Governors Island Ferry: Fares, Piers, Times and Views

What a Ticket Costs

A single ticket covers the round trip. Once you have paid $5 you can board any return ferry, so there is no need to plan your day around a specific boat. Tickets are sold online and become available on the first of the preceding month, and any change to a booking needs 48 hours notice.

Bikes go on board at no extra charge, and every ferry is wheelchair accessible.

Frequency and Last Boats

Weekday ferries run every 30 minutes. On weekends the gap shortens to every 15 minutes, with service running from 10AM to 6PM on the core schedule. Evening boats run later than the 6PM cut-off: until 10pm Sunday to Thursday and 11pm on Friday and Saturday. If you want the free ride, arrive on a weekend morning before 11am and the $5 fare drops to nothing.

A separate seasonal service also matters. The Brooklyn ferries from Red Hook and Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 6 run on weekends and holidays from May 23 to November 1, 2026, so the Manhattan departure at the Battery Maritime Building is the one to use on weekdays.

• Weekdays: every 30 minutes
• Weekends: every 15 minutes from 10AM to 6PM
• Last boats: 10pm Sunday to Thursday, 11pm Friday and Saturday
• Brooklyn departures: weekends and holidays from May 23 to November 1, 2026

The NYC Ferry Alternative

NYC Ferry also runs a seasonal Governors Island shuttle from Wall Street/Pier 11. It takes about 8 minutes, operates on summer weekends and holidays and is first come, first served. The last scheduled shuttle back leaves Governors Island at 5:30 PM, and the NYC Ferry ticket office at Pier 11 opens 8 AM to 7 PM daily.

NYC Ferry charges its own fares, listed at $4 one way on ferry.nyc and $4.50 on Wikipedia, so it is not the same ticket as the $5 island round trip. For the full route network and fare structure of that system, see the NYC Ferry guide.

The Battery Maritime Building, 10 South Street

This is the main year-round gateway. The ferry slip at 10 South Street connects to the 1, 4, 5 and R trains and the M9, M15, M20 and M55 buses. Slip 7 runs the half-hourly public ferries to Governors Island year-round. The crossing takes about seven minutes.

The building itself is worth arriving early for. It was built from 1906 to 1909 in Beaux-Arts style and became a city landmark in 1967. Its upper floors now hold Casa Cipriani, a 47-room hotel that opened in 2021. It stands a short walk from the Whitehall terminal used by the Staten Island Ferry, a free ride with its own harbor views.

Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 6

Pier 6 serves the island on weekends and holidays during the seasonal run from May 23 to November 1, 2026. If you are coming from Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill or Downtown Brooklyn, this departure saves the subway ride into Manhattan. The Buttermilk Channel between Brooklyn and the island is 400 yards wide.

The same seasonal rule applies to the Red Hook dock.

Red Hook / Atlantic Basin

The third departure point is Red Hook/Atlantic Basin, at Atlantic Basin. Like Pier 6, the Red Hook ferry runs on weekends and holidays from May 23 to November 1, 2026. The South Brooklyn route of NYC Ferry also stops at Red Hook, so it is reachable by that network from Manhattan or from Bay Ridge and Sunset Park.

The Skyline and the Harbor

Lower Manhattan lies across about 800 yards of water. The 792-foot neo-Gothic Woolworth Building, designed by Cass Gilbert and the world's tallest from 1913 to 1929, is one of the towers to look for, and the 821-foot Jenga Tower at 56 Leonard Street, designed by Herzog & de Meuron and completed in 2017, stands out for its stacked blocks. Look across the harbor and the Statue of Liberty rises 305 feet 1 inch from ground to torch, dedicated in 1886, with Ellis Island beside it, the entry point for about 12 million immigrants between 1892 and 1954.

Brooklyn lies across the Buttermilk Channel.

Forts, Hills and Open Ground

The island's two monuments date from the early republic. Fort Jay was rebuilt from 1806 to 1809 as a five-pointed star, and Castle Williams is a four-tier sandstone circle 40 feet high and 210 feet across, built between 1807 and 1811. Both belong to the First and Second American Systems of Fortification and today form a 22-acre National Park Service monument, with the other 150 acres run by the Trust for Governors Island.

The Hills section, built in the 2010s, ranges from 26 to 70 feet high and lifts the harbor views further. Practical notes from govisland.com: the island is open 7 AM to 6 PM from Labor Day through Memorial Day, an accessible tram runs every 30 minutes from Memorial Day to Labor Day, outside food is allowed but outside alcohol is not, and no personal vehicles are allowed. The island went year-round in 2021 after years of May to October seasons.

Cruises That Pass the Island

Several tours in the comparison name Governors Island among the landmarks passed. The Statue and Skyline Yacht Cruise from Classic Harbor Line costs $60 per person for 1.5 hours and includes one drink, with the captain giving the narration. The New York Sunset and Skyline Lights Cruise costs $45 per person for 2 hours and runs from golden hour into the lit skyline. The Starship 90-Minute Landmark Cruise is the cheapest at $26 per person. The New York Golden Hour Cruise costs $38 per person for 2 hours. And the Brooklyn Sailboat Tour sails for 2.5 hours from Brooklyn Bridge Park for $95 per person, and its listing names Governors Island among the sights.

These cruises do not land on Governors Island. If you want to walk the forts and the Hills, take the ferry first. For the full range of guided options, see the comparison of New York architecture boat tours.

From 69 Acres to 172

Governors Island now covers 172 acres and sits about 800 yards south of Manhattan. The original island was only 69 acres. The Army added 103 acres of fill dug from subway excavation, with the work finished by January 1913.

The Buttermilk Channel, 400 yards wide, separates it from Brooklyn.

Sold for a Dollar

The Coast Guard held the island until 1996 and had 4,000 personnel there by 1985. On January 31, 2003 the federal government sold it to New York for a nominal $1, along with 32 underwater acres. The 2003 split gave 22 acres to the National Park Service monument and 150 acres to the Trust for Governors Island.

Deed restrictions ban permanent housing and casinos. After years of May to October seasons, the island went year-round in September 2021.

A Natural End to a Ferry Day

If you would rather see the island from the water than walk it, the Circle Line Full Manhattan Boat Tour aims for a full lap of Manhattan for $39 per person, a lap the operator does not guarantee, and several shorter cruises pass its shore. The homepage has more on every New York architecture boat tour worth comparing.

What the Rules Say

No personal vehicles are allowed on Governors Island, so plan to walk or take the accessible tram, which runs from Memorial Day to Labor Day every 30 minutes. Outside food is allowed but outside alcohol is not. Bikes travel free, with no surcharge.

Tickets go on sale online on the first of the preceding month, and changes need 48 hours notice. The slip at 10 South Street connects to the 1, 4, 5 and R trains and the M9, M15, M20 and M55 buses.

Towers to Spot Before Boarding

The queue outside the Beaux-Arts terminal is a vantage point in itself. The Woolworth Building, 792 feet tall and designed by Cass Gilbert in neo-Gothic style, opened on April 24, 1913 and was the world's tallest until 1929. Look for 56 Leonard Street nearby, 821 feet of stacked floors by Herzog & de Meuron, nicknamed the Jenga Tower and completed in 2017.

The upper floors of the terminal itself hold Casa Cipriani, a 47-room hotel that opened in 2021.

Boats That Pair with the Island

For a fuller guided circuit of the harbor that takes in this shore plus the Statue of Liberty, the Statue and Skyline Yacht Cruise runs 90 minutes for $60 per person on a 1920s-style yacht. Details of other routes sit in the guide to the NYC Ferry.