No New York cliché summer is complete without a trip to the Hamptons. Contrary to what you might believe from episodes of Real Housewives or current fundraiser scandals, you don’t have to be a high roller to trek out to the east end of Long Island and enjoy beautiful, breezy beaches. My fella and I woke up at 6:30AM last Saturday, put our bikes on the LIRR, and didn’t get off until three hours later at the very last stop: Montauk. Hamptons adjacent but sans snobbery, Montauk is awesomely accessible by public transport and makes for a fantastic summer day trip form NYC!

A Day Trip To Montauk from NYC= SO MUCH SUMMER FUN

Imagine CLEAN, NOT CROWDED beaches! I know that’s hard to believe, New Yorkers, but they are the reality in Montauk! I AM SERIOUS: Montauk Beach has so much free sand space, so very little garbage, and is a walkable distance from the LIRR train station!!

Excuse me while I jump for joy.

Walk south (make a right) from the train station to get to the beach. You’ll find an adorable beach town, so quintessential it seems like every single store sells souvenirs and surf supplies. It’s a summer fantasy life out here! Montauk Brewing Company beers flow from every tap!

DID I MENTION THE PART WHERE THIS IS ALL ACCESSIBLE FROM THE MONTAUK LIRR TRAIN STATION!?

Literally the end of the LIRR train tracks. 

So real talk: the beach is about a 15-20 minute walk from the train. Which is nothing for most city folk. Like, the transfer in Times Square from the ACE to the NQRW is basically that long. It’s just long enough on a hot August day, that when you reach the town, you’ll feel like you earned that Montauk Driftwood Ale.

Now, if you bring a bike on the LIRR like we did, the ride into town actually is super short. I’ll share ALL the details on bringing a bike on to the LIRR at the end of this post.

Planning a Day Trip to Montauk: Quick ‘n’ Dirty Deets

• Travel time from NYC to Montauk train: About 3 hours
• Cost of train ticket to Montauk: $45 round trip (makes sure to buy an “Off Peak” ticket for weekend travel!
• Montauk LIRR Train Schedules: To get the most out of the day, you have 2 options from Penn Station: the 6:42AM or the 7:42AM trains. Train schedules can be found HERE.
• That’s a lot of travel time…is it worth it?: YES. Also, you can plan an overnight too. Apparently, their are state park camping options in addition to hotel$$$.
• Things to do in Montauk: BEACH! Adventure! Read on!

There’s plenty to do just in town and obviously you can spend the entire day chilling on the beach! But because we had our bikes, we chose to make the day more of an Biking Adventure Day than a Chill Beach Day.

Adventure time!

Bike to Montauk Lighthouse

Montauk Point is the very edge of Long Island. It’s about 5 miles from the town – a grueling walk, mere moments in a car – the perfect length for a bike ride! If you don’t have a bike to bring on the LIRR, there are plenty of shops in town for Montauk bike rental. If you rent a bike, get a mountain bike! There’s a dirt bike path called Old Montauk Highway that is through Camp Hero State Park and along the ocean. Google Maps won’t tell you it’s a bike option, which makes it feel extra special. We tried to take that path, but it was too much for our commuter bikes. So we stuck to the main road to the lighthouse: Montauk Highway.

Montauk Highway is no back road, it’s fairly well trafficked but there is plenty of bike space on the shoulder. Somehow, while riding I spotted blackberry bushes on the side of the road! Picking wild berries is one of my favorite summertime happenstances, so this roadside snack made me so happy!

There are two hills on this road that will make the ride feel…like just the right amount of challenge. Just the right amount of sweat to feel accomplished when you roll in to the destination. The reward when you arrive is positively picturesque.

Montauk Lighthouse! Picturesque Long Island!

Visiting the Lighthouse Museum at Montauk Point will cost ya $12. We heard fellow bikers grumbling about the “steep price” too- we weren’t the only penny-pinchers! It didn’t seem worth it for us, we had a grand old time explored the area around the lighthouse instead!

We found rocky beaches with no people, but clear signs of them.

We passed a few fishermen who seemed to be enjoying the sport more than the catch, then later a washed-up fish head.

Above all, it felt so freeing to get out of NYC for some wide-open spaces and ocean breezes!

For some true summer adventure – where will this path lead? Dunno but we’ll make the best of it!

And true summer mystery – what is this giant piece of polygon-shaped iron on the coast by Montauk Lighthouse?

And imagination – Did it fall from a spaceship!?

Guys, it was truly wonderful to have a good old summer adventure. Seriously, I really needed this! I am having a very work-heavy summer, for the first time in my life, and finding balance has been tricky. The summers of my youth were full of little adventures and for me, there’s nothing that makes me feel more carefree or alive! Even if it includes scraped knees from falling off my bike (yes, that happened, I’m fine) and legs covered in mosquito bites (NOPE! DIDN’T HAPPEN IN MONTAUK: not one single bug bite on this trip!!).

We biked back to town, poo-pooed the crazy happy hour crowd at Montauk Brewing Company and bought a 6 pack at the health food store “Naturally Good” instead. The shop has a giant, umbrella-shielded garden in back that we had all to ourselves. We sat, drinking beers, and resisting the urge to pick the produce growing right next to us. It was delightful, highly-recommend.

Then it was an early dinner of fish tacos followed by Ralph’s Famous Italian Ices & Ice Creams. My fella is from Long Island and he was very excited to share this place with me. They have soooo many flavors!

We went back to the beach for a golden hour stroll as we finished our ice cream. It was a perfect end to a perfect summer day! Which naturally, had me jumping for joy again.

Then we hopped on our bikes again, back to the train station to catch the 7:37pm train. We almost biked down to the north side of Montauk which features a harbor and more upscale boutiques and restaurants – something to look forward to exploring for next trip!

All and all we spent about 8 hours in Montauk and 6 hours on the train getting there. Which might seem a little ridiculous…but it was so worth it. It was the most perfect, quick summer escape. Plus, we just spent the whole train ride there, bathed in sunlight and reading. On the way back, we finished our 6 pack on the train – that’s 100% legal on the LIRR!

Bringing A Bike on the LIRR

Traveling around Montauk is super-duper easy if you bring a bike on the LIRR. I highly recommend this, because it made our day truly an adventure! Putting our bikes on the LIRR was a bit intimidating, but it turned out to be more simple than http://www.mta.info/lirr lead us to believe!

• Do I need a bike pass? The website emphasizes the need for a Bicycle Permit that you can only purchase from Penn Station for $5. My boyfriend dutifully purchased passes for both of us (bonus: they never expire!) But take it from our experience – NO ONE CHECKED FOR OUR BIKE PASSES. LIRR TRAIN CONDUCTORS DON’T CARE. Maybe they would have checked if we were getting on a commuter train at rush hour, but on a train full of day trippers? FUHGETTABOUTIT. Get a bike pass if you want to play by the book, but chances are you will be fine without one!
• Where do I actually put the bike on the train? There is an area in the front of most train cars where the seats fold up and there is plenty of room for bikes. Often, it’s right next to the bathroom.
• Do I need to stay with my bike for the 3 hour ride? Nope! We locked our bikes together and used a bungee cord to secure them. Then we got seats where we could kinda keep an eye on them, but honestly you don’t need to worry much.

It’s as easy to bring bikes on the LIRR for the weekend as it is to start a bonfire on the Montauk beach! If you have any more questions about it, let me know below or on Twitter or Instagram! 

Note: we didn’t start the fire.

Now, get yourself to Montauk this weekend and enjoy summer while you still can!