Newark Penn Station

Cool historic building, it could be a beautiful place, but it is basically an encampment for homeless people and the experience of using this station is rather unpleasant. Disgusting restrooms which are unhelpfully closed at night despite it being a 24 hour station served by Amtrak and Greyhound. If you take an elevator from the platform (like if you have luggage), watch out for people who will join you in the elevator so that they can hit you up for money inside (a grey area somewhere between panhandling and mugging.) There is always police presence downstairs so you should be pretty safe in the main area down there, using the restrooms is a weird experience though due to the enormous number of homeless, many of whom are clearly mentally ill. There are some places to eat in the station if you are hungry and have time to kill before your train, but due to the environment if I were you I would suggest walking a block to the Ironbound neighborhood where there are countless fantastic dining options in a much more inviting environment.

Place is generally crowded but well maintain and clean mostly. There is not much place to seat. Seating is only allowed for customers who has valid ticket and only for two hours.

It's not real difficult to navigate as far as finding your train goes. There aren't a lot good options. There's a McDonald's and a Dunkin Donuts in the terminal. Easy to board and unboard the train.

A lovely building with great history, as pointed out this morning on NPR! Who knew that German spies tried to sabotage it during WWII. And that a herd of cows had to be run up the stairs so they could make their train! I use the station all the time, cant wait til next time to keep an eye on some of the details I just learned about

A very good place to go. The police is always walking around,I feel safe.