Parking Near Times Square: The Honest Midtown Garage Guide
The honest answer is don’t drive. But if you must — here are the garages, the rates, how to book in advance, and how to escape Midtown after a Broadway show without sitting in traffic for an hour.
Times Square is the most transit-connected corner of Manhattan. Eleven subway lines converge at 42nd Street — from virtually any starting point in the five boroughs you can reach it directly or with one transfer in less time than it takes to park in Midtown. This is not transit advocacy. It is a time and money calculation that consistently favors the subway.
That said: some visitors are driving from New Jersey or Long Island where no practical transit connection exists. Others are traveling with young children or mobility considerations that make the subway impractical for their group. For those cases, Midtown has garages — more of them than anywhere else in New York — and the practical guide to using them follows.
A stacked Manhattan parking garage — useful context for planning parking near Times Square, where garage access, traffic, pricing, and exit timing can shape the whole night out. Photo by Firstac5 via Wikimedia Commons.
A Midtown parking garage for an evening Broadway show costs $35–65+ for a 3–4 hour stay. Add tolls and the time cost of traffic navigation. A subway MetroCard round trip for two costs $9. The subway is faster from Penn Station area to Times Square (5-minute walk vs parking search plus walking). The only clear case for driving: you are starting from a New Jersey or Long Island location with no direct transit connection and your group size makes parking economically comparable to multiple subway fares.
If You Must Drive — The Strategy
Where to Park Near Times Square
Multiple garages within the Bowtie on and near 7th Avenue between 40th and 50th Streets. Closest walk to Times Square and the 42nd Street theater cluster. Expect $45–65+ for an evening. Book in advance to lock rates and guarantee a space before they fill on show nights.
Generally cheaper than Bowtie-adjacent options with a 5–8-minute walk to most Broadway theaters. The walk takes you through the western edge of the Theater District — past the shows, not through the tourist core. The practical value play for drivers. SpotHero and ParkWhiz both have strong selection on these blocks.
10th Avenue and further west offer the cheapest Midtown parking — some garages in the $25–40 range for evenings. The walk to Broadway theaters is 10–15 minutes through Hell’s Kitchen, which is a pleasant enough pre-show walk in good weather. Not for post-show winter nights with tired kids.
Park south of the Times Square core in the 34th–39th Street range and walk north 10 minutes. Rates tend to be lower than the 42nd-and-above cluster. Penn Station is in this range — convenient if you are combining driving with NJ Transit for part of the trip or departing by train after the show.
How to Book Parking in Advance
SpotHero
Largest inventory of pre-booked garages in Midtown. Filter by distance, price, and garage amenities. Lock rates before they rise on show nights. spothero.com
ParkWhiz
Shows walking time and distance from the garage to your destination. Overlap with SpotHero inventory — compare both for the best rate on a specific night. parkwhiz.com
Garage Direct Apps
Major Midtown garage chains — Icon Parking, Quik Park, GMC — offer direct booking on their own apps, sometimes at lower rates than the aggregators for the same spot. Worth checking for your specific garage before booking through SpotHero.
Getting Out of Midtown After the Show
Frequently Asked Questions
Evening garage parking for a Broadway show (3–4 hours) typically runs $35–65+ depending on garage distance from the Bowtie, night of week, and demand. Garages on 8th and 9th Avenue run cheaper than those directly on 7th Avenue or Broadway. Pre-booking on SpotHero or ParkWhiz locks in lower rates than walk-up pricing on the same night.
Only if driving is genuinely necessary — starting from a New Jersey or Long Island location without practical transit access, or managing mobility considerations that make the subway impractical. For Manhattan residents and visitors with transit access, the subway is faster, cheaper, and eliminates the post-show traffic problem entirely.
Not in any meaningful sense. Street parking in Midtown Manhattan during evening hours is extremely limited and subject to complex alternate-side rules. Plan on a paid garage and factor the cost into your evening budget.
For value and a short walk: garages on 8th Avenue between 40th and 55th Streets. For maximum proximity: garages on 7th Avenue near 42nd–45th Street at higher rates. Book through SpotHero or ParkWhiz to compare options by distance and price before committing to a specific garage.
To New Jersey: Lincoln Tunnel from 9th–10th Avenue. To Queens and Long Island: Queens-Midtown Tunnel at 34th Street. To uptown: 9th or 10th Avenue north to the West Side Highway. Best strategy: wait 20–30 minutes in a Hell’s Kitchen bar after the curtain. By the time you leave, the immediate post-show traffic has mostly cleared.
Parking Near Times Square in Brief
Take the subway if you can. If you cannot, book a garage in advance on SpotHero or ParkWhiz, park on 8th or 9th Avenue rather than in the Bowtie core, navigate to the garage address rather than the theater address, and budget 20–30 minutes to exit Midtown after the show.
The post-show wait is easily handled with a drink in Hell’s Kitchen. By the time you finish it, the Midtown streets have cleared and the garage exit takes five minutes instead of thirty. That one piece of planning turns a frustrating parking night into a smooth one.
Transit, Dining, Hotels & the Full Times Square Night
Parking handled — now build the rest of the evening. The subway guide, where to eat, where to stay, and the Broadway and neighborhood picture around it all.