York or New Jersey, access to both islands, admission to both museums and self-guided audio tours in 12 languages; Park Service ranger tours are free. The guided tours sold on GetYourGuide ride the same boat with a guide beside you. What a ticket does not include, unless you choose that option, is the inside of the statue; that choice is explained in the tickets guide.

What is in the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration?

The restored Main Immigration Building of 1900, including the Registry Room where arrivals were inspected, with exhibits on the station and the people who passed through it.

The museum opened in the restored Main Building in September 1990; President Lyndon B. Johnson's 1965 proclamation had added Ellis Island to the Statue of Liberty National Monument. The building is the main exhibit: it replaced the wooden station destroyed by fire on June 15, 1897, and from December 17, 1900 until the station closed in November 1954 it was the first stop for arriving immigrants. The first person processed on the island, on January 1, 1892, was Annie Moore, a teenage girl from Ireland; the last detainee released, in November 1954, was a Norwegian seaman named Arne Peterssen. A self-guided audio tour is included with the ferry ticket, and the American Immigrant Wall of Honor outside lets families add a name through the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation; the Babylon small-group tour's listing names the Wall of Honor among its inclusions.

What is the Ellis Island Hard Hat Tour?

A 90-minute guided tour of the unrestored hospital complex on the island's south side, run by Save Ellis Island, a non-profit partner of the National Park Service. It is booked separately from the ferry ticket.

The Main Hospital Building opened in March 1902, followed by the Contagious Disease Hospital, the Psychopathic Ward and the Isolation Wards. Those buildings were not restored, and the tour, with hard hats provided on site, walks through the Laundry Building, the Infectious Disease Wards, the kitchens and service areas, the medical examination spaces, the mortuary, and the outdoor courtyards and connecting passageways. Two things to check before booking: the minimum age is 13 per the ferry operator (the tour's own site says 10), and tour times change seasonally, so confirm both when you book, online in advance or at the Information Desk on Ellis Island. The ferry operator estimates an Ellis-focused visit with the Hard Hat Tour at 3 hours or more, not counting ticketing, security screening or boarding waits.

Can I look up my family's records on Ellis Island?

Yes. The American Family Immigration History Center on Ellis Island, run by the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, gives access to a searchable database of passenger arrival records.

The Foundation's database began with passenger manifests for Ellis Island and the Port of New York between 1820 and 1954; its current search interface spans arrival years from 1790 to 1974 and includes historical arrival records from major ports across the United States. The official Statue City Cruises ferry listing names genealogical research access among its inclusions. A surname, a rough year and a port make the search faster. The National Park Foundation states that over 40 percent of America's population can trace its ancestry through Ellis Island; "most Americans" is the common version, not the official one.

How long do you need on Ellis Island?

Allow a half day for both islands: the official ferry listing says to allow 4 to 6 hours in total, and the ferry operator estimates an Ellis-focused visit with the Hard Hat Tour at 3 hours or more.

Those figures exclude ticketing, the security screening at The Battery or Liberty State Park, and the wait to board. The guided listings give a sense of the split: ExperienceFirst and Walks offer a 2-hour Express or a 4-hour option, City Wonders lists 4 hours and ends on Ellis Island, Babylon lists 3 hours. Where a listing does not say how its time divides between the islands, the table says so.

When should I take the ferry to see both islands?

Before 1 pm, per the National Park Service; the ferry operator says entry after 2 pm does not leave enough time for both islands. Ellis Island is the one that gets cut.

The ferry runs as a loop and the last boats leave the islands in the early evening, with the last Ellis Island departure later than the last from Liberty Island on the current schedule, so a late start means choosing between the statue and the museum. The time printed on a ferry ticket is the time to join the security queue, not the sailing time, so plan the subway or light rail around it. The Walks listing notes that only its earliest booking gets the first ferry, and the ExperienceFirst listing warns that afternoon Express tours may lack time for Ellis Island. In winter the schedule is shorter, and on December 24 the last entry to the monument is the earliest of the year. For the docks, the subway stops and the Liberty State Park option, see the getting-there guide.

The ExperienceFirst 4-hour option puts a guide beside you on the ferry and on Ellis Island, with Immigration Museum entry and audio guide listed as included.

Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island Guided Tour with Ferry · 2 or 4 hours · Shared or private

Book this →

Is Ellis Island in New York or New Jersey?

Both. Under the 1834 compact New York kept jurisdiction over the original island, and in 1998 the Supreme Court held that New Jersey has sovereign authority over the landfill added after 1834, which is most of today's island.

The 1834 New York-New Jersey Compact let New York retain its jurisdiction over Bedlow's and Ellis's islands while the surrounding waters went to New Jersey. Ellis Island was then enlarged with fill, and in New Jersey v. New York (1998) the Supreme Court ruled that the filled land belongs to New Jersey while the original island stays with New York. Liberty Island, the former Bedloe's Island, received the same treatment under the compact, so the statue stands on federal land within New York's jurisdiction, surrounded by New Jersey waters; the 1998 ruling concerned Ellis Island's landfill, not the statue. For visitors the question is moot: both islands are federal property run by the National Park Service.

Where did immigrants arrive before 1892 and after 1954?

Before Ellis Island opened on January 1, 1892, arrivals at the Port of New York were recorded in manifests that the Foundation's database covers back to 1820; after the station closed in November 1954 the island sat empty until it joined the national monument in 1965.

Because the Foundation's original database covered passenger manifests for the Port of New York as well as Ellis Island from 1820 onward, an ancestor who landed in New York before 1892 can still appear in a search without having passed through Ellis Island. The first federal building on the island opened on January 1, 1892, burned on June 15, 1897, and was replaced by the present Main Building in 1900. After the last detainee was released in November 1954 the station closed, and it stayed closed until the 1965 proclamation and the 1990 museum.

Frequently asked questions