Skylands Manor

Historical and beautiful.
A picturesque backdrop for a photo shoot or a proposal or a wedding.
The annual and perennial gardens make New Jersey The Garden State.
People travel hundreds of miles for a day trip here! If you live within 50 miles, I strongly encourage you to make this an annual voyage.

The manor is beautiful, my girlfriend took me here to spend my birthday weekend. The staff was very friendly and helpful. We stayed in the Queens room which was wonderful. I would recommend this to anyone. We will definitely be back.

If I hadn’t paid in advance for the 3 nights I would have left. MY BROTHER DID!
Staff is rude, castle is gorgeous.
We arrived between 5 – 6 the Castle was dark, no lights on not even ambiance lighting. No one at their little desk tucked away in the corner, we called out and were (not greeted) but someone came around the corner with a glass of wine in hand (yes, staff) We got our keys and off to our rooms.
We came back down, looked for the wine service or area where people were gathering … None, there was just one other guest in the Castle. We asked about places to go for dinner and were handed a flyer and told not to stay out to late they lock up the Castle and we would have to call to get in (curfew.@ my age, on vacation).
The next morning we came down for continental breakfast, again no conversation with staff, a lot of chit chat about the other guest leaving. Staff seemed upset about them leaving. We had a horrible breakfast with an amazing view, muffins were tiny finger size, cereal was in prepackaged cups with no bowls and bagels were hard as a rock.
We sat outside having our coffee and catching up enjoying ourselves. My brother from NC us from CA and at 9:50 told they needed our cups breakfast was over.
Castle tour was self guided and beautiful, we noticed things were very staged to show for events (weddings) we were there mid week so it was quite. We toured the gardens and went into town for wine since there was no nightly drinks, coffee, tea or wine made available.
Day 2 walking downstairs for breakfast my phone rings, I see the staff (I think there was 3 total) on the phone. I answer and it’s the staff calling me and I say I’m right behind you, thy hang up… No explanation, no conversation ignored me completely as I stood there, she just walked away.
We had our coffee, same terrible breakfast as day before… Pretty sure it was the left overs.
Later that afternoon I came downstairs both ladies were at the desk. I asked if we could get a wine bottle opener for our room. One never looked up and just flipped through her book mumbling she was confused. I made eye contact with the other and she repeated my request and said no problem. I said no hurry if you can just bring one to the room when you ladies have time.
My brother and I walked the gardens when my husband who was in the room text me to say the staff member bought him a wine bottle opener and scolded him for not waiting downstairs for it. She wanted it returned immediately after we were done with it.
We returned it and went to the store and bought our own for $ 1.99 and glasses. There are no glasses in your room.
My brother left the second day !
We truly felt like unwanted guest in someone’s home. The only reason we stayed was because we had an important conference call we were waiting for… Which brings me to this…
FRIDAY… After being asked again to leave the breakfast area along with other guest two other couples now. We retreat upstairs waiting for our conference call from the west coast.
During our call there is a knock at the door followed by keys put into the door and I quickly get up from the couch to answer (our call is on speaker as both my husband and I are in the call) the staff ask to come into show the room. I say NO, we are on a private conference call… Several (5 – 6) people are behind her, she says well they would like to see this room. NO, we are occupying it and we are busy… I shut the door. UNBELIEVABLE! I truly believe that had we not been in our room she would have show our room to these people. NO PRIVACY !
We left the following morning, and of course when we left, there was no goodbye, how was your stay have a safe trip
back home NOTHING !
This could be such an amazing place ! Hospitality is everything, make people feel welcome. If it’s just for weddings, then don’t offer it otherwise. The only time we saw them clean was Friday, obviously before their event.
Things you should know, it’s not like a hotel:
No cleaning room daily or while your staying so you have to make your own bed and clean your own room ever day your there.
No room service
You have to ask for clean towels and shampoo/​conditioner daily.
The bathroom floors were nasty and furniture in the sitting room needed attention.
There were beer bottle caps under the tables in the sitting room also, as I said before had such potential … Just sad.

First the good. The castle is gorgeous. The bedroom was clear. It looked like a great place to hold an event. It’s right next to the Botanical Gardens, so you couldn’t pick a more beautiful location. It feels far away from the hustle and bustle of the city, but isn’t so it’s perfect for a weekend get away. The price is right too, starting at $ 95/​night.
Now the rest.
First I left for the manor right after work, which is in Philadelphia. The road up to the manor is not lit. At all. Which meant will my gps dropped me off at the wrong side of the road, I had no earthly clue how to get there. When I called I got snapped at for coming late at night. (it was 9 pm.) The directions I was given to go the rest of the way were good in the daytime, but included landmarks that I could not see at night. When I got there, I couldn’t find the parking lot. Again nothing is lit.
I was under the impression that they had Wi-​Fi, and asked about it. I was told it was spotty. No, in fact, they only had 3G. This meant in order to do my job, I had to do research on my phone, type it on my computer, and then bring my computer to a Wi-​Fi place off site in order to send email.
Also when I went to leave, & I drove my car up to get the luggage, I had someone come up to me and tell me that I couldn’t be there. She spoke so fast that I couldn’t get in that I was staying at the hotel and needed to load up my car. I finally got my point across but I was pretty miffed.
This has happened one other time when my boyfriend and I were standing outside, at night, about an hour after we had checked in. We were asked by the woman who checked us in if we had a right to be there. And we had to show her our key in order to not be escorted from the premises.
One more thing that my boyfriend wants me to add, when we came back during the day we had to show our room key so we didn’t have to pay for parking. This is because the parking is shared with the parking for the Botanical Gardens. The male security officer told me that he needed to see my room number so that he could go visit me that night. I rolled my eyes and my boyfriend lean forward in the car. When the security officer so my boyfriend he backed off, but it really was highly inappropriate.
Finally, unless you get a sweet, it’s important to note that the bathrooms are shared. They are gendered, but shared. There are also not very clean — torn screen, dead bugs, stained curtains, etc. In addition the bathroom in the ladies room, gets very wet. That is to say it’s on a slope and the water gathers. When this happens it creates models which you might not be able to see and it becomes very slippery.
If you’re looking for a nice place to stay that’s off the beaten path, this is your place to go. If you’re looking for a nice low cost bed and breakfast but has the modern comforts that we’ve become accustom to, look somewhere else.

A must see for sure! Amazing detail everywhere that is old and too beautiful for words. Wood work and iron works are priceless to see. Every time I stay here it’s mostly empty which is how I like it. I’ve only stayed for a night at a time but would love to stay for a week. I’ll stay here every time I’m in the area.

Huge towering presence in the park. It is a beautiful location for weddings and events or even just to shoot photos outside or have wedding photo shoots. It is open to walk around and sometimes they open up the inside as well. It reminds me of an old German structure that I’ve seen in Germany. I recommend it as part of the walk around the park for families, friends. lovers, really anyone!

Downgrading to 1 star because after a few attempts to contact the hotel via email or phone, even with my credit card company’s mediation, heard nothing back. They obviously don’t care about their reputation.

My wife and I decided to spend our ten year anniversary here. (now we can say we have been to a castle in our life. Lol.). Arriving here was very easy once you got off a major highway. Once we arrived, David the innkeeper was there to greet us. What a pleasant gentleman who made us feel like family from the moment we said hello.
The room was nice and having a sink was a nice bonus for such a small room.
We slept ok as the bed was a bit small but decent for the two of us.
Breakfast was nice, orange juice, blueberry muffins, bagels and cereal.
We will be coming back in the summer as we want to enjoy the garden.

My boyfriend and I stayed one night for a romantic date and had an amazing time! David, the innkeeper, was a fantastic host and made us feel very welcome. Our room was absolutely gorgeous and he give us a tour of the whole mansion even though we arrived late at night. If you’re looking for a modern place with all of the amenities, you will be disappointed. Yes, the hot water takes a little while to get to the room and our room needed a small space heater to keep warm because the building is old and the insulation is probably not great. However, what it lacks in modern amenities it makes up for in beauty and customer service. We upgraded to the King’s Suite which has a formal sitting room, dressing room, four piece bathroom, and large bedroom with vaulted ceiling and views of the gardens. We arrived late and had not eaten dinner, but David arranged for a local Italian restaurant to deliver just as they were closing (just ask for Betty & say David sent you, they’ll deliver late haha). Breakfast the following morning included coffee, tea, orange juice, muffins, bagels, homemade apple pastries which were amazing, scrambled eggs and sausage. We will definitely be coming back!

Loved this place. Came here to visit the gardens and the surroundings. It was an amazing time. The area is something out of fantasy.

Most important piece of information: Go on the first Sunday of the month to take a tour of the manor.
(There is a very rude person working at the manor as well. I assume the people working inside the manor are not volunteers, so this guy needs to take some etiquette lessons.) (Parking during the summer weekends is $ 5.)
If you live close by and just feel like hanging out in a landscaped-​nature setting, this is a nice place to go.
If you are coming to look at horticulture, this is one of the last places I would go. I would recommend going to Longwood Gardens or NY Botanical Gardens in the Bronx.
If you want to look at manors, go to Newport, Rhode Island.

Had an amazing weekend. We spent it in the Gatspy style room. Had a rough start with the lady at the front desk trying to kick us out due to wedding going on. But once she found out we had reservations she was well attentive. After dinner when we returned David was on duty he took us on a tour and made everything fun and made us feel at home. Would definitely come back again!

The atmosphere was lovely and romantic. Breakfast was not good at all-​stale pastries. Everything was clean and we got a tour of the castle. It is on a beautiful landscape.

My husband and I had our wedding at the castle this past march and stayed Friday to Sunday. We basically had the whole estate to ourselves the whole time since we booked so many rooms! The castle and grounds are beautiful and the larger rooms are gorgeous! We booked both the king and queen suites and they are huge! Cocktail hour rooms are gorgeous. The reception room is understated and nothing really spectacular there. Another thing to note, if you are going to stay there keep in mind it is a super old building. Sometimes the plumbing isn’t always cooperative and the water comes out brownish from the faucets. This is mostly from rusty pipes, just let it run and it’ll clear up.
Side note, it isn’t cheap to have a wedding here, but Linda the wedding planner there knows her stuff and is very experienced.

I couldn’t go inside because there was some special event but the castle like exterior and hilltop setting is pretty impressive. the adjacent/​surrounding New Jersey Botanical Garden is a bit underwhelming compared to some much larger botanical gardens around the area like in the Bronx, Longwood Gardens, etc but the natural setting is quite nice and if you walk into the wooded section of the botanical garden you won’t be disappointed.

We booked the «King’s Suite» thru Groupon for a honeymoon weekend. The suite lived up to it’s name! There is a massive bedroom with a king bed overlooking the courtyard, a living room, dressing room and huge bathroom. Not all the rooms here have a private bath, so that is a plus.
The staff here, particularly David, are awesome and accommodating. The castle and grounds are like nothing we’ve ever seen and since it is part of a state park the botanical gardens are part of the manor.
We would definitely recommend this for a romantic getaway. However, bring some warm clothes if it isn’t summer, it can get very cold inside these stone walls!

This castle is supposed to be a place to hold weddings. We stayed there for a weekend to just relax. Since it is on a mountain and we arrived there around 10 PM, it was very dark and we couldn’t see the sign clearly. Also, GPS doesn’t take you to the final destination. So my suggestion is not to check in at late night! (At least when you could still see the road clearly otherwise it’s a bit dangerous)
Overall the place looks very historical but is clean and beautiful. The breakfast area was impressing. The castle gives a totally different feeling from day time to night time. (It’s a castle, so it’s pretty scary at night lol)
Also, there’s a botanic garden right near the castle. Too bad we didn’t go this time because we had other plan.

There are so many things that went wrong it’s hard to know where to start. So let’s start with the comfort of my family and guests. The heat did not work and all of the guests were shivering. Many of them caught colds and were sick this week. Many guests asked the service staff to turn on the heat, but were dismissed and/​or ignored.
Hot apple cider was supposed to be served prior to the ceremony. Instead it was cold Mott’s apple juice in a champagne flute. The cocktail hour was decent until it was time to transition into the reception. The guests were chased out of the rooms as if they were cattle being herded.
Once the reception began it was disappointment after disappointment. My husband and I chose to serve dinner «buffet style» in order to shorten the meal portion of the night. Most of the food was lukewarm at best. We were also served food we never sampled or chose at the tasting. One of the dishes served was a surprise mystery meat resembling something from a school cafeteria. When guests requested drinks, silverware, or inquired as to the location of the rest rooms, the wait staff acted like they could not be bothered.
For the reception, my husband and I decided on a «no shot» rule. We felt that an open bar was more than enough. When guests went to ask for a shot the bartenders responded with a curt, «The bride doesn’t want anyone having any shots.» This lack of tact and made our guests and myself very uncomfortable.
As the reception/​dinner ended, the guests were herded out of the room again in a very forceful manor. Tables were being rolled away and a vacuums were out cleaning the room as my guests were leaving/​watching. We invited about 40 of our closest friends and family to stay with us in the manor for the night. Guests had no heat or hot water in their rooms and many did not even have towels. The staff at the manor would not help anyone with these issues and were extremely rude to my guests.
The next morning, breakfast dishes and silverware was cleared up while people were finishing their meals and coffee. People had their doors knocked on at 10:25 to ensure they would be out by 10:30. Even when reaching out after the wedding to talk about these issues we have been ignored and dismissed.
Overall, I would say the atmosphere felt hostile and unwelcoming. This is maddening, considering that we paid roughly $ 25,000 for the wedding and then another $ 9,000 in room costs. It is unfathomable to think that the Manor treated my family and guests they way they did.
If you are looking at the Skylands Manor I would recommend a motel or a low budget hotel. You will most likely have a better experience.

My friend purchased a night here on a whim from Groupon. It ended up being an complete blast! David, the gentleman working at the front desk was an absolute delight. I am definitely planning a trip back.

Used a Groupon deal to stay here last week with my fiancé and it was very romantic. Currently, the manor was decorated for Christmas so the charm when you walk in was just amazing.
I recommend bringing your own blankets and towels if you’re local. The Gatsby room was a WOW but it was very cold and the linens turned me off a bit (some ‘mysterious’ stains on the bedspread…). They do have a lovely fireplace heater that warms you up a bit and sets the mood, but just play it safe and bring your linens from home.
My only other wish was for the bathroom. This room did have it’s own private bathroom, but it could have used a little more attention. The room was so stunning that I was really turned off by how neglected the bathroom looked. Plenty of hot water and everything works just fine, but it felt a little creepy to me — especially late at night.
The breakfast in the morning was lack luster and a toaster for the breakfast breads was MIA, but I did not stay here for the food so my expectations were low.
Overall, charming experience!