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Visit Liberty & Ellis Islands

What you need to know, support the monuments.

Since the 1980s, the nonprofit Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation has partnered with the National Park Service to restore and preserve the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Click HERE to learn more and support our mission.

Before You Go

Visit the National Park Service and Statue City Cruises websites for the latest information about operating hours and ticket availability.

PLAN YOUR VOYAGE

How to purchase tickets.

Statue City Cruises is the ONLY vendor authorized to provide tickets and transportation to Liberty and Ellis Islands. No other ferry company can give you access to the Islands, monuments, and museums. Additional tickets are not needed to enter the Statue of Liberty Museum or Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration.

• To purchase tickets in advance, Go to StatueCityCruises.com or call 1-877-523-9849 (877-LADY-TIX).
• Tickets can be purchased in person at the Statue City Cruises ticket booths located in Castle Clinton in Battery Park (NYC) or at the ferry departure point in Liberty State Park in New Jersey.

Ferry schedules change seasonally and during periods of high tourism. Up-to-date schedules are posted on the Statue City Cruises website. To guarantee entry, purchasing tickets in advance is recommended.

Check out our blog post “The ONLY Way to Liberty Island.”

What's Included With Your Ticket

• Round-trip ferry service with stops at Liberty Island and Ellis Island.
• Access to the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration and the Statue of Liberty Museum.
• Self-guided audio tours, which can be picked up on each Island. Content is available in 12 languages: Arabic, English, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. A family-friendly tour is also available, as are an American Sign Language (ASL) version and an Audio Descriptive (AD) version.

Find the Ferry

The ferry at battery park new york, ny.

Link to map of Battery Park  

• Local 1 (7th Avenue Line) to the last stop – South Ferry
• Express 4 or 5 (Lexington Avenue Line) to Bowling Green
• Local R/W train from Brooklyn/Queens (Broadway Line) to Whitehall Street
• M1, M6 or M15 to South Ferry (last stop)
• From the East Side take the FDR Drive South to Exit 1, South Ferry/Battery Park
• From the West Side take the Westside Highway South (Route 9A) to Battery Park
• NOTE: Street and private garage parking is limited in the Battery Park neighborhood

The Ferry at Liberty State Park Jersey City, NJ

Link to map of Liberty State Park  

• Take exit 14-B off the New Jersey Turnpike; follow signs to Liberty State Park
• Ample parking is available in Liberty State Park, for a nominal fee

By Public Transportation:

• Take the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail (HBLR) to the Liberty State Park Station; walk or bike one mile along Audrey Zapp Drive to the historic Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal in Liberty State Park
• The HBLR is accessible via PATH at the Hoboken Station or Newport (Jersey City) Station

WHAT TO EXPECT

Liberty island.

Liberty Island is home to a beautiful park, an innovative museum, and America’s most iconic symbol of promise and possibility. As you explore the grounds, take in Lady Liberty from different angles noting her design details and how her appearance changes with the light.

The Statue of Liberty Museum is an experience unto itself. Full of incredible exhibits, the Museum gives color and context to the Statue and houses her original torch. Before you depart Liberty Island, be sure to visit the Liberty Vista atop the Museum for breathtaking views of the Statue and New York Harbor.

No additional ticket is needed to visit the museum.

Visitors to Ellis Island are given a unique view of American history. Beautifully restored to its peak operating period, the main building allows park-goers to step into Ellis Island travelers’ shoes for a sense of the immigrant journey.

At the Ellis Island National Immigration Museum, voyages come to life through a stunning collection of artifacts. Exhibits chronicle America’s immigration history from the 1500s through to today.

Visit the American Family Immigration History Center , located on the first floor, to discover your connections to Ellis Island. And while walking the grounds, explore The American Immigrant Wall of Honor , which celebrates immigrants of all eras.

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Royal Flight starts operation from Krasnodar to Goa

Royal Flight air company will open the new destination from the international airport of Krasnodar for winter season - Goa. The flights will be fulfilled once in 11 days according to schedule since 02.11.2019 till 24.03.2020 on Boeing 757-200 with capacity of 239 passengers on board.The way from Krasnodar to India will take 6 hours 10 minutes, the back flight will be longe, 6 hours and 45 minutes. This destination will be operated by Coral Travel TO. The last time such program was fulfilled from Krasnodar in 2016. During next years this destination was offered only with flight from neighbourhood Rostov-on-Don. This year Coral Travel considered Krasnodar to be more perspective city for the program. 

• Coral Travel
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Marina Eremeeva, worked more than 17 years in travel agency business,  first on the position of sales manager, and later as director and co-owner of «4 Tours», one of the biggest travel agency in Rostov-on-Don (Southern part of Russia). Graduated from Rostov State Pedagogical Institute (Russia) with specialisation in Foreign Languages, and from Rostov Institute of International Economy (Russia) with specialisation in International Economy, Marina is focused on analysis of sales of different destinations from Russia. Recently Marina works in Baginet Sales and Marketing Agency. 

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Russia tries to resume operation at Krasnodar airport, closed since beginning of the war

Russia hopes to resume flights from Krasnodar. On 15 December, the local airport, closed on 24 February 2022, received the first civilian flight since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine – so far, a technical one.

Source: Russian agency Interfax ; Crimea.Reality

Quote from Dmitrii Kirichenko, managing director of Krasnodar airport: "Today, the airport conducts technical flight training, and all services are operating normally. We are ready for a possible resumption of flights to the airport, and we are waiting for the decision of the aviation authorities."

Details: Kirichenko did not name a possible date for the airport's reopening, suggesting that additional technical flights will be conducted.

On Friday, an Azimuth plane carrying out a technical flight from Mineralnye Vody landed in Krasnodar.

Rosaviatsia (Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency) clarified that the working group planned the test flight without passengers to ensure the safety of regular flights of civil aircraft. The flight is necessary to check all aspects of the interaction between air traffic control and airport services.

"The aircraft's test flight to the Kuban capital will assess the readiness of air traffic control, the airfield and special services to operate passenger flights at Krasnodar airport. For the final decision-making, their work will be thoroughly analysed," said Dmitrii Yadrov, Head of Rosaviatsia.

According to Rosaviatsia, the airport's infrastructure is maintained in working order, and subsidies have been allocated for this purpose.

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the airport in Russia’s Krasnodar Krai has been receiving military aircraft. The situation is similar in Simferopol (occupied Crimea): the airport that is closed for passenger flights is used as a transport hub for delivering military cargo.

In Russia, the airports of Anapa, Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Gelendzhik, Kursk, Lipetsk, Rostov-on-Don and Elista do not work due to the war against Ukraine. Only Sochi airport operates in the Southern Federal District of the Russian Federation.

Background:

On 13 December, the administration of Russia’s Krasnodar Krai announced that the Krasnodar airport may resume work after a test flight on 15 December. Aeroflot (Russian Airlines) is ready to start with four daily flights from Moscow to Krasnodar. Pobeda Airline (Aeroflot) also reported the possibility of resuming flights after the New Year holidays.

Sergey Aksyonov, the puppet "head of Crimea", said there were no plans to reopen Simferopol's international airport for security reasons.

On 14 December, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin called for a thorough analysis of the possibility of reopening Krasnodar's airport during his Direct line, a televised annual event during which the president responds to questions of Russian citizens live for several hours. He called passenger safety the main criterion for making a decision.

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• International

May 26, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

By Simone McCarthy , Andrew Raine , Sana Noor Haq, Aditi Sangal , Leinz Vales , Matt Meyer and Elise Hammond , CNN

Explosion heard in Russian city of Krasnodar

From CNN's Josh Pennington and Hira Humayun

An explosion was heard in the Russian city of Krasnodar on Friday morning, state news agencies Tass and RIA Novosti reported.

Citing the operational headquarters of Krasnodar territory, the news agencies said the roof and windows of a building on Morskaya Street had been damaged. No casualties have been reported so far.

Social media videos geolocated by CNN to Morskaya Street show what appears to be an unmanned aerial vehicle in the sky, followed by the sound of an explosion. Other social media images show smoke rising from the building, and another image shows the building damaged.

"According to information coming to the city's emergency call center, at 04:17 a.m. in the city of Krasnodar, an explosion was heard in the area of a building on Morskaya Street, 54/2," Tass said.

"Emergency services were sent to the scene. No casualties have been reported. There was damage to the building's roof and windows, but no fire," the report said.

Iran has a direct route to send Russia weapons – and Western powers can do little to stop it

From CNN's Lauren Kent and Salma Abdelaziz

The waters of the Caspian Sea appear deceptively calm. But this sea route – which provides a direct path between Iran and Russia – is increasingly busy with cargo traffic, including suspected  weapons transfers  from Tehran to Moscow.

As cooperation between the two countries deepens, the Caspian Sea route is being used to move drones, bullets, and mortar shells that the Russian government has purchased from the Iranian regime to bolster its war effort in Ukraine, according to experts. Tracking data shows that vessels in the region are increasingly going “dark” – suggesting growing intent to obfuscate the movement of goods.

Last year, data from Lloyd’s List Intelligence revealed a September spike in the number of gaps in vessels tracking data in the Caspian. That’s shortly after the United States and Ukrainian governments say  Moscow acquired drones  from Tehran last summer. Russia’s use of Iranian drones  increased in the fall , including against critical energy infrastructure in Ukraine.

And analysts say that Ukraine’s Western allies would have little power to stop such arms deliveries.

“There is no risk to Iranian exports in the Caspian Sea because of the bordering countries – they don’t have the capability or motive to interdict in these sorts of exchanges,” said Martin Kelly, lead intelligence analyst at security company EOS Risk Group.

Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, all former Soviet republics, are the other nations with ports on the Caspian Sea.

It’s a “perfect environment for this trade to go unopposed,” Kelly added.

Read the full story here.

"Get out": Influx of Russians to Georgia stokes old enmities

From CNN's Christian Edwards

Above Tbilisi’s Old Town stands the Mother of Georgia statue, like a less imposing Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro. “Kartlis Deda,” as she is known to Georgians, holds a wine cup in her left hand and a sword in her right. She offers a choice to new arrivals. Come as a friend, you are our guest. Come as an enemy, you are not welcome.

Tbilisi, an ancient Silk Road city, is no stranger to foreigners turning up on its streets. But the arrival of more than 100,000 Russians in the country since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year has left Georgians uncertain whether to welcome them as friends or shun them as foes.

The government’s recent attempt to  force through  what critics see as a Kremlin-style “foreign agent” law, and the  huge protests  which prevented this, have not helped émigrés to settle in or locals to feel at ease alongside the new arrivals.

Many in Georgia fear what they see as the creeping Russification of their country – a story they know all too well.

On the streets of Tbilisi, the reception for Russian émigrés has also been mixed. “It’s a whole range of attitudes,” said Ivan, a 20-something IT consultant from a city in Russia’s far east. CNN is withholding Ivan’s real name, to protect him from retribution should he ever return to Russia.

Some Georgians are “warm and welcoming” and treat Russians as their “brothers,” Ivan told CNN. Others tell them to “get out.” The key difference is age, he has found.

Wagner clashes in and around Bakhmut are decreasing. Here's what else you need to know

From CNN staff

The Russian reconnaissance ship Ivan Khurs was seemingly hit by an unmanned surface vessel in the Black Sea, new video shows, disputing Moscow's claim it had  been able to thwart a Ukrainian attack  on the craft.

Footage shared by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense on social media Thursday and analyzed by CNN appeared to show the moments just before the impact. 

Here are other headlines you should know:

Bakhmut developments: Ukraine's number of clashes with Wagner mercenaries in and around Bakhmut has been decreasing over the past few days, according to the spokesperson for the eastern grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Meanwhile, more than 100 Ukrainians who fought in the Bakhmut area and were captured by Russian troops have been released in a prisoner swap, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office said Thursday. And the head of Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, told CNN he has handed over to Ukrainian authorities the body of a retired US Army Special Forces soldier who died fighting for Bakhmut.

Elsewhere in Ukraine: Russian officials in the occupied southern city of Berdiansk said Ukrainian forces have struck the city with a missile . A member of Russia's local administration in Zaporizhzhia said he still did not have information on casualties, adding that response teams were on site. And in the eastern Donetsk region, an official has accused Russian forces of destroying a dam and endangering nearby residents.

Military equipment: Finland on Thursday pledged to send additional military equipment to Ukraine. Meanwhile, the  transfer of some tactical nuclear weapons  from Russia to Belarus has begun, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said Thursday, according to state news agency BelTA.

Tariff and quota suspension: European trade ministers agreed to  extend the temporary measures  that suspend customs duties and quotas on Ukrainian imports to the European Union for another year, until June 2024 . The temporary easing of trade regulations between Ukraine and the EU went into force in June 2022.

Foreign fighters on trial: Five foreigners who fought for Ukraine are to stand trial in absentia in Russia, according to state media. The group all fought for Ukraine in the defense of the southern city of Mariupol. 

US does not support attacks on Russian soil and has "made it very clear" to Ukraine, White House official says

From CNN's DJ Judd

US President Joe Biden's administration has reiterated in conversations with Ukraine that it does not support attacks on Russian soil, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told CNN Thursday.

“We have again made it very clear to the Ukrainians what our expectations are about attacking Russia — we don't want to encourage or enable that, we certainly don't want any US-made equipment used to attack Russian soil,” Kirby told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

“And we have gotten assurances from the Ukrainians that they will respect those wishes … we have been very clear that we want Ukraine to be able to defend its own soil, its own territory. They have been attacked. They have been invaded. They have a right to defend themselves," he continued. "But, we've also been clear, well, that we don't want to see this war escalate beyond this, the devastation and the violence that is already visited on the Ukrainian people.” 

The conversations with Ukraine didn’t involve “outlining consequences” but were “simply a reaffirmation," Kirby told CNN. He added that these discussions have happened "as recently as over just the last day or so."

Some context: Kirby's comments come on the heels of a CNN report that anti-Putin Russian fighters, fighting alongside Ukrainian armed forces, conducted a raid inside Russian territory. 

In an interview with CNN’s Sam Kiley, one of the Russian nationals said the raid was conducted using American-manufactured equipment purchased on the open market. Kirby said Thursday that he could not confirm that.

He instead said the US is providing equipment "to be used to defend Ukrainian soil."

Russian reconnaissance ship seemingly hit by unmanned surface vessel, video shows

From CNN’s Vasco Cotovio and Yulia Kesaieva in Kyiv, and Sharon Braithwaite and Gianluca Mezzofiore in London

The Russian reconnaissance ship Ivan Khurs was seemingly hit by an unmanned surface vessel in the Black Sea, new video shows, disputing a claim by Moscow, which said on Wednesday it had been able to thwart a Ukrainian attack on the craft.

The video is filmed from a camera placed on the surface vessel. It shows the vessel as it approaches a larger ship at high speed.  

CNN analysis determined the ship is likely to be the Ivan Khurs. It also shows the tip of the unmanned surface vessel, similar to the unmanned surface vessels seen in video posted by the Russian Ministry of Defense on Thursday.

The feed cuts as the vessel comes within a few yards of  the ship. 

"When the Russian reconnaissance ship 'Ivan Khurs' met a Ukrainian drone," the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense said in a tweet . "Indeed, a perfect match!"

More background: On Wednesday, the Russian defense ministry acknowledged the attack on the Ivan Khurs but said all the surface vessels had failed to hit the ship. 

"Today at 5:30 a.m., the armed forces of Ukraine made an unsuccessful attempt to attack the Ivan Khurs ship of the Black Sea Fleet with three unmanned speedboats," said the spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Defense, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov. "All enemy boats were destroyed by fire from the standard armament of a Russian ship 140 kilometers northeast of the Bosphorus."

The Russian Ministry of Defense also shared footage that appears to show one of the surface vessels exploding as it is hit by gunfire. 

"The ship ‘Ivan Khurs’ of the Black Sea Fleet continues to fulfill its tasks," Konashenkov added. 

It is unclear what happened after the surface vessel seemingly hit the Ivan Khurs and how damaged the reconnaissance ship may have been during the attack.

CNN has reached out to Ukrainian sources for additional details but has yet to hear back. 

Wagner chief claims to have handed over body of US Army veteran killed in Bakhmut

From CNN’s Clare Sebastian, Allegra Goodwin, Svitlana Vlasova and Sarah Dean

The head of the Russian paramilitary company Yevgeny Prigozhin told CNN Thursday that he has handed the body of a retired US Army Special Forces soldier who was killed in the battle for the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut over to Ukraine. 

In a response to CNN asking if Wagner had returned the body of Retired Army Staff Sgt. Nicholas Maimer as promised by Prigozhin last week, Prigozhin said in an audio recording: “Today at 1500 hours we handed over the body of the American Nicholas Maimer to the Ukrainian side.” 

In a video shared with CNN by Prigozhin’s press service, the Wagner boss stands next to two coffins, one draped with an American flag and one with a Turkish flag, and says: “The American died in battle in the 'nest'” — one of the last contested areas in west Bakhmut — and added that the second coffin contained the body of a Turkish citizen who was in Bakhmut with his female partner. 

“They were found under the ruins of a building, or more accurately he and his documents. When the Ukrainians withdrew they blew up the building, and they died under the destroyed building. We weren’t able to get her out, but we got him out and will return to his motherland,” Prigozhin says of the Turkish citizens.

CNN cannot independently verify the location in the video or the date it was filmed. 

Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War confirmed to CNN that Maimer’s body, along with the body of a Turkish citizen, had been returned to Ukraine on Thursday during a POW exchange . A video shared by the group showed a coffin covered with an American flag which matched the coffin seen in the video with Prigozhin. 

CNN is unable to independently confirm that the coffin contains Maimer’s body, or the circumstances in which he died.

Maimer's decades in uniform: According to Maimer’s service record provided to CNN, he served more than 20 years in uniform before retiring in 2018, according to his service record provided to CNN.

He served more than two years in the active-duty Army, leaving in December 1998; he then joined the National Guard in November 2000, and served about 18 years between three different Guard units before retiring in December 2018.

Among his awards and decorations are the Special Forces Tab, Army Commendation Medal and four Army Achievement Medals.

His uncle Paul Maimer told the Idaho Statesman his nephew had gone to Ukraine “as a humanitarian trying to do good for this world” and that the family wanted to bring him home for a “proper burial.”

“I think he’s deserving to be put to rest in a veterans cemetery,” he told the Statesman. “He might not have been fighting for our country, but he was fighting for the right reasons.”

CNN's Josh Pennington, Sandi Sidhu, Jennifer Hansler, Haley Britzky and Alex Marquardt contributed to this post.

Russia's transfer of tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus has begun, Lukashenko says

From CNN’s Uliana Pavlova

The transfer of some tactical nuclear weapons from Russia to Belarus has begun, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said Thursday, according to state news agency BelTA.

"It was necessary to prepare storage sites, and so on. We did all this. Therefore, the movement of nuclear weapons began," Lukashenko said.

Lukashenko also promised the safety of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, saying: “Don’t worry about nuclear weapons. We are responsible for this. These are serious issues. Everything will be all right here.”

Some background:  This comes after Moscow and Minsk signed an agreement on deploying tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, one of Russia's neighbors and most loyal allies. Lukashenko  raised the possibility  of Russia placing strategic nuclear weapons in Belarus during a national address in March, while baselessly accusing Western countries of “preparing to invade” Belarus and “destroy” it.

Finland will send additional military equipment to Ukraine, defense ministry says 

From CNN's Sarah Diab in London

Finland on Thursday pledged to send additional military equipment to Ukraine.

Finland’s 16th defense package to Ukraine will include anti-aircraft weapons and ammunition and will be worth 109 million euros (about $117 million), a Finnish defense ministry spokesperson told CNN.

That brings the total defense aid from Finland to Ukraine since Russian invasion began last year to 1.1 billion euros (about $1.18 billion).

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the Finnish government for the aid in a tweet:

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