Big pizza, skyline views, and waterfront strolls in Jersey City, N.J. | Field Trip

Most Philadelphians’ experience with Jersey City begins and ends at the mouth of the Holland Tunnel on the way into Lower Manhattan. Except for those who know food.

Jersey City is one of the state’s best towns for eating and drinking, supported by long-standing immigration and cross-river relocation from New York. Between meals, you’ll find a city that’s at turns gritty and lovely, neighborly and human-scale in a way that makes it feel, to Philadelphians, as warm and familiar as a Champion sweatsuit. (It also has a really nice waterfront from which we could learn a thing or two.)

It’s only 90 miles and about 90 minutes away, depending on traffic. And if you must, you can easily pair it with a visit to New York.

Start the car.

A hotel with a story to tell — whether it’s luxurious or eccentric or charming — is always ideal for a weekend getaway. But when corporate keys are what’s available, you can do much worse than Hyatt’s Hyatt House sub-brand. Jersey City’s Hyatt House is relatively new and reliably clean, with great beds, a rooftop deck, and a modicum of style. What more could you ask for? How about a skyline view? Upgraded rooms facing Manhattan are bookable in April for under $300.

📍 1 Exchange Pl., Jersey City, N.J. 07302

“Bakery” is a limiting descriptor for what Rick Easton does at Bread and Salt on Palisade Avenue, opposite the Hoboken border. Sugared bomboloni, esoteric Italian cookies and crostadas, suppli, thin-crusted pizzas, cups of stewy beans begging for a heel of crusty bread, curly punatarelle salad, Lent-friendly fish specials on Fridays. It’s an inspiring operation. Get more than you think you need. Then get more to bring home.

📍 435 Palisade Ave., Jersey City, N.J. 07307

Hemmed in by the NJ Turnpike extension and the Hudson River, Liberty State Park encompasses 1,200 acres of greenspace (about half under ongoing revitalization) and miles of scenic waterfront trails perfect for spring strolling. Pause at the 9/11 Empty Sky Memorial. If you’re traveling with kids (or adult dinosaur fans), check out the immersive T. Rex Experience at Liberty Science Center, whose planetarium dome you’ve probably seen from the Turnpike driving home from New York.

📍 1 Audrey Zapp Dr., Jersey City, N.J. 07305

Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty are typically associated with New York, not New Jersey, but the sites actually fall under an unusual joint-custody arrangement. It’s also much less of a headache to visit from Jersey City; no downtown traffic to get through, way thinner crowds. The ferry departs right from the Liberty State Park and visits both islands in a single ticketed experience.

📍 1 Audrey Zapp Dr., Jersey City, N.J. 07305

No one: You know what we really need in Jersey City? An Irish-Mexican cocktail bar. The acclaimed Dead Rabbit crew: Bienvenidos a San Patricios. Open last year, the cantina/pub celebrates the little-known 19th-century brotherhood between Ireland and Mexico. Stop in before dinner for something thematic: a palmona spiked with Irish moonshine, frozen horchata café con leche with Lost Irish Whiskey, or the Countess, a rum-and-Guinness hibiscus mule.

📍 8 Erie St. A, Jersey City, N.J. 07302

At Razza, Dan Richer makes some of the best pizzas in the county, a mix of reliables (the fermented chile-flamed Calabrese; the yellow-and-red tomato pie dusted in 36-month-old Parm-Reg) and hyperseasonal creations like last spring’s mosaic of mozzarella, asparagus, nettles, spinach, and ramp pesto. Bread and butter might seem redundant when you’re having pizza for dinner, but you cannot miss the tawny, crusty sourdough, served with tangy house-cultured butter made from grass-fed Pennsylvania cows.

📍 275 Grove St., Jersey City, N.J. 07302

Family-owned and spanning three generations, Torico Ice Cream is the charming scoop shop every neighborhood wishes it had. Towering atop house-made waffle cones, you’ll find classics like chocolate-marshmallow, mint-chip, and a notably excellent strawberry, but Torico’s secret sauce is the tropical ice creams and sorbet like passionfruit, guava, and soursop that nod to the Berrios clan’s native Puerto Rico.

📍 20 Erie St., Jersey City, N.J. 07302