A peninsula at the bottom of the county with water on three sides, four light-rail stops, and more houses with driveways than anywhere else this close to the harbor. Bayonne is where I send buyers who want a yard and a two-car garage without giving up the train.
Bayonne is a peninsula with water on three sides, a light rail down the east edge and Broadway running the whole length of it, thirty-odd blocks of bakeries, barbers and pizzerias. I show homes here but I do not live here, so I built this day from the places locals rate highest, and I am walking it myself. Every place is real. The map is real. Scroll, and I'll walk you through it. Tap any stop for the full story.
An Italian coffee bar on the east side of the peninsula, open from six on weekdays. Espresso, a croissant, and back out to the bay.
The bakery Bayonne measures the others against, on Broadway since 1924. The sprinkled doughnut is the order; take a box for the office.
The train that made Bayonne a commuter town: the light rail up the east edge to Jersey City, Hoboken and the PATH, with a parking lot at the station.
From here it is a walk to the 34th Street light rail station on Avenue E, about 20 minutes on foot from the park, then the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail north to Jersey City and Hoboken.
Pizza is the thing Bayonne argues about, and this is the room on lower Broadway with more than two decades of arguments behind it. A slice at the counter for lunch.
A barbershop on Avenue C that treats the cut as an hour off: hot towel, face mask, the massage chair. Book ahead; it opens at six on Saturdays.
A Carnegie library from 1904 at the corner of 31st Street, open until nine on weeknights. The free rainy-afternoon hour with small children, and a building worth the visit on its own.
The city's biggest park, at the bottom of the peninsula on the Kill Van Kull, with the spray park and the playgrounds for the after-school hour.
Dinner in a building that was once Bayonne's Town Hall and jail, in business since 1884. Steak, a beer in the garden out back, and the woodwork to look at.
The dressed-up dinner on upper Broadway: hand-cut steaks, house-made pasta and a wood-fired oven, with live music through the week and jazz on Tuesdays.
The other Italian dinner, smaller and lower on Broadway, open from noon most days. The quieter table when Americano is full.
The nightcap: a cocktail lounge on a side street off Broadway with an island theme, signature drinks and a short menu of bar food.
Tuesdays from two to seven on West 23rd Street off Broadway, late May through late October. Produce, baked goods and local makers, a block from the light rail.
The Saturday walk is up and over: a twelve-foot shared path across the Bayonne Bridge to Staten Island, with the harbor, the port cranes and the skyline below.
And back to the promenade for the light going down over Newark Bay. That half mile along the water is the closing argument.
Honest footnotes. None of these places pays me or knows I wrote this. I built this Bayonne day from the places locals rate highest and I am walking it myself — tell me what I missed. Hours change; check before you go.
A peninsula at the bottom of the county with water on three sides, four light-rail stops, and more houses with driveways than anywhere else this close to the harbor. Bayonne is where I send buyers who want a yard and a two-car garage without giving up the train.
Bayonne sits on a peninsula at the southern end of Hudson County, with Newark Bay on one side, Upper New York Bay on the other and the Kill Van Kull at the tip, where the Bayonne Bridge crosses to Staten Island. Jersey City is the only land border. Broadway runs the length of the town and is still a working main street: bakeries, pizzerias, a Carnegie library, and the kind of family businesses that have been there for generations.
The housing is the point. Most of the county is walk-ups and towers; Bayonne is blocks of one- and two-family houses on their own lots, many with a driveway and a yard, plus newer rental buildings clustered around the light-rail stations and along the old Military Ocean Terminal, which is being rebuilt with housing, a cruise port and a waterfront walkway.
The commute is the trade-off. The Hudson-Bergen Light Rail stops four times in Bayonne, at 8th, 22nd, 34th and 45th Street, and runs north to Jersey City and Hoboken, where you change for the PATH or the ferry. Buses run to Port Authority through the Holland or Lincoln tunnel. It is a real commute, not a short one, and the price per square foot reflects that.
This is where I take buyers who have looked at Jersey City and Hoboken and want a house rather than a unit, or investors who want a two-family with a tenant paying part of the mortgage. Prices are lower than anywhere north of here on the same rail line.
Best for: families who want a house with outdoor space, first-time buyers priced out of the waterfront, and two-family investors. Harder for: anyone who needs to be in Midtown in under forty minutes door to door.
The walk above is a real day in Bayonne — coffee, the commute, the park, dinner. Answer four questions and it reorders itself around your morning, or open the route map and follow it yourself.
74,526 people live in Bayonne, where the median age is 37.5 and the average individual income is $41,713.
Data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau.
There is plenty to do around Bayonne — shopping, dining, parks and nightlife. The three scores below rate how easy it is to get around without a car.
Walk Score®, Transit Score® and Bike Score® provided by Walk Score.
The places within walking distance — where to eat, shop, train and get a haircut. Tap a row to find it on the map.
| Name | Category | Distance |
|---|
Places and addresses from OpenStreetMap contributors. Distances are straight-line from the centre of Bayonne. Hours change — check before you go.
Data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Daycare through high school, in or next to Bayonne. A starting point for comparison — visit before you decide, and call me about catchment lines, which move.
| Name | Type | Grades | Students |
|---|
Public and charter schools from the NCES Common Core of Data; daycare and pre-school locations from OpenStreetMap contributors.
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