Getting here

The subway stops at the western edge and then gives up. Everything east of First Avenue is a walk or a bus.

The East Village has the worst subway coverage of any dense neighbourhood in Manhattan, for a simple historical reason: the lines were built north–south through the middle of the island, and the blocks out towards the East River never got one.

Subway

Astor Place (6) is the north-west corner and the most-used entrance to the neighbourhood.

8th Street–NYU (N, R, W) is a block west, useful from Brooklyn or midtown.

First Avenue (L) is the best stop for the northern and eastern parts — 14th Street at First, walk south. This is the one to use for Tompkins Square and Alphabet City.

Second Avenue (F) covers the southern edge at Houston Street, and is the right stop for the Bowery and the music-history sites.

Third Avenue (L) and Bleecker Street / Broadway–Lafayette (6, B, D, F, M) sit on the western boundary.

The eastern blocks

From any of the above, Avenues C and D are a substantial walk — fifteen minutes or more from the nearest train. Plan for it, or take a bus.

Buses

The bus network does what the subway does not here. The M14A and M14D Select Bus Service routes run crosstown on 14th Street and down the avenues, and they are the fastest way to reach Alphabet City. The M15 runs along First and Second Avenues north–south, including an SBS version.

14th Street is largely restricted to buses and trucks along its busway, which makes the crosstown buses genuinely quick.

On foot and by bike

The neighbourhood is compact and entirely walkable — perhaps twenty-five minutes from corner to corner. Citi Bike coverage is dense.

The East River Greenway runs along the waterfront at the eastern edge, connecting north and south along the river, and is reached via the pedestrian bridges over the FDR Drive.