What is the best way to get to Fire Island from Manhatten?|149267

First time to NY soon, and was possibly interested in a day trip to Fire Island. What is the best way to get there and is a day long enough to hit the best highlights of the island?

It depends on which part of Fire Island you_d like to go to. If you want to go to the _party_ area (Ocean Beach) you_d want to take the LIRR to Bay Shore, the train will let you off not too far from the Ferry station (I_m not totally sure if It_s in walking distance, or a VERY cheap cab ride)

If you want to go to the more relaxed, quiet, gay-oriented (although not all of it is) you_d want to take the ferry out of Sayville. It_s pretty much the same situation as with Bay Shore. Hop the LIRR to Sayville and take the ferry.

A day, starting very early in the morning is enough time to see your designated area... you_re not going to cover the whole island (you actually can_t, some spots you_d have to take a water taxi to get to)

Fire Island has NO highlights. It is a weekend beach community populated mostly by the NYC gay community; it has NO sights, NO shopping, NO nothing. If you persist in wish to visit, here is a website with ALL the info you could possibly want.

http://www.fireislandcc.org/fitrans.html

It is a very unique beach community. It_s either time shares or weekend/vacation homes. There_s only one part of Fire Island that is known as the gay area. Not many hotels throughout. Some shopping but nothing much more than local shops selling souveneirs, or family owned stores. I didn_t see any big stores there. There are restaurants and bars, the nightlife is pretty good in some parts, most of the island is closed to cars other than emergency vehicles.

You can take the LIRR (to exactly where I don_t know, i think it depends on what part of the island you are going to), but many people take a cab to the ferry, it_s not that expensive.

But, you say this is your first time to NY, so I say don_t bother. It_s far. It takes at least 2, maybe 3 hours to get there from the city. You will lose an entire day and you won_t see much there. If you don_t plan on spending at least a night there, you might as well just go to Long Beach. Fire Island doesn_t have many motels, it_s mostly timeshare homes.

i would start out early in the morning. Take the LIRR form penn sta. (mta.info will help) to station nearest fire island then commute the rest of the way by bus or just take a cab