For other places with the same name, see Long Island (disambiguation).
Long Island stretches eastward from New York City in the Metro New York region. The island is approximately long from Brooklyn and Queens at the western end, to Montauk at the easternmost point. At its widest, the island is about from north to south. While Long Island geographically includes the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, and the more suburban counties of Nassau and Suffolk, colloquially the term is often applied only to Nassau and Suffolk counties in New York State.
While Long Island is home to seven million year-round locals, many commuting in and out of New York City, the Island is home to a lot of discreet tourism (concentrated in certain townsβHuntington, Fire Island, Montauk) and also serves as the zip code for the vacation homes of many wealthy city dwellers, particularly in the Hamptons.
While Long Island also includes Queens and Brooklyn, both boroughs within New York City, most people, when talking about Long Island, mean: Nassau County
The part of the island bordering New York City's borough of Queens, which is home to a lot of suburbs, as well as sights like Sagamore Hill in Oyster Bay, where President Theodore Roosevelt lived; and beaches like Long Beach and Jones Beach
The east end of the island that includes suburbs like Huntington and Islip, the resort town of Port Jefferson, the Hamptons and Montauk, and also the North Fork, home to many vineyards.
{{mapshape|type=geoshape|fill=|title=Nassau County|wikidata=Q54064}} {{mapshape|type=geoshape|fill=|title=Suffolk County|wikidata=Q54065}}
Long Island is essentially a suburban area throughout (except for the Twin Forks region, which is rural) and has few major towns.
From a tourist's point of view, the best times to visit Long Island are the summer for swimming and the fall when the scenery can be most appreciated.
Nassau County and Western Suffolk County are relatively highly developed and densely populated, and are home more to the suburban neighborhoods which Long Island became famous for after World War II, where most year-round residents live (e.g. Levittown and Oceanside). Central and Eastern Suffolk County, however, retain a somewhat rural feel, relative to the rest of the New York area, and are home to agriculture, wineries and beach towns. Many summer homes and hotels are located here, and this is where most wealthy New Yorkers congregate in the summer months when the concrete jungle is too hot to bear. Tourist attractions can be found equally in both counties and throughout the entire island.
Long Island's only downside to tourism is harsh north-eastern winters that make traveling somewhat difficult, and the fact that it is an expensive place to both live as a permanent resident and also as a tourist. There are towns that are more friendly to the wallet than the notoriously expensive Hamptons, or "Gold Coast" North Shore towns; however, Long Island is home to some of the most expensive zip codes in the entire world. Do not expect a bargain vacation when traveling to Long Island.
The Long Island Conventions & Visitors Bureau provides information about Long Island and the places to visit.
The Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) runs from Penn Station and Grand Central in Manhattan, from Long Island City and Hunterspoint Avenue in Queens, and from Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn, to various points on Long Island on many branches. Service is not as frequent as the NYC subways but also runs 24/7. The new line to Grand Central Terminal opened on January 25, 2023. That project, infamous for cost overruns and delays, is called "East Side Access".
The following lines have the most service from Penn Station:
There are several ferry services that can be found on Long Island. Always check their schedules carefully as they may not be available during late night.
Ferry services from Connecticut, Rhode Island and Block Island
Ferry services to Shelter Island are unavailable during late night, so always check their schedules.
Ferry services to Fire Island
When traveling along the North Shore, you may take the scenic and relaxing route of 25-A, a single lane road that runs through historic, wealthy towns on the northern shore.
Long Island is long: it can take hours to travel from one destination to another, especially during morning and afternoon rush hour when the main roads suffer from high congestion and the trains are crowded.
There are two main bus operators on Long Island: Nassau Inter-County Express (NICE, the former Long Island Bus) in Nassau and Suffolk County Transit in Suffolk. Each maintain extensive bus networks throughout their counties. For schedules, fares and route maps for NICE, visit their website. For the same for Suffolk Transit, visit their website (dead link: January 2023).
The Long Island Railroad crosses the entire island, with stops in virtually every community of note. As it is designed to take residents into and out of Manhattan, connections between branches are virtually nonexistent. However, with the exception of the Port Washington line, every branch does come into Jamaica station in Queens, so if you do need to change branches, Jamaica is where you will likely do it (in fact, many locals will tell you that one of the most infamous terms on Long Island is "Change at Jamaica".
The Port Jefferson branch goes all the way out to Port Jefferson on the north shore in Suffolk County. The Ronkonkoma branch goes to Greenport on the north fork. The Montauk branch goes to its namesake hamlet on the tip of the south fork. The Hempstead and West Hempstead branches go into the heart of Nassau County. The Far Rockaway and Long Beach branches carry beach goers from the city to the popular beaches on the south shore. The Port Washington Branch extends to Port Washington, serving communities in the northwestern portions of Nassau County.
For schedules and fares, visit the LIRR website.
In addition to highways connecting New York City and other points west with Long Island, there are more roads to get around:
The Long Island Expressway (the L.I.E.) has the high-occupancy-vehicle (HOV) lanes in both directions in Nassau and western Suffolk Counties. M-F from 6AM to 10AM and 3PM to 8PM, it can save time for motorcycles (even without passengers) and cars with at least two occupants.
Use an HOV lane if you can. Traffic jams can last for hours and disrupt travel plans. Just make sure that you know what exit you will get off at. There are only certain points at which you can get out of the HOV lane.
The Meadowbrook State Parkway runs from Jones Beach to Westbury, connecting the South Shore towns to Mineola and The Northern State Parkway.
The primary tourist attractions are the large number of excellent beaches along Long Island Sound on the North Shore (the setting of the famous novel and movie "The Great Gatsby", and the more famous South Shore, which is home to the Atlantic Ocean's waves and white-sand beaches.
The North Fork is also home to many wineries, farms and culinary outlets.
Other attractions include North Shore harbor towns such as Port Jefferson, Huntington Village, Stony Brook and Northport where a variety of eateries and small businesses thrive in a bohemian atmosphere.
Long Island is also the home to Stony Brook University (with campuses in Stony Brook and Southampton), one of the top-100 Universities (U.S. News & World Report), which is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system, providing a very academic and international community within central Long Island. Brookhaven National Laboratory, affiliated with the U.S. Department of Energy, and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory is also located on Long Island. Both labs are affiliated with Stony Brook University.
Other notable institutions of higher learning on Long Island include: Hofstra University (Hempstead), Adelphi University (Garden City), Long Island University (Brookville, Brentwood, Riverhead), New York Institute of Technology (Old Westbury, Central Islip), SUNY College at Old Westbury (Old Westbury), Farmingdale State College (East Farmingdale), Polytechnic Institute of New York University (Melville), Five Towns College (Dix Hills), Nassau Community College (Uniondale), Suffolk County Community College (Selden, Brentwood, Riverhead, Sayville), Briarcliffe College (Bethpage, Patchogue), Molloy College (Rockville Centre), Saint John's University (Oakdale), Saint Joseph's College (Patchogue).
Long Island is a lot like New Jersey and parts of Connecticut in as much as a there are a lot of-24 hour diners that serve pretty much anything whenever. Young people congregate in these diners at odd hours, and they can be found spread out on the major roads like Jericho Turnpike or Sunrise Highway. There are also many seafood restaurants (especially with local clams and mussels-local Long Island specialty foods). Because there are so many local restaurants (many Zagat-rated), with influence from European families and the nearby international cuisine of New York City, a Long Islander wouldn't recommend to eat at a chain restaurant that could be found anywhere.
The bagel shop is a Long Island institution, and while nearby New York City is better known internationally for its bagels, they're just as good here. It's very likely that a great bagel shop is just a few minutes by car from wherever you are, and while you'll always find the standard sesame-seed bagels, plain cream cheese and smoked salmon, many offer a dizzying array of bagels and fillings, in addition to bagel-shop staples such as black-and-white cookies. You can't do any better for a quick breakfast or lunch.
Be sure to visit a local farm stand, especially those out east and on the North Fork (i.e.: Briermere Farms). Local produce and farming is a major industry on Long Island.
The well-known cocktail, the Long Island Iced Tea, was created on Long Island. One of the most celebrated local beers is named Blue Point, named for the town of the same name.
Drinking on Long Island is tough because you need a car to get around, with this in mind, use the Long Island Rail Road to your advantage. Take it from town to town, or take a night out to go into the City. At night, there is little public transportation besides the LIRR, but there are taxis. The South Shore in Nassau County has some good bars (with a somewhat rowdy crowd, however). Long Beach in particular has a bustling bar scene, particularly in the summer, when day trippers flood the city for its gorgeous beaches and college students pack themselves into rented bungalows. The city's West End has the greatest concentration of bars and is entirely walkable, though it's a bit of a hike from the train station without a taxi or bus ride.
On the North Shore you will find a buzzing college-bar scene year-round, mostly for those college students and other 20-somethings looking for a night out that doesn't involve a dorm party, frat or sorority or an expensive trip to NYC. The most popular towns for this kind of bar-scene are Huntington Village, Port Jefferson, (both along Route 25A) and Smithtown along Jericho Turnpike/Route 25, which has a bar scene by night despite their charming shopping and family-oriented atmospheres by day.
Montauk and Fire Island, which are very much touristy beach towns, are home to many bars β what else is there to do on a warm summer's night?
Be smart: don't travel to communities with a lot of crime at night. These communities include Roosevelt, Hempstead, North Amityville, North Baldwin, Wyandanch, Rosedale, North Bay Shore, Central Islip, New Cassel, Brentwood, Green Acres, Uniondale, and northern Freeport. In the daytime, these areas are generally safe.
Other than those towns, which most locals could tell you is where most of the dangerous crime occurs, crime on the rest of Long Island is related to drug-arrests and burglaries of high-end neighborhoods and of cars that remain unlocked or have their key fobs left inside of them at night. Most robberies are related to hired help, and are low-profile crimes. However, there is an epidemic of heroin use among Long Island teens, particularly of wealthier neighborhoods along the North Shore. Generally, this should not be a problem for a tourist.
One of the biggest safety hazards Long Islanders face when preparing for natural disasters such as hurricanes is the lack of ways to get off Long Island. There really is only one immediate way out via car, through the highly congested bridges of New York City. You may also exit via ferry to New England, take the Long Island Rail Road to Manhattan and transfer to New Jersey Transit or Amtrak, or fly out of one of the three major airports. Fortunately, dangerous hurricanes are very rare for Long Island; however, even moderate storms often down power lines, causing outages that can last for a week or more and hindering driving. Also watch out for flooding in coastal and low-lying areas.
If you plan to hike in areas with undergrowth, watch out for deer ticks that can cause Lyme disease. You will also want to use insect repellent to ward off mosquitoes if you plan on being on Fire Island near twilight - they are unlikely to spread disease but will bite you in many places.
While the typical Long Islander is friendly and enjoys a good conversation, there are certain topics which are very sensitive to many locals. You should be careful discussing these topics or avoid them altogether.
Long Island was devastated by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks β especially in terms of lives lost. The memories are still very upsetting for many and it is an understandably-sensitive topic. It is best to ask first and not make any comments that could be disrespectful. If someone would rather not talk about it, it is proper to respect that and avoid the topic.
Many Long Islanders β especially those living on the South Shore and barrier islands β were impacted severely by Hurricane Sandy, and the memories for some are still very raw and heart-wrenching. It is wise to ask first before asking a local about it, and if someone would rather not talk about it, it is polite to avoid the topic.
You may leave Long Island to go on day trips to any borough of New York City or parts of Connecticut, and seasonally to parts of the Jersey Shore or Rhode Island that are accessible by ferry.
Farther afield are Northern New Jersey, Westchester County and other areas west, north or south of New York City that require either several changes of public transportation line to get to or a risk of tie-ups getting through large parts of the New York Metro Area and the city itself by car.
Try to avoid rush hours (~7-9 AM toward New York City; ~4-7 PM toward the suburbs) if possible, as peak train tickets (see here) cost more on the Long Island Rail Road and may require you to stand in a crowd for an hour, while if you are driving, it's not for nothing that the Long Island Expressway has been called "The World's Longest Parking Lot".
2nd-order administrative division
Primary administrative division