Long Island in August - am I crazy? (need advice)
 

We are going to a wedding in Tarrytown August 18th and have friends in Amagansett so I have had the idea of visiting both places over the weekend. Despite having lived in Connecticut for several years in the 80's I never spent any time on Long Island and don't know distances, roads or traffic. I know the Long Island traffic is really bad in the summer - especially on the weekends; is this a crazy plan??:

Arrive JFK (from SFO) around 8-9 pm on Thursday night. Stay someplace within 1/2 hour drive (hopefully on the shore or some place interesting). Putter along the coast Friday to Amaganset to have dinner with friends. Stay someplace around there (Shelter Island? East Hampton?). Drive Saturday morning to Tarrytown.

Thanks for any advice.

I think you will have trouble finding a place to stay within 30 minutes of JFK - that is a mobbed suburban area - no hotels on or near beach - and just basic chains for business travelers.

I would head straight out to the Hamptons. If you don;t want to drive you might catch the last Hampton Jitney - don't know their summer hours. You will need to reserve a place to stay far in advance - and many places require more than one night.

Suggest yuo start looking now.

Well, The Allegria hotel is on the beach and near JFK,
http://www.allegriahotel.com/
I don't know if things are back up and running completely after SuperStorm Sandy. Local news people were staying at this hotel and it looked nice, if waterlogged.

I think it will be very difficult (and expensive) to find a one night stay in LI on a Friday in August. And while the trip from LI to Tarrytown on a Saturday will be against the main flow of traffic, assume it will still take much longer than any mapping program says it will.

When we went up for an August family reunion two or three years ago we could not get a one night reservation in the Hamptons/Amagansett area. We settled for a B&B in Riverhead as the travel time wasn't bad since the event was in Southhampton.

For hotels fairly near JFK, search Lynbrook and Rockville Center. I think ut was Lynbrook that used to have a Holiday Inn Express or Best Western.

If you do decide to drive out to Amagansett and can't find lodging at that end of the Island, consider taking the ferry from Orient Point to New London, CT in the evening, as there is plenty to choose from in that area. Then head to Tarrytown on the CT side of the sound.

Before you make this plan, do ensure that you can spend just one weekend summer night in a hotel somewhere around the area. Most hotels in the Hamptons have 2-night minimums in the summer.

Regardless, this will be expensive.

Thanks all. Sounds like the idea is not completely crazy from a traffic point of view, but that it is not greatly practical (or desirable) from a lodging standpoint. I had totally forgotten about the dreaded 2 night minimum on weekends. Don't mind just finding a local Marriott or Sheraton near JFK after a long flight, but had not realized that a nice place to stay out by Amaganset would be such a problem. And I am sure that we will not want to have dinner and then embark on a journey to Orient Point and New London (although a nice creative idea).

One other thought would be to pick a nice town nice along the shore not up as far as Amaganset (i.e. not a 2 hour drive after a cross country flight), stay 2 nights and have our friends drive down and meet us there for lunch or dinner on Friday. Any suggestions for town/resort/hotel that would be a nice place to stay a couple of days?

Unfortunately the towns are not mostly along the shore - at least on the south shore. And there aren't a lot of places to stay next to beach.

In the Hamptons the shore is typically either a state park, a town beach or the estate of someone terminally famous. the inns and small motels are typically in the towns - a mile or more from the water.

Amagansett is one of the few areas that has lodging n the beach - but many condo colonies that rent by the week. As for staying in Lynbrook or similar - these motels are not always what they seem - some should rent by the hour or are for the most budget of business travelers. These are really suburban areas - not resorts.

Have heard from a couple of people about Allegria - that it was a dump - and perhaps still damaged - I don't know that part.

I think you have three options...
1. Ask your friends in Amagansett if you can stay at their house
2. Stay somewhere on suburban LI between JFK and the Hamtptons (Islip, Deer Park, etc.), knowing that is will be charmless
3. Ditch the idea of meeting your friends and enjoy a night in NYC

Thanks nytraveler. Any suggestions for a decent town even a mile from the water? I see lots of town on the map (Sayville, Belport, Eastport, Westhampton Beach, East Qougue etc. but have NO idea what they are like). Any north shore towns worth considering?

msteacher, you may be right :-D. Had considered NYC but figured it would be too much hassle to get in and out for a night and had a fantasy of Long Island being more charming than charmless!

Really, what's there to see and do in LI anyway? Are you into celeb watching? Hoping to bump into Babs, or Baldwin, or Spielberg or Hanks?
Your friends sound made of money; thus, ask to crash in their crib.
Otherwise, go to NYC, and then go to the wedding... unless you are really into long abandoned and shuttered mansions.
BTW, there is a tour I might go on that shows the ploretariat what life for the rich in LI used to be.

Thanks to all of you who gave helpful replies and information. The more desirable hotels where we are heading are indeed very expensive (some of the largest low to high season price spreads I have ever seen in a lot of years of traveling through the world) and most have a 3 -not 2 - night minimum in the summer.

I found a perfectly fine looking Hyatt in Riverhead which will do just fine; the idea was just to get to explore that part of the New York area, have lunch with our friends and not be just flying in from the west coast right before the wedding. This will make for a more relaxed trip, and for less pressured driving. Replies very helpful for getting oriented.

West Hampton is a wonderful town. There is a public beach on the ocean there. Think is called
http://long-island.newsday.com/recre...-park-1.854399
cupsoque. There is live music at dinner time and the ocean is well, fantastic. On the other side from Riverhead is the north shore or wine country. The drive on sound avenue is beautiful and interesting. Goat farm, asian vege farm, oyster farm on the water and even a lavender farm in Orient. Both sides of Long Island are just so special but I'm partial since I've lived here all my life. The only problem is to start out early or late. The traffic can be difficult.

If you want to visit friends in Amagansett don;t stay on the North Fork - there would be huge trek to get back and forth.

And yes, places to say are expensive. Youmight look at some of te fisherman's places on Montauk - next town to Amagansett.

But it's hard to give advice - we either visit friends or rent a house for several weeks - so don;t know shorter term lodging that well.

I think you need more than a weekend to make this work. Amagansett is just too far from Tarrytown Staying in Riverhead is too far from both on a weekend in August. Imo, the only places on LI worth isiting are on the east end...just too far.

Thanks guys/gals. Montauk looks like even more what I had in mind, but I can already see that trying to do all of this in a day is, indeed, seeming pretty crazy. It probably makes more sense to visit these friends when we have more time. And I am sure we can stay at their house; just not sure that is what I really wanted to do, and even with that we are still looking at a very short time period.

It is so hard to plan these things using only google maps and their driving estimates. This is the sort of trip that would probably work just the way I had wanted it to -- in the winter! [Greatly appreciate advice!]

Just spend the night in NYC and have fun!

One last question: decided just to skip Long Island (and actually Manhattan too in August) and just head to the Hudson Valley.

Can anyone comment on how bad traffic is likely to be at 6 pm from JFK to the Tarrytown area? (In other words, is it crazy to land at 5:30 from the west coast, pick up a rental car and head north? Better to stay around JFK and drive up in the morning?)

There will be traffic until 7 or later. Buy don't count on landing on time or getting a car in 30 minutes