Adding Ellis Island to the day

What waits on the island

Roughly 12 million people came through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1954, the years it served as the country's main immigration station. The restored main building now houses the National Museum of Immigration. Most visitors head first for the Registry Room, also called the Great Hall, where new arrivals queued for inspection under the high vaulted ceiling. On the ground floor, the baggage room shows the trunks and bundles people carried across an ocean.

Outside, the American Immigrant Wall of Honor lists hundreds of thousands of names on steel panels facing the Manhattan skyline. Families come looking for their own. Inside, the family history research center lets you search the arrival records, and it is the one part of the island where you can lose an afternoon without noticing.

Which tours include Ellis Island

All five landing options on the home page can take you there, but in different ways.

• ExperienceFirst, 4-hour option. From ~$59, the guide walks the grounds with you, then you take the museum on your own with the audio guide;
• Walks, 4-hour option. From ~$59, a brief introduction from the guide, then the official audio guide. Reviewers who expected a live guide on Ellis felt misled;
• Babylon Tours. From ~$166, about 70 minutes on the island, with a briefing first and the museum and Wall of Honor at your own pace;
• The official ticket. From ~$31, it covers both islands, and the audio guide does the explaining;
• The Wall Street walk. From ~$39, the ferry ticket lets you continue to Ellis on your own after Liberty Island, if time allows.

The 2-hour express options of ExperienceFirst and Walks finish on Liberty Island. Your ferry ticket still lets you ride on to Ellis afterward, but without a guide, and only if the clock allows it.

Guided outside, self-guided inside

No live guide may lead a group through the Ellis Island museum. Whatever you book, a guide can only set the scene on the grounds or on the boat, and the exhibits themselves come through the audio guide. The difference between tours lies in what happens before you walk in. ExperienceFirst's 4-hour version spends time outdoors on the island with you, while Walks keeps its introduction short.

Most complaints about Ellis on guided tours come from people who did not know this. The audio guide comes with every ticket, and reviewers describe it as detailed. For the wider trade-off, read ferry ticket or guided tour.

The afternoon cutoff

Start after about 1–2 pm and Ellis Island gets squeezed out. The official ticket says as much in its listing, and ExperienceFirst warns that its afternoon tours may not reach the second island. The last boats back run in the late afternoon, and security can eat an hour or more before you even board.

The order of the stops depends on where you start. From Battery Park in Manhattan, the ferry calls at Liberty Island first and Ellis second. From Liberty State Park in New Jersey it runs the other way, Ellis first. Battery Park or Liberty State Park compares the two docks, and when to visit the statue covers the quieter months and the first ferry.

How long to give it

The official ticket suggests about two hours on Liberty Island and one on Ellis, and the full day with both islands and security tends to run 4–6 hours. One hour on Ellis covers the Great Hall and the main exhibits at a steady pace. A family searching for a relative's name, or anyone who reads every panel, should allow two. The research center has its own rules, and the official ticket lists genealogical research among the things it does not cover, so ask at the center what is available on the day.

The abandoned hospital, by hard hat

South of the museum stand the hospital buildings where sick arrivals were treated, closed for decades and never restored. Save Ellis Island's hard-hat tour, from ~$67, takes up to 15 people through them for 90 minutes, past photo installations by the artist JR that put faces back in the empty wards. It starts at the information desk inside the museum. The catch is that the ferry is not included, so you need an official ticket as well, and the tour leaves on time; one group that came off a ferry five minutes late was left behind. The Viator listing also bars children under 10, and the route is not wheelchair accessible.

The ferry company also offers a hard-hat option bundled with its official ticket, for adults 13 and over, at about $55 on top. The two age rules differ, so check the listing you book against the youngest person in your group. Families weighing either version will find more in the statue with kids.

Making Ellis the main event

Some visitors care more about Ellis than about the statue, often because a grandparent came through it. In that case, a 4-hour option or the official ticket on an early boat gives you the time. Buying the cheapest 2-hour express and hoping to squeeze Ellis in afterward rarely works on a busy day. For the price gap between those options, see what a Statue of Liberty tour costs.