LIRR to the beach?

Hello, this is my first post in the LIRR forum so please excuse my ignorance. I live in South Jersey and usually ride the ACL, the Riverline, PATCO, and Septa.
I'm interested in riding the trains one day this summer for a day trip to a Long Island beach. Any advice for where I should go and how I would get there once I got into NYC? Thanks.

LIRR to Long Beach, and I guess try to find a public beach there
or
LIRR to Freeport, then JB88 bus to Jones Beach

It depends on what kind of a ride you would like to have. If you want a
really nice ride to really good beaches, ride one of the morning weekend
trains out of New York to Montauk. You will, of course, have to change at
Jamaica. It will cost much more but the ride out east is both scenic and
interesting, good speeds and good track too. The Hamptons and Montauk
all have good beaches. You can have as many as eight hours out there
too if you get a good early start.
It surely is worth the extra cost, in my opinion the diesel lines are the
most interesting part of the LIRR.
Noel Weaver

I agree with N. Weaver here. If you like railfanning and also want to go to a beach, the best combination is riding out to Montauk for the day. First, you get a nice long train ride (most likely on two different types of LIRR equipment) and secondly, you get to see the unique topography of Montauk's rolling hills and scenic bluffs (near the famous lighthouse).

Wow, how the hell did I forget about the Hamptons? Yeah, that's another nice ride to some more really nice beaches.

I think you can also ride the Babylon, or Port Jefferson/Montauk/Ronkonkoma branch to Babylon: Wantagh/Freeport, Port Jefferson/Montauk/Ronkonkoma: Hicksville & transfer to a Jones Beach Bus, you can also do what NIMBYKiller said & what Noel Weaver said, but the Montauk is the best ride. As long as you don't take too long at the beach sice the headways between Montauk & Speonk are rediculous, even though there are some summer specials.

Don't forget Bay Shore after Babylon on the Montack Branch to Fire Island (don't say anything!!!). There's a bus down to the ferry.

Mike

NIMBYkiller wrote:LIRR to Long Beach, and I guess try to find a public beach there
or
LIRR to Freeport, then JB88 bus to Jones Beach

All the beaches in Long Beach are public. The private beaches are in Atlantic Beach which is further west . The beaches are 4 blocks from the train station. Just get off the train walk toward the front of the train past the station building and keep going and you will run right into the beach. The beach cost 7.00 bucks per person. I suggest buying the beach package from the LIRR. It it includes R/T tickets and beach passes, it cost less then buying everything seperately and you don't have to go buy passes when you get to LB. The RR offers similiar packages for Jones Beach, only difference is as Nimby pointed out you have to take a bus from Freeport to the beach (the LIRR package incudes the bus fare)
Have fun.

Thank's for clearing all that up about the private beaches.

I thought Jones Beach was free to go to(I mean, yeah, you pay either bus fare or parking, but I thought that was it).

And the bus from Hicksville and Wantagh is the JB87. It runs fewer buses though I think...BTW, the bus fare is $2 payable in either change or with a metrocard

Also, there's the S40 I think it is to Robert Moses State Park from Babylon(Atleast I'm pretty sure it's Babylon). Apparently though, this bus drops you off no where near the main area. Some say it's faster to take one of the ferries to Fire Island and walk back.

The trip to Montauk is very scenic, east of Mastic-Shirley. Even though it is expensive, it costs a lot less than riding Amtrak from Penn Station to New London.

BTW, if you consider going to Long Beach here's an interesting and very scenic way to do it from Manhattan:

Take a Far Rockaway bound 'A' train (8th Avenue subway) to the last stop Mott Avenue/Far Rockaway. One block away and around the corner from the train station is the waiting area for the N33 bus. Take it to the last stop which will put you right next to the Long Beach LIRR train station. The beach will be three blocks south of there. (The unusual thing about the Far Rockaway 'A' train is that south of Rockaway Avenue it runs on a former LIRR right-of-way through bucolic scenery over Jamaica Bay. You will see planes taking off and landing from JFK Airport on the left side of the train).

On your return trip to the city you can walk back to the LIRR station and take a Long Beach train to Penn (or most likely Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn). The Long Beach train is unique in that it has numerous grade crossing for a rather short line. If it takes you to Flatbush, you can get an addition train ride when you transfer to one of the Manhattan-bound trains there. And at thet complex there will be more than a half-dozen to choose from (2,3,4,5 and Q, N, M and R) depending on the day of the week.

Long Beach is the best destination if your primary aim is to go to a beach rather than spend time riding trains. It's the shortest trip and the beach is an easy walk from the station.

In the Hamptons and Fire Island, many beaches are private. Also, you have lengthy transfers from the train to the shore. So you will have to plan your trip accordingly.

The A train ride over Jamaica Bay and along the Atlantic is a nice alternative if you have the time. Just make sure you coordinate schedules with the N33 bus, since if you are not careful you could be waiting a long time in Far Rockaway.

I would do it the reverse. Take the Long Beach train that goes non-stop from NYP to Long Beach, and then going home, take the A

You will get what you pay for, the best is far east. Montauk has a
beautiful beach maybe a twenty minute walk or a little more from the
station or you can probably get a taxi too. I am not sure about the
Hamptons, I have been to the beach at Montauk many years ago but I
have not been to the beaches in the Hamptons in season.
It appears that the fare to/from Montauk is just slightly more than double
the fare to Long Beach but the distance is way more than twice the
distance to Long Beach. Approximate distance New York - Long Beach
25 or 26 miles, New York - Montauk 116 miles. If you are going to ride
the LIRR, get your money's worth, ride to Montauk, you won't be sorry.
Noel Weaver

NIMBYkiller: No, I do not recommend you do the Long Beach trip finishing with the 'A' train. There are 3 good reasons:

1) You don't want to be in the Far Rock area after dark as the area is seriously 'da hood.' On the other hand, during daylight hours it isn't bad and nothing will happen to you.

2) In relation to #1, the N33 does not run 24/7. The last bus to Far Rock out of Long Beach leaves at 9:55 pm. So if you want to hang at Long Beach after dark your best transportation back to NYC is going to be the LIRR.

3) You want to experience the A train over 'the flats' in daylight as the photo ops are spectacular (JFK airport, remnants of the LIRR powerplant at Hammels Wye, the Howard Beach AirTrain complex, and the 'islands' that the train runs over in Jamaica Bay).