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-Jersey City is safe with the exception of Bergen - Lafayette , and Greenville. Jersey City Heights offers impressive views of Manhattan and Hoboken from the Cliffside Parks. Downtown Jersey City has numerous restaurants and cafes to check out all within a few blocks of Grove Street PATH station. The Waterfront is nice to walk along and offers views of Manhattan.
-Newark , during April there is a very large and popular Cherry Blossom Festival in Branch Brook Park which is a mini Central Park in the North Ward. You can tour the many mansions of Forest Hill section of Newark which borders the park , they have certain dates in the Spring. If your into Urban Renewal , Downtown is going through the early stages of that. The Ironbound section of Newark is a very vibrant neighborhood with over 150 restaurants , bars , cafes , bakeries , Tapas and lounges...Its has a very diverse population of Portuguese , Spanish , Brazilian , Irish , Italian , Mexican which is reflected in the food. Theres also the Newark Museum and you might be able to catch a good show at the NJ Performing arts center.
-Morristown has some older architecture along side newer modern architecture , its a small historic city in Western Jersey. It has a decent amount of restaurants , bars and cafes...
-Hoboken is a small city worth checking out its similar to Downtown Jersey City , just older...
-Weehawken & West New York have impressive cliffside views of Midtown Manhattan , along with some older 1920s architecture
-New Brunswick has a nice downtown , its a large college/Univ city but its nice. Over the last 10 years its seen a renewal of the Downtown Riverfront area. Neighboring Highland Park across the River has some wonderful old 1890s-1940s residential architecture.
-Asbury Park is a Vibrant coastal city , it has a large gay and artist population , along with numerous cafes and restaurants. It has some unique 1920s to 1940s architecture including a convention hall on the beach and a few historic hotels. East of the tracks is safe , West is not...theres nothing really on the west side. Neighboring Ocean Grove , Loch Arbor and Allenhurst offer some stunning historic buildings and Mansions near the Beach.
If the OP doesn't mind including vibrant towns into his/her definition of city (like Morristown), Montclair, Summit, Westfield, or South Orange/Maplewood would be worth a look.
Further afield Lambertville/New Hope PA have nifty downtowns and Philly-style rowhomes. Princeton is of course worth a look. Phillipsburg has some cool architecture, though not much in terms of cultural scene. On the other side of the state check out Red Bank for culture, restaurants, and architecture. For the Philly area, most of the towns along the river are pretty sleepy, but do sport some nice architecutre. Check out Bordentown, which does have a few restaurants and a nice downtown area. Burlington has some cool architecture but not as nice. Riverside is a bit run down but has the awesome Watchcase building to take a look at. The Haddon Avenue corridor in Camden County has some good retaurants and local theaters, and Haddonfield has some great colonial architecture, the rest of the area is pretty flat and unremarkable though.
Outdoor recreation: New Jersey doesn't have a whole lot in terms of exciting outdoor activities but the Delaware Water Gap is very nice for hiking.
Architecture: New Jersey has a lot of small towns with great architecture. Two of my favorites are Lambertville and Princeton. You should also look into Frenchtown, Red Bank, and Morristown. I see you're from Seattle so I'm assuming you're here for the super bowl. I'd recommend Cape May as well but it is a very long drive from where you're probably staying.
Vibrant downtowns: New Jersey's larger cities are not particularly vibrant but many of our mid-sized cities are, specifically New Brunswick, Hoboken, and Asbury Park. I"m not sure how old you are or who you're traveling with but be advised that Hoboken is very oriented toward the 20-something party crowd. Asubry Park is a shore town and the shore tends to be dead in the winter. Your best bet is New Brunswick. It is a college town but it also has a lot of great restaurants, three theaters, pretty good nightlife, and a unique atmosphere. If you go to New Brunswick, you have to stop by Destination Dogs.
City atmosphere: Again our best city atmospheres are found in our smaller to mid-sized cities. For larger cities specifically, Jersey City is improving with many new restaurants opening up downtown and the Ironbound neighborhood in Newark has a lot of really good, authentic Portuguese and Brazilian restaurants.
For outdoor activity, in addition to Delaware Water Gap, I'd add the Delaware and Raritan Canal park near Princeton, South Mountain Reservation west of Newark, anything in the Patriot's Path trail network in Morris County, and various forest preserves in Sussex and northern Passaic counties. Of course it's freezing this week so one would have to be pretty hardy to venture out. Then again, great conditions for cross country skiing or ice skating on a frozen pond.
O/P Judging from where you are at I have to ask are you coming for Superbowl?
If so to give you ideas of what cities to visit, how long are you here? Are you renting a car or depending on public transportation? Longest round trip you would want to do?
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