Paramus Travel Guide: Things to Do, Landmarks, Food, and Itineraries

Paramus, New Jersey sits in Bergen County roughly 12 miles west of Midtown Manhattan, and it plays a role in the region that visitors often underestimate until they arrive. It is not a place built around a waterfront or a downtown square. Instead, Paramus has developed into one of the most commercially active townships in the northeastern United States, organized around two major highway corridors and anchored by a suburban landscape that draws millions of shoppers, day-trippers, and local residents every year. With a population of around 26,500 and a median household income above $139,000 (2024 ACS 5-year estimates), Paramus reflects Bergen County's generally affluent character — a community where good schools, accessible green space, and proximity to New York City carry significant weight in daily life.

For visitors, the appeal of Paramus is practical and surprisingly layered. Yes, shopping drives much of the foot traffic, but the borough also offers county parkland, a public zoo, diverse dining shaped by one of the region's most multicultural populations, and easy access to the broader New Jersey and New York metro area. Whether you're passing through on a weekend from the city or planning a longer stay in northern New Jersey, Paramus is worth factoring into your plans.

Getting to Know Paramus

Paramus does not have the kind of walkable downtown that you'd find in neighboring Ridgewood or Hackensack. Instead, it is organized around two central commercial spines: Route 4 running east-west and Route 17 running north-south. The intersection of these two highways forms the commercial heart of the borough. Big-box retailers, strip centers, auto dealerships, restaurants, and major shopping malls line these corridors for miles.

To the west and north of the commercial zone, Paramus opens up into quieter residential neighborhoods and county parkland. Van Saun County Park sits in this part of the borough and represents a genuinely green counterpoint to the highway retail strips. Travelers staying nearby and looking for somewhere calm to decompress after a day of driving and shopping tend to gravitate here.

Understanding this layout helps you plan. If you are coming specifically to shop or dine along the commercial corridors, expect significant traffic, particularly on Friday evenings and Saturday afternoons. If your interest is the parks or a more relaxed pace, the western residential areas feel quite different from the Route 17 experience.

One planning note that surprises many out-of-state visitors: Bergen County maintains blue laws that restrict certain retail operations on Sundays along the major corridors. Paramus's largest malls and many retailers along Routes 4 and 17 are affected by these restrictions. Before planning a shopping-focused Sunday trip to Paramus, confirm the current status of relevant retailers and malls, as enforcement and exceptions can vary.

Things to Do in Paramus

The range of activities in Paramus skews toward outdoor recreation, family-friendly attractions, and, of course, shopping. Our dedicated Best Things To Do in Paramus page goes deeper on each category, but here is a high-level overview.

Van Saun County Park is the most significant green space within the borough. The park is a large multiuse county park that includes walking and cycling paths, picnic areas, a garden railway that operates seasonally, and the Bergen County Zoo — a compact, well-maintained zoo that draws families throughout the warmer months. Check the Bergen County Division of Parks for current zoo hours and any seasonal programming before your visit.

Shopping at Garden State Plaza and Paramus Park represents the activity that many visitors specifically come for. Both are large enclosed malls with a broad mix of national retailers. Garden State Plaza in particular is one of the larger malls in the region.

For visitors interested in history or natural landscapes beyond the borough itself, Paramus sits within easy reach of multiple National Park Service sites across northern New Jersey. There are roughly 36 NPS-affiliated units within the broader region, ranging from Revolutionary War historical parks to coastal and river recreation areas. Many are under an hour's drive from Paramus.

Landmarks Worth Knowing

Paramus has a selection of locally significant landmarks that add context to the borough's character. Our Top Landmarks in Paramus page covers these in detail, but a few stand out for any first-time visitor.

The commercial corridors themselves — particularly the stretch where Routes 4 and 17 intersect — have a kind of mid-century American suburban landmark status. The concentration of retail development here is historically notable, and the physical landscape tells a story about postwar suburban expansion in the northeast that you can observe just by driving or walking through it.

The Paramus Reformed Church and its cemetery represent one of the borough's oldest continuously active institutions, with roots extending back to the colonial era. It sits quietly among the surrounding residential streets and offers a striking contrast to the commercial activity elsewhere in Paramus.

Van Saun County Park's Washington Spring Garden area and the general parkland layout reflect decades of Bergen County investment in public green space and are worth exploring on foot.

Where to Eat in Paramus

With roughly 1,369 mapped restaurants and cafes in and around the Paramus area, the dining scene covers considerable ground. Our Where to Eat in Paramus guide goes into more detail on specific neighborhoods and cuisine types, but here is what to expect broadly.

Bergen County has one of the largest Korean-American communities in the United States, and that influence is well-represented in Paramus and the surrounding towns. Korean barbecue, Korean fried chicken, and traditional Korean home-cooking spots appear throughout the Route 17 and Route 4 corridors and adjacent streets. This is a genuine regional dining strength worth seeking out.

Beyond Korean cuisine, the dining landscape in Paramus reflects the diversity of northern New Jersey broadly. Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Italian, diner-style American, Middle Eastern, and Latin American options all appear across the commercial zones. The malls themselves contain food courts and sit-down restaurant chains, while standalone spots along the service roads and side streets tend to offer more locally specific options.

If you are looking for a more curated meal rather than a quick stop between stores, exploring the side streets parallel to the main corridors often turns up smaller, independently operated spots that reflect the area's multicultural makeup more directly than the highway-facing chains.

Getting Around Paramus

Most visitors to Paramus arrive by car, and the borough is designed with that in mind. However, NJ Transit bus service connects Paramus to surrounding Bergen County towns and to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan. Several bus routes serve the commercial corridors along Routes 4 and 17. If you are coming from New York City without a car, bus service is a practical option — check NJ Transit's current route maps and schedules before your trip. Tap-to-pay with a contactless card or device is accepted on NJ Transit buses, which simplifies boarding if you are visiting from out of the area — confirm current payment options on the NJ Transit website before your trip.

Once in Paramus, a car is the most efficient way to move between the parks, the malls, and the restaurant corridors. The distances between attractions are walkable in theory but uncomfortable in practice given the highway-scale infrastructure.

Parking Considerations

Parking in Paramus is generally abundant compared to urban New Jersey destinations. Both major malls offer large surface and structured parking. Strip centers along the corridors have dedicated lots. Van Saun County Park has parking areas accessible from Forest Avenue and Continental Avenue.

That said, weekend afternoon parking at Garden State Plaza can be slow, particularly in the weeks surrounding major holidays. Arriving earlier in the day helps. Overnight parking restrictions apply in some areas, so if you're staying nearby and parking on a residential street, check posted signage.

Visitor Tips

• Check the blue laws before a Sunday trip. If shopping is your primary goal, confirm that your target retailers are open, as Bergen County's Sunday restrictions affect many Paramus businesses.
• Traffic on Routes 4 and 17 builds significantly on weekend afternoons. If you're driving from New York or elsewhere in New Jersey, early departures or mid-morning arrivals tend to be smoother.
• Use NJ Transit's real-time app for current bus schedules and service alerts if you're coming without a car.
• Practice ordinary urban awareness in parking lots and along commercial corridors — the same common-sense habits you'd use in any busy suburban retail area apply here.
• Check the Best Time to Visit Paramus guide for seasonal considerations, including park hours and outdoor activity conditions throughout the year.

Family Tips

Paramus skews family-friendly, and the borough's median age of 49.1 reflects a community with many established households. Van Saun County Park and the Bergen County Zoo are the clearest draws for families traveling with children. The zoo is manageable in half a day, and the park's open lawns and paths work well for younger kids who need room to move.

Both major malls have family amenities including dining options and entertainment areas that can help break up longer trips. The general suburban layout — wide roads, accessible parking, familiar chain restaurants — tends to be easy to navigate with strollers and car seats.

For multi-day family visits, the surrounding Bergen County area offers additional parks, museums, and river access points worth combining with a Paramus base. See our Paramus 3-Day Itinerary for a structured way to build that kind of trip.

Suggested Itineraries

If you are planning a focused day in Paramus, our Paramus 1-Day Itinerary walks through a practical sequence that balances the commercial corridors with the parkland and gives you a realistic picture of what a single day here can look like.

For visitors with more time — or those using Paramus as a base for exploring Bergen County and the broader New York metro area — the Paramus 3-Day Itinerary extends the scope to include nearby towns, NPS-affiliated sites, and a fuller range of the dining options the area offers.

Paramus FAQ

Common questions about visiting Paramus — including transit logistics, the blue laws, what to do if you're not a shopper, and practical planning details — are collected on our Paramus FAQ page. If something in this guide raised a question that isn't answered above, that page is the next stop.

Paramus rewards the visitor who approaches it knowing what it is: a commercially dense, well-resourced Bergen County township with genuine green space, a strong and diverse dining scene, and unbeatable access to the New York metro area. It may not fit the template of a classic travel destination, but for a day trip, a shopping excursion, or a base for exploring northern New Jersey, it delivers reliably on its own terms.