One Friday night before a gorgeous weekend, my friend’s voice drifted into my head. “Take the LIRR to Long Beach,” it said. “It’s not far from the City and when you get off the train the boardwalk’s right there.”

Going to the beach by public transit is surely one of New York City’s summertime joys, and I’ve taken full advantage since I moved here a few years ago. I’d taken the F to Coney Island and the A to Rockaway Beach, but I had yet to explore Long Island’s beachy options. It was time to heed my friend’s advice and take the LIRR to Long Beach.

Beach Archetypes: The Cape and Hampton Beach

I grew up in Massachusetts, and each summer my family alternated between the trashy, tacky fun of Hampton Beach, New Hampshire and the understated, arty beaches of Cape Cod. I love both and put any beach I visit into a Cape or Hampton Beach category. Coney Island is Hampton’s long lost twin, and Rockaway Beach and the New York Hamptons are the Cape’s cousins for sure. Though it has Hampton Beach overtones the Jersey Shore is its own category since the beaches are so vast and you have to buy a beach tag to sit on their sands, something my “beaches are for the people” soul absolutely hates. 

I didn’t know what to expect in Long Beach. I initially thought it would be a Hampton since it had a boardwalk but after hearing people talk about how beautiful it is, it sounded more like the Cape. Then I realized you had to pay to get on the beach, and it fell with a thud into the Jersey Shore pile. I almost gave up my trip to Long Beach for the free sands of Coney Island, but got over myself and went to check out the train schedule.  
As I researched departure times on the MTA’s site I saw an article about “LIRR’s Deals & Getaways” and did a double take. What the hell kind of mistake was this? When did the MTA offer anyone any deals, especially when it comes to traveling on their not-at-their-best trains these days? I took a deep breath, and clicked the link.

The LIRR to Long Beach Deal is Real!

And there it was! An entire page devoted to a whole bunch of discounts to destinations in and around New York City. Turns out that if you take the LIRR to one of these places, you’re going to save a little money on…something. Who knows why, or how, the MTA managed to cobble these deals together but who cares. In these bad times, the MTA can use all the goodwill it can get.

I clicked on the beach page and found the deal for taking the LIRR to Long Beach. It wasn’t much, just a discounted admission to the beach and participating vendors but hey, when life gives you lemons, go to the beach. Especially if you get a few bucks off beach admission. 

Even though I read with my own eyes that the discounts were available the MTA isn’t inspiring much confidence these days, so I still had my doubts. Imagine my joy when I saw the “Deals & Getaways” and then the “Beach Getaways” option on the ticketing machine screens at Atlantic Terminal—it was true! I paid $26.25, which included $14.25 for the off-peak R/T train ticket, $12 for the beach admission pass, and $0 for a vague “Participating Merchants Coupon.” I knew I wouldn’t use that one, but I was thrilled to learn that I saved $8.25, an astronomical amount for the eternally cash-strapped MTA. 

The trip was a breeze from Atlantic Terminal, just under an hour. And the word must be out about taking the LIRR to Long Beach, because it was a small miracle I got a seat after I changed trains at Jamaica. The beach is a less than ten minute walk from the train station (which, for fans of the old TV show Good Times, happens to be near Reverend J.J. Evans Boulevard), and it’s really beautiful.

The sand is blond and fine, and the beach itself is pretty deep. I went on a cool sunny day and didn’t go in the water, but I found a quiet spot to the left of the lifeguard stations and heard the waves crashing as I relaxed under the sun. The boardwalk isn’t as trashy as I’d imagined. It was rebuilt after Hurricane Sandy, and still feels new and clean. It felt like a hybrid of Hampton and Cape Cod, and was a great place to escape the city for a day by the sea.