HELP! JFK to Islip MacArthur Long Island...at night!
 

OK, we got a much better price flying out of Islip the day after we arrive at JFK. My question is...What is the best way to get from JFK to a hotel close to Islip at 10:00pm. I have seen a little bit about the LIRR, but where do I go from JFK and get off??? And is it safe? Do I need to get a cab from train stop to hotel and are they readily available? Thanks so much in advance for some help.

I don't know how much you save or what your itinerary is, but between Islip and JFK it's a real pain. You can get the AirTrain to Jamaica (you're actually going in the wrong direction, but it's the only way) and from Jamaica, you can get an LIRR train to Ronkonkoma train station which is closest to ISP, but I don't know how often the trains run at that hour. Go to the Long Island Railroad website and check schedules. From Ronkonkoma you'll need a taxi or a shuttle to the airport or a hotel. AirTrain is $5/person. Not sure what LIRR fare is from Jamaica to Ronkonkoma but I'd guess another $10 or so.

I can tell you the La Quinta suites is close to the airport and gets good reviews.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev..._New_York.html

You can rent a car one way and drive and you can also get a car service. On the ISP website they list some services. The price from ISP to JFK is $70-100.
http://macarthurairport.com/pages/2transportation.shtml

Do the math and make sure this is worth the trouble. It's not easy.

I hope you haven't purchased your ticket yet! Whatever it is you're saving will be eaten up by the time, inconvenience of traveling between the 2 locations, and travel money.

Check out the website: http://www.macarthurairport.com/ and click on the transport button.

Also, there's not much you can do around McArthur unless you have a car. Thought I'd give you fair warning.

Islip is in the middle of a gigantic suburban mass - with nothing to do and no way to get anywhere except by cab or rental car - esp at night. Unless you're saving a ton of money I wouldn't take the time and money to get all the way out there

Oh - and on LI the only cabs hang out at the RR stations. You may have to share any cab meeting the train with people going elsewhre. And if there's no cab when you get there look around - there's usually info on how to call one in off hours.