Princeton

Princeton began as a stagecoach stop between Philadelphia and New York City, and has since grown into one of America’s most celebrated university towns. As home to Princeton University, a prestigious Ivy League school, the town is a hotbed of history and intellectualism (Einstein lived and died here), not to mention culture. Fall and spring semesters are especially lively, when students and professors flock to the shops, cafes, and eateries along Nassau Street, a thoroughfare separating the university’s impressive Gothic structures from Princeton’s downtown center. While Nassau Street’s main stretch is walkable, traffic is often heavy en ...

Princeton began as a stagecoach stop between Philadelphia and New York City, and has since grown into one of America’s most celebrated university towns. As home to Princeton University, a prestigious Ivy League school, the town is a hotbed of history and intellectualism (Einstein lived and died here), not to mention culture. Fall and spring semesters are especially lively, when students and professors flock to the shops, cafes, and eateries along Nassau Street, a thoroughfare separating the university’s impressive Gothic structures from Princeton’s downtown center. While Nassau Street’s main stretch is walkable, traffic is often heavy en route to outlying areas — including local Revolutionary War sites — and bicycling’s a good way to go. Summer’s shoulder seasons are great times to catch a musical at McCarter Theatre, tour the university campus and see its legendary Nassau Hall, and kayak along Lake Carnegie and the D&R Canal. Like many university towns, Princeton promotes artisan ventures, including linger-worthy cafes, a casual brewpub, and two of the best homemade ice cream spots in Central Jersey.

About the Expert

Laura Kiniry is the author of Moon Handbooks New Jersey.