Woodbury Common Bus: The Day Trip from NYC

In the $55 and Outside It

The listing is clear about the split. Round-trip transportation with reserved seating on a scheduled bus, the scenic drive to upstate New York, the VIP discount e-booklet, and access to the 220 stores at the outlet are all in the price, and all taxes and fees are included. There is no separate entry fee for the outlet. Everything you eat, drink and tip is on you. The listing names 15 dining establishments inside the complex and recommends a gratuity for the driver. Bring a bag for purchases, which reviewers advise, and check the driver for outlet maps and brochures.

The table below compares each line of the listing against what it means for your wallet.

What the Discount Booklet Is Worth

The listing promises instant access to constantly updated bargains and specials through the e-booklet, with instructions provided for using it online. Simon also advertises a free Simon membership with cash back and points at participating stores, which you can stack on your own. Neither source states a dollar value for either saving, so treat both as a bonus rather than a reason to book.

The honest note here is that the $55 covers only the seat. If your plan is a serious shopping day, budget the outlet spend separately, because food and tips will land on top of the $55.

Times Square to Central Valley

The day starts at 1651 Broadway in Times Square, where you board the scheduled coach and take your reserved seat. There is no pickup round of hotels, so the departure point is fixed. The drive runs north out of Manhattan into upstate New York, and the listing sells this stretch as a scenic drive.

Simon puts the outlet an hour north of New York City, so plan on roughly that each way, plus traffic. Leave slack if you have evening plans back in Manhattan. There are no intermediate stops for sightseeing on the way.

You ride, you arrive, you shop.

At the Outlet

Woodbury Common Premium Outlets sits at 498 Red Apple Ct in Central Valley, NY. Simon credits it with over 250 brands including more than 80 luxury stores, names including Gucci, Prada, Burberry and Moncler, while the tour listing counts over 220 stores from Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Diesel, Gap, Nike, Puma, Timberland and Tommy Hilfiger. The counts differ between the two sources, so treat both as approximate.

Either way this is a big outdoor mall built for a full day. Simon showed regular hours of 10:00am to 9:00pm daily on the page capture, though a 2026 visitor guide closes it at 8pm most days with 9pm on Friday and Saturday, so check hours for your date before you plan a late start. The return is the reverse of the outbound run, back to the Times Square area, with your seat reserved.

The listing gives no fixed return time, which is the flexible part, and also the part you must confirm in the booking flow.

Skip This If You Want a Tour at All

There is no guide and no commentary, in any language beyond the driver's Spanish and English. If you want someone explaining the city, the half-day luxury bus tour of NYC highlights puts a live English guide on a 4-hour coach loop with five photo stops for $68. If your interest is neighborhoods rather than stores, the guided contrasts tour of Harlem, the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn walks you through four boroughs in 4.5 hours for $40.

This ticket is also wrong if you hate shopping. You are dropped at an outlet mall for the day, and that is the entire itinerary. There is no second activity, no walking stop, no boat, no skyline viewpoint.

Practical Limits

The listing states no minimum age, no group size and no wheelchair information, so none of those limits can be confirmed either way. The bus is an enclosed coach, so rain and cold are not the problem they are on an open-top deck, but the coach is not described further. Cancellation is free up to 24 hours before the start, after that you lose the booking, so do not reserve a date you have not fixed.

The listing marks the trip as likely to sell out, which means last-minute plans can fail. If a full day in one place sounds like too much, a shorter option such as the 3-hour guided Brooklyn and DUMBO open-top bus and walking tour covers more ground in less time, and the hop on hop off NYC guide compares the multi-day passes if Manhattan itself is the goal.

Finding 1651 Broadway

The bus leaves from 1651 Broadway, in the heart of the Times Square district, which the Times Square Alliance defines as 40th to 53rd Street between 6th and 8th Avenues. This is one of the busiest pedestrian zones in the city, with the district averaging about 330,000 daily visitors, so arrive early enough to find the bus stop without rushing. How early is not stated by the listing, so check your confirmation for a boarding time.

If you would rather not ride a tour bus at all, Coach USA ShortLine runs scheduled public coaches between Port Authority and Woodbury Common, taking about 1 hour 5 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes. The current fare is not stated here, so check the Coach USA site. You lose the reserved seat and the e-booklet but gain a timetable you can read before booking.

Before and After

You will be back in Midtown with an evening ahead if you start early. Times Square itself needs no introduction, and a NYC night bus tour is an easy add-on the same evening if you are back in time. If the outlet day has worn you out, save the sightseeing for another day and work from the NYC bus tours comparison instead.

Note what this trip skips: it touches nothing of Manhattan, Brooklyn or the other boroughs, so it pairs well with a guided borough day rather than replacing one.