Jacob Riis Park

This place might take forever to get to by public transportation… but for being able to use your MetroCard to get there, it’s won a place in my heart.
The beach has public restrooms, lifeguards and enough room to not feel TOO crowded even on the worst days in the summer. The queer friendly section is all the way to the far left of the parking lot, by the condemned mental hospital.
Bring cash for the food trucks, don’t get caught drinking and be on the lookout for topless lesbians. When you get off the train, wait for the bus by the Target entrance. You’ll most likely see a line that has formed.

I love the waves and the beach in general
Hate that the bathroom is so far from picnic area
Also hate that there are not enough huts for staying cool from the sun besides that it’s great.

If you ever wanted to go to on a weekend to a beach where you:
Pay for parking.
Walk half mile or more from the parking to the beach.
Walk another mile just to find a place to put a chair.
Have kids throwing sand and water all over.
This is your beach.
If it is a week day, i think that it has a potential to be beautiful beach (As much as beach with brown water can be beautiful… On a summer weekend, i would avoid it.

All you need is Riis park, picnic food, and some drinks to make it a perfect summer day with friends. It’s easily accessible by public transportation (the bus drops you off 100 feet from the beach). The beach is super clean, and the crowd is young, fun, family friendly. The water is clean for swimming unlike Coney Island. I love coming here for a day trip from Manhattan! It’s about a 1.5 hour trip but so worth it! Feels like a mini vacation far away from NYC.

We came here saturday (⁸⁄₂₉). It wasn’t crowded and there was still a lot of room to spread your blankets near the shore. I like this beach because it’s clean and I like the overall vibe. It’s just chill. We stayed at Bay 6.
The reason I took off a star is because its kinda costly to go here with a $ 4 toll back and forth and $ 10 parking.

Came here to experience the Riis Park Beach Bazaar and to catch some rays. I have a separate review for the Bazaar here:
Anyway, Jacob Riis Park is a bit of a trek to get to. Luckily, we took the Beach Bus (review here:
), so it was easy peasy.
If you’ve never been to Riis Park, it’s pretty expansive. The beach is deep and it curves around. Lots of prime real estate to set up your towels and beach umbrellas.
Now that the Bazaar is here, there’s also lots of drinking and food to be had. All of that is located by the tall flag pole. You’re not technically supposed to drink beer on the beach, but nobody really cares. Saw a cop ATV drive by once, but that was it.
The beach is clean. The bathrooms are reasonable (though they started to stink pretty bad toward the end of the day). And the ladies are worth a few glances. Everything you could want in a beach!

Has one of the ~better~ beaches in NYC. (I use that term loosely.) Really great for BBQing, having the kiddies run in the playground, lay out on the beach, and more.
The downside is there are way too many people coming here. Traffic getting here is an absolute nightmare going and coming at any time. Prepare yourself for that.

We went with a small group of friends and it was packed. The water was very warm, but I didn’t really go in because it was polluted with a pretty unusual amount of feathers — from the seagulls, no doubt, but I’d just never seen something like that at a beach. Another person in the group — asthmatic — went in and ended up getting sick. Ironically, we mainly were at the beach to help his asthma and at that beach because it was supposedly closer to us than Jones Beach (though we were sitting in traffic leading to their 1-​attendant parking lot for an eternity).
There was a little hipster band and bazaar, but the one thing my friends were raving about on the way there — the fresh coconut stand — was out of coconuts. (This was my second visit to Riis and these guys are always out of coconuts, lol.) Honestly, I’m not sure that would’ve made a difference for me. Other than this little cluster of stands there’s really nothing to see along the boardwalk.
Between the polluted beach the rough crowd and the minimal boardwalk attractions it wasn’t really worth the trip out to the shore.
The town area on the way to the beach is quite nice — lots of little bagel shops and such. Close to Rockaway Beach, which is where I’d probably go instead since you can at least enjoy the ocean on that side.

I have been to Rockaway Beach but closer to the B80’s… this part is by far the cleanest I’ve seen. The water wasn’t blue but I didn’t see any debris in the water or on the sand. You have to pay $ 10 for parking but it’s well worth it. There’s a restroom and a dining area. It wasn’t crowded either. Will definitely return!

Sooo its a hot summer day and Jones Beach is a bit too far away, right? And Coney Island is, well, Coney Island. So where do you go? How about Riis Park in Rockaway, Queens?
Here’s a few fun facts about journeying over to Riis:
+ The park is easy enough to get to from all parts of BK (and probably Queens and Manhattan too). Whether you’re driving, biking, taking the ferry or the bus — there’s a way to get to Riis.
+/​-​If you drive — parking is $ 10 for the entire day. But that’s the standard w/​a lot of the beaches/​parks in NYC.
+ Worried about the place being too crowded? Don’t be. There’s plenty of sand for you and all your beach gear. We went out last Saturday morning and found a lovely patch close to the water, and not once did we feel too crowded as other started to fill in around us. And weekday visits are sooo not crowded. We drove out today at 10am and there were only a handful of umbrellas. By 2pm the place started to fill in… but only a little bit.
+ The beach is pretty clean too. We didn’t have to push aside or step over any empty soda cans or chip bags, no seaweed to wrestle.
— There aren’t a ton of food options during the week but the weekend brings out the Bizarre (
). There’s plenty of stands to choose from but the lines for each were crazy long. I suggest bringing a cooler.
+ If you like the beach but don’t love the beach — there’s a great boardwalk that stretches the entire length of Riis and beyond. Walk, bike, whateva. There’s also a whole bunch of grills and picnic tables.
— Once you cross over the bridge to this part of Queens the cell service gets very very spotty, ugh.
Considering everything though — on a 90-​degree day there is nothing better than a cool ocean breeze and the best spot to get that — Riis Park!

This is a great beach! It is very easy to get to from other parts of the city. Accessible via public transportation, driving, or the NYC Beach Bus. The beach is clean, free, and very large. There is tons of room for lots of people. The water is clean with mild waves. There are food trucks from the Beach Bazaar that are from great Brooklyn and Queens restaurants. There are also bands on the weekends at the Beach Bazaar. Loved coming to this beach! Its close and doesn’t have a fee like some Long Island Beaches.

Used to love how quiet the beach was, yet teaming with queer bodies being celebrated and loved
Now it’s a hot spot, so I prefer evenings and stormy days with close friends!

Literally not even a vending machine for a bottle of water! I didn’t realize I would be in a middle of nowhere type place and didn’t bring lunch or water (because who wants to carry all that to the beach). I ended up walking for almost an hour to finally find nourishment!
I will never return– oh and by the way, a good chunk of the beach has signs warning of danger of sharp objects!

Sadly, I’m not a fan of the beach, but this experience was better than most.
Lots of parking, lots of sandy area to plant your umbrella or blanket and plenty of space to spread out and not feel overwhelmed. It would be nice if everyone followed the rules… ya know? No dogs. No smoking. No bad music on your boom-​box. Alas, I saw way too many lady-​tatas, bad tattoos and banana hammock bathing suits, but this is every beach I attend, and the root of why I avoid them.
$ 10 bucks to park your car, so be strategic. Over the weekend, you will have to fight crowds of shoppers at the bazaar to use the bathroom, so just be aware of this and plan accordingly.

«Getting away from it all»
I have been coming here for my «mental beach» days for years and I love it here. Plus, you actually can feel like you have escaped the city because you will be lucky to have only one bar for cell phone reception.
On weekdays, the beach is pretty much deserted. There is not much around the Jacob Riis portion, so you should bring everything that you need (water, food, sunblock, etc) for the day. There is a small food truck (hotdogs, gyros, rice/​beans, milkshakes, etc.)slightly west of the Marine Parkway Bridge and it is an ~15 min walk to the beach. Oh if you are feeling adventurous sometimes people sell Nutcrackers, a random mix of various boozes and kool-​aid, on the beach. I have yet to try one because I am not trying to drink something that has been made in a random person’s kitchen sink.
The beach is pretty clean, compared to other beaches in the city and you can experience decent waves. Note that in this section of the beach some people sunbathe nude, many women are topless and it is very LGBT friendly.
If you do desire human interaction, you can take the bus east for a few stops and end up at the boardwalk, which has quite a few different eateries (Lobster Joint, a ceviche place, an arepa spot, and a small bar). Be sure to bring cash because none of these places accept credit/​debit cards.

Came here on the opening weekend and it was a blast! The beach is not as crowded as Jones Beach and there are live music every weekend starting from end of May! Now that the Brooklyn Night Bazaar is moved here, food/​drinks options are improved. Highly recommend!
Lastly, you can take the NYC Beach Bus which picks up from Williamsburg or Barclay Center. Very convenient!

So I was here, and I really don’t get the hype.
Beach wasn’t crowded, if that’s your thing. Lots of room to spread out, but there’s really nothing here but the beach– no amusements, no restaurants, and not many people.
The bathhouse would have have been cool… Maybe 30 years ago. Unfortunately, most of the buildings on the property are overgrown with plants and dilapidated. They have a very creepy vibe to them, especially the ones surrounded by barbed wire fences. The facility feels like a former insane asylum by the sea. I don’t find that very appealing.
Sand itself has a nice texture, albeit completely covered in sharp broken shell fragments. Also half of the beach had no lifeguards, so swimming wasn’t an option for much of the area.
If seclusion in a creepy way is your thing, this is your beach. If not, head up shore for more stuff.

My favorite beach in NYC. For many reason.
The vibe of this beach compared to others is just more chill. Yes it does attract a diverse crowd of people. I was first brought by one of my gay friends who explained to me that there is a while ‘gay’ section. It doesn’t feel secluded in that respect though. There are still families and evening in between. It is one of the few spots in the city where you’ll see woman going topless so if that bothers you may not be the beach for you.
All of that however is not my main reason for loving the beach. The beach really makes me feel like I’m not in NYC. That I’ve slipped away to the Jersey shore or something. The sun expose is SO awesome (I’ve never been able to tan my legs and they got quite toasty here!) the waves are big which is novel in NYC, the sand is clean. I just love this beach!
It is quite a bit isolated so I suggest bringing food and all the beach essentials for that day because there’s not much in the area

Jacob Riis park brings back memories.
In would travel all the way from Brooklyn (just a 15 minute drive by car) because I didn’t like the hustle and bustle at the coney island beach and it was well worth it.
Located right off the the marine park bridge (tolls $ 4.00) right next to belle harbor.

Queens has a natural jewel as I do not have to travel far to access Jacob Riis Park. Always clean, never densely populated as you never bump into the person walking next to you. My brain was ditched at my workplace as my body was blankly staring at the waves. Water is clean.
Subject to National Park Service, Jacob Riis Park is not under the jurisdiction of NYC Parks Department which is why there are no mobile food concession stands and no street peddlers who will walk into your face peddling for money as beach goers mainly want to relax and care-​free day. Ahh, no street peddlers to disturb nature and the calm desire to relax, therefore no garbage or debris on the beach, boardwalk or streets.
Note: Very minimal cellular signal is available at this very isolated peninsula. When traveling by car there is a flat parking fee per vehicle, but when traveling by mass transit it is only accessible by Q35 bus or Q22 bus at Beach 116^th Street.