How to Get From Grand Central to the Financial District

The short version

Grand Central to the Financial District is one train, no transfer. Grand Central-42 St sits on the Lexington Avenue line, served by the 4, 5, 6, 7 and the 42nd Street Shuttle, and the 4 and 5 are the express trains heading downtown. Ride them to Fulton St, which is the main interchange in the Financial District, and you're done. Figure on roughly 11 to 15 minutes on the train, with service every five minutes or so through the middle of the day.

Follow the signs inside the terminal for the 4, 5 and 6 rather than for the 7 or the Shuttle, and check the platform indicator says downtown or Brooklyn before you board. The 6 is the local on the same line and also runs downtown, it just stops more often, so if a 4 or 5 is pulling in, take it.

Where you come out

Fulton St drops you in the middle of the neighborhood, which is why we send guests there rather than to Wall Street. It's about a three-minute walk from that station to our door on John Street. From the same station you're a few minutes on foot from the World Trade Center site and the Oculus in one direction and South Street Seaport in the other, so if you're arriving early and can't get into your suite yet, you can leave the bags with us and be looking at the harbor ten minutes later.

When you've got luggage

If you're coming off a Metro-North train with a week's worth of suitcases, a taxi or a car service is the easier call, and there's a taxi dispatcher at Grand Central during the day. Be honest with yourself about the trade: a car takes whatever traffic gives it, while the express train doesn't. At rush hour, the subway is usually the better bet even with a bag, as long as you can manage stairs.

Weekends and late nights

MTA weekend and overnight work regularly changes how the 4 and 5 run, including skipped stops and reroutes. It's worth a look at mta.info or a live transit app before you set off on a Saturday, rather than finding out on the platform. If the express isn't running the way you expect, the 6 local down Lexington gets you to Lower Manhattan too.

Coming the other way

The same trip in reverse works the same: pick up the 4 or 5 uptown at Fulton St and get off at Grand Central-42 St. It's the reason a downtown base is workable even if your meetings, your train home or your dinner reservations are in Midtown.