Of all the beaches reachable from Manhattan without a car, Long Beach is the one with the best ratio of effort to result. A Long Beach-bound train from Penn Station puts you on the sand in under an hour, the station is a short walk from the boardwalk, and the boardwalk runs the length of the town along the Atlantic. There is one complication, and it is the thing that catches first-timers: the beach itself is not free in season.
The beach here needs a paid pass in summer and there is a train package that bundles it. Ask Karpo whether the pass season is on today and what the cheapest way out to Long Beach is.
The beach pass is compulsory in summer
Every resident and non-resident aged 13 and over must purchase and scan a beach pass to enter or remain on the beach through the end of the season, which has run to the Monday of Labor Day weekend. Daily non-resident passes have been $16.50 per day, and they can be bought through the Yodel app.
This is not a suggestion enforced loosely. Passes are scanned at the access points, and arriving with a towel and no pass means buying one on your phone standing at the entrance. Sorting it before you leave Manhattan removes the only real friction in the day.
The package deal solves it in one purchase
The LIRR Getaway Package bundles the train tickets, beach entrance and a restaurant discount voucher for less than thirty dollars, bought at the LIRR ticket machines at Penn Station, with tickets valid for any train time.
Priced against a return train fare plus a $16.50 day pass bought separately, the package is straightforwardly the better deal, and the any-train flexibility means you are not committing to a departure. If you are doing this trip at all in summer, this is the way to buy it.
There is history behind the boardwalk being there at all. The original was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and rebuilt over the following years, which is why the structure you walk on is newer and sturdier than the boardwalks at older shore towns. The rebuild is also why the beach behind it is wider in places than it used to be.
The boardwalk is open all year
The pass requirement applies to the beach in season. The boardwalk itself is open year-round, which makes Long Beach a viable destination well outside summer — an October walk along two miles of Atlantic boardwalk with nobody on it is a genuinely good use of a Saturday, and it costs nothing beyond the train.
Beach access points run along the boardwalk between Nevada Avenue and Pacific Boulevard, so where you drop down onto the sand is a matter of how far you want to walk from the station rather than of finding the one entrance.
Surfing is a real part of the town's identity rather than an afterthought. Long Beach has a dedicated surfing area and a local scene that predates the boardwalk rebuild, and on a decent swell the water off certain blocks is busier than the sand. If you want to watch rather than swim, that is the stretch to walk to.
How the day actually works
The town is compact and laid out in a grid between the bay and the ocean, with the boardwalk on the ocean side and the commercial streets a couple of blocks inland. Everything you need — food, a shop for what you forgot, somewhere to sit with a drink afterwards — is within a ten-minute walk of the station.
That is the real advantage over the larger state-park beaches further east. Jones Beach and its peers are spectacular and largely self-contained; Long Beach is a town with a beach attached, which means the failure modes are less severe. If it rains at two, there is somewhere to go.
Timing the train
The Long Beach Branch runs direct from Penn Station, and the ride is under an hour. In summer the mid-morning trains on a Saturday are the busiest, and the late-afternoon returns fill with sunburnt people and coolers. Travelling out early and back either before four or after seven avoids the worst of both.
Check whether your train runs direct or requires a change at Jamaica, which varies by service and time of day. It is not a difficult connection but it changes the journey time, and knowing in advance is better than working it out on a platform.
Practical notes
Long Beach is on the south shore of Long Island, reachable from Penn Station on the LIRR Long Beach Branch in under an hour, with the station a short walk from the boardwalk. In season, everyone aged 13 and over must buy and scan a beach pass to enter the beach, running through the Monday of Labor Day weekend; non-resident daily passes have been $16.50 and are available via the Yodel app. The LIRR Getaway Package bundles train tickets, beach entrance and a restaurant discount voucher for under $30, sold at Penn Station ticket machines and valid on any train. The boardwalk is open year-round with beach access points between Nevada Avenue and Pacific Boulevard. Check whether your train is direct or changes at Jamaica.
Tags: #BeachNearMe #NYCBeaches #LongBeachNY #LIRR #Boardwalk #DayTripFromNYC #LongIsland #SummerInNYC #NoCarNeeded #WeekendPlans #ThingsToDoNearNYC #BeachesNearMe #PennStation #AtlanticBeaches
Sources consulted: longbeachny.gov · mta.info · away.mta.info
All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Ask Karpo first
Want to know whether the pass season is still on, which train is quickest today, and where to eat before heading back? Ask Karpo for the current Long Beach pass rules, a train plan from where you are, and a short walk around the town once you are off the sand.
