Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF

[Drake]

For people in ROW who want to travel to NYC downtown, how do these two compare in terms of time, hassle and cost?

1. drive to YYZ (or YTZ), park at YYZ, fly to LGA/EWR, taxi (subway?) to Manhattan
2. fly YKF to PHL, PHL to Amtrak station, Amtrak to Manhattan

According to Google it's a 15 min ride on SEPTA (like GO) from PHL to the Amtrak station and then 1 to 1½ hours to Manhattan Penn Central. That's about how long it takes to drive from ROW to YYZ, but hopefully more reliable.

Is this a viable way to do an end-run around YYZ to get to Manhattan?

I do not consider myself a NYC expert, but it is my experience that NYC downtown is pretty vague. I am going to assume you mean midtown.

I would also suggest the best airport to fly to if you are looking to go to mid-town is going to be Newark (EWR). From there take NJ Rail to either NY Penn Station or NJ Penn Station and transfer to the World Trade Centre if you want Wall Street.

My preference as well is to fly from Billy Bishop (YTZ) via Porter rather than Air Canada. Last time I went I took the train from Aldershot where I parked for free and went Porter. It was cost effective and efficient. FWIW