The highway extends 32.7 miles (52.6 km) from the White Horse Circle, in Hamilton to Lincoln Boulevard (CR 607) on the border of Bound Brook and Middlesex Borough.

CR 533 shares a long concurrency with US 206 through Princeton and Montgomery, while portions of the roadway in Somerset County are part of the Millstone River Valley Scenic Byway.

The U.S. highway turns west down Broad Street at the circle and winds confusingly through Trenton before moving through Lawrence, the county route continues nearly due north through Hamilton and along the Lawrence/West Windsor boundary into Princeton.

At the next traffic light, it intersects the access to the Nassau Park shopping center and Province Line Road, unsigned CR 569.

[2] CR 533 finally splits off of US 206 in northern Montgomery, breaking off to the right and running along the western bank of the Millstone River, which is itself parallel to the Delaware and Raritan Canal for this stretch.

After two miles (3.2 km), CR 533 crosses the Raritan River over Van Veghten's Bridge and enters Bridgewater, becoming Finderne Avenue.

In its busy final mile, it passes by TD Bank Ballpark (home to the Somerset Patriots), the Bridgewater Train Station serving NJ Transit's Raritan Valley Line and I-287, enters Bound Brook, becoming Talmage Avenue.

Traveling through Bound Brook, CR 533 turns southeast on Columbus Place and reaches an intersection of Mountain Avenue (Route 527).