How to get from Newark Airport to LaGuardia Airport? The drive is about 22 miles and takes 35 to 45 minutes with no traffic — but budget 60 to 90 minutes between these two airports. Your options are a pre-booked car service (simplest with luggage), taxi or rideshare, or NJ Transit into Manhattan plus a subway or bus to LaGuardia.
How to Get from Newark Airport to LaGuardia Airport
There is no direct public transit between EWR and LGA — every route goes through Manhattan, which is why this transfer eats so much time. Option one, the simplest: a pre-booked car or taxi straight from one terminal to the other, door to door, no transfers, and your driver handles the route. Option two: NJ Transit train from Newark Airport Rail Station to New York Penn Station (about 30 minutes), then the subway or the free LaGuardia Link bus to LGA (another 30 to 60 minutes depending on connections). Option three: rideshare, which works like a taxi but with variable pricing. With checked bags, the car wins outright — hauling suitcases through Penn Station during rush hour is a special kind of misery.
How Long It Takes and When to Worry
The 22-mile drive can be 35 minutes at 11 a.m. or 90-plus minutes at 5:30 p.m. — the difference is entirely traffic through the Holland or Lincoln Tunnel and across Manhattan. For separate tickets (landing at EWR, departing LGA), airlines recommend treating this as a 3 to 4-hour minimum connection: 60 to 90 minutes for the transfer, plus 2 hours at LaGuardia for check-in and security. If your connection is under 3 hours, do not attempt public transit — take the car and pray for green lights. Morning rush (7–9:30 a.m.) and evening rush (4:30–7 p.m.) are the danger windows; midday and late evening are the sweet spots. Check traffic before you leave the EWR terminal, not after you are already committed.
Cost Comparison: Car Service vs. Train vs. Rideshare
Here is the honest breakdown for how to get from newark airport to laguardia airport. A pre-booked car service or taxi between the airports is the most expensive option but the only one with a fixed price and zero transfers — worth it with luggage, kids, or a tight connection. NJ Transit to Penn Station plus subway or bus to LGA is the cheapest by far, but it is a two-seat ride with stairs, crowds, and no help with bags. Rideshare sits in the middle on price and matches the car on convenience, but fares surge during peak hours and bad weather — exactly when you need the ride most. For groups of 3 or more, a pre-booked SUV or van often costs less per person than separate train-plus-subway fares plus the saved hour. Our JFK to Manhattan taxi fare page shows how we think about fair transfer pricing.
Booking the Transfer with JetBlack
If you want the EWR-to-LGA leg handled, book it as a point-to-point airport transfer: give us both flight numbers so the driver tracks your inbound flight and times the pickup, plus your LaGuardia terminal and airline for the drop-off. You get a flat all-in quote before you commit — no meter running while you sit in tunnel traffic — and 60 minutes of free wait time after a domestic landing in case baggage claim is slow. For the return direction or any other airport pair, the same logic applies. Book your EWR to LaGuardia transfer with JetBlack — and see our JFK ground transportation options and getting from JFK to the outer boroughs guides for more New York airport transfer know-how.
Traveling the other direction — LaGuardia to Newark — the playbook for how to get from newark airport to laguardia airport works in reverse, with one difference: EWR’s train station makes the rail option smoother going west. From LGA, take the free LaGuardia Link bus to the subway, ride to Penn Station, then catch NJ Transit to Newark Airport Rail Station and the AirTrain to your terminal. Total time is about 75 to 105 minutes and it costs a fraction of a car. But the same rule from how to get from newark airport to laguardia airport applies: with checked bags or a tight connection, book the car. And a final tip — if your itinerary says “New York” without naming the airport, confirm whether it is EWR, LGA, or JFK before you arrange anything; every week, travelers book the wrong transfer.
