Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
718-217-5477;
www.mta.info/lirr
;
one-way off-peak/peak $19.75/27)
serves all regions of Long
Island, including the Hamptons ($25 one way, two hours 45 minutes), from Penn Station
(NYC), Brooklyn and Queens. The
Hampton Jitney
( 212-362-8400;
www.hamptonluxuryliner.com
; 1-way $40)
bus services connect Manhattan's midtown and
Upper East Side to various Hamptons villages; the former also has services to/from vari-
ous spots in Brooklyn.
North Shore
Long Island's Gold Coast of the roaring 20s, of the Vanderbilts, Chryslers and Guggen-
heims, not to mention Gatsby, begins outside the suburban town of Port Washington.
Castle Gould, the enormous turreted stable at the entrance to
Sands Point Preserve
(
516-571-7900;
www.sandspointpreserve.org
; 127 Middleneck Rd; admission per car/walk-in $5/$2;
9am-4:30pm)
and now a visitor center, was once owned by Howard Gould, the heir to
a railroad fortune. The preserve's forested trails and beautiful sandy bayfront beach are
tours hourly noon-3pm Thu-Sun Jun-Oct)
is intact and furnished and open to guided tours
(hourly from noon to 3pm). Eastward is the bucolic town of Oyster Bay, home to
Sagamore Hill
( 516-922-4788;
www.nps.gov/sahi
; adult/child $5/free; 9am-5pm Wed-
Sun)
, a 23-room Victorian where Theodore Roosevelt and his wife raised six children and
vacationed during his presidency. Spring and summer months mean long waits for
guided tours. A nature trail leading from behind the excellent
museum
(admission free)
ends at a picturesque waterfront beach. As of the summer of 2013, the guided tours of the
home were suspended until a renovation and rehabilitation project is completed
South Shore
Despite the periodic roar of jets overhead,
Long Beach
, the closest beach to the city and
most accessible by train, has a main town strip with ice-cream shops, bars and eateries, a
lively surfers' scene and pale trendy city types mixing with suntanned locals.
On summer weekends the 6-mile stretch of pretty
Jones Beach
is a microcosm of the
city's diversity, attracting surfers, wild city folk, local teens, nudists, staid families, gay
and lesbian people and plenty of old-timers. The
Long Island Rail Road
(LIRR;
718-217-5477;
www.mta.info/lirr
)
service to Wantagh has a bus connection to Jones Beach.
Further east, just off the southern shore, is a separate barrier island.
Fire Island
in-
cludes
Fire Island National Seashore
(
631-289-4810;
www.nps.gov/fiis
)
and several
