NYC Free: Best Beaches to Beat the Heat

Beat the heat by taking the subway to an ocean beach. New York City is the only place in the world where you can do that. Head to these NYC beaches on the cheap, for the price of a subway ride, some with connections to a NYC bus.

Remember to take your sunscreen.

See also

Best FREE outdoor pools in Manhattan

Best FREE outdoor pools in Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx and Staten Island

Remember that many NYC beach destinations are residential areas, also home to local, family-owned beach businesses still recovering from the devastation of Superstorm  Sandy.

Best NYC beaches by subway and bus are –

Coney Island, Brooklyn  

Who says you can’t have it all?  This iconic urban seaside resort features three miles of Atlantic Ocean beachfront, a boardwalk, amusement park rides galore, including the iconic Cyclone wooden roller coaster, the Coney Island Aquarium, the original Nathan’s Famous, palace of hot dogs, the NY Aquarium, with its newly-opened shark tank, and a minor league baseball stadium.

• The subway stops less than a five minute walk from all of it. Surf Avenue, from West 37th Street to Ocean Parkway. Take the D, F. N or Q subway to Coney Island/Stillwell Ave.
• Coney Island website

Rockaway Beach, Queens 

Rockaway is a peninsula, with the Atlantic Ocean on one side, Jamaica Bay on the other, and private homes, apartment houses, restaurants and shops in between.  Pick a spot – any spot — along the five-ish miles between Far Rockaway (below Beach 25th St.) and Rockaway Park (Beach 116th St.) for sand, surf and boardwalk. Rockaway also is NYC’s only legal surfing spot, so expect to share the beach between 67 and 69 streets and 87 and 92 streets with surfer dudes.

• Take the A train to any stop after Broad Channel, and walk east a few blocks to the ocean.
• NYCOTC recommends  – the boardwalk ends at 116th St., which is also a major shopping street for the neighborhood.  Above that, it’s strictly residential, so the further you walk “uptown” from 116th into the neighborhood called Belle Harbor, the quieter it gets.
• Rockaway Beach website

Orchard Beach, the Bronx

This one-mile beach on Long Island Sound is part of Pelham Bay Park, the city’s largest (larger than Central Park). There are hiking trails popular with birders, playgrounds, picnic areas, ball fields and secret fishing spots, but the real appeal on a hot summer day is the crescent-shaped beach and the wide promenade — concrete, not boardwalk.

• Take the 6 subway  to the last stop, Pelham Bay Park, and connect with the BX12 bus to the beach.
• There’s also free salsa dancing every Sunday to a live band. Shore and Orchard Beach roads.
• Pelham Bay Park website

New Dorp Beach, Cedar Grove Beach, Oakwood Beach and Fox Beach, Staten Island

All four beaches are part of Great Kills Park, managed by the NYC Dept. of Parks and Recreation.  The most quiet, private one is Cedar Grove Beach, secluded enough to be mistaken as a private beach. There are lifeguards, food concessions, picnic areas and restrooms throughout the park, plus hiking trails through the crucial wetlands that help defend against erosion.

• Take the Staten Island Railway to the New Dorp station and transfer to the S76 bus to Oakwood Beach.
• Great Kills Park website.

What’s your favorite NYC beach?

This was posted originally in 2015 and is updated annually.