Things To Do In Summer In New York City

Back in May I shared 12 Thing To Do in New York City in Spring, and yes, you can definitely go back there and follow the same advice for the Summer. But this time I am bringing more Thing To Do that are more specific for this time of the year. I divided it in 2 parts since there’s so much stuff to do.

1) Jacob Riis Park Beach

Jacob Riis Park Beach (or Riis Beach) is one of the most accessible beaches within New York City. Located at the bottom of Queens, it is one of the most LGBTQIA friendly areas in the city and I would say in the East Coast in general. But not only people of this community goes there, many families and straight people also go enjoy the beautiful and often crowded semi-calm waters.

This beach could be accessible by car or bus, so it could be a trek if you only rely on the Subway system. Although the A-Shuttle trains get you very closeby.

The beach has some facilities like restrooms and some food trucks, although a renovation of the old bathhouse building will include other features like restaurants.

Let’s hope that with these new developments, the beach continue to be for the people, especially the ones marginilized like the LGBTQIA community.

Sunsets and views of the Manhattan skyline can be captivating from here.

2) Fire Island

Another LGBTQIA haven is Fire Island in Long Island. Accessed only by ferry, this island is the perfect 1-day escapade from the city, but yes, it has hotels and you can extend your stay if you are willing to.

The ferries are located in different spots in Long Island but the most famous ones are the ones in Sayville, NY, that go to either Fire Island Pines or Cherry Grove.

Sayville is located less than 2 hours and 30 minutes on the Long Island Rail Road from the city, with trains that run very often. Once in the Sayville Station, you can go to the Fire Island Pines ticket booth by shuttles that conveniently wait on the station, and will charge you around $10 for a one way trip. Then at the booth, you can pick for ferries going to either town with the times and prices listed here.

The last time I went it was a cloudy day with chances of thunderstorms, so I guess that deterred people from going, but usually the ferry is crowded. The views of the bay are fantastic tho.

The architecture of the houses in Fire Island Pines always fascinates me.

And way on the back you could see Cherry Grove, the first Lesbian town in America.

Once you arrive, there are a lot of food places and a grocery store in the harbor, in case you need anything else before hitting the beach.

With virtually no cars on this island, walking the streets (decks) is very calm. You could spend hours just walking around seeing the different houses.

The beach was a bit lonely, just because of the weather, but the weather was incredibly blue. Loved it.

Other inhabitants of the island are deers, rabbits and foxes.

Cherry Grove is easily accesible by walking west on the beach. This town is more into the bars, shows, kind of situation. Here you will find most of drag shows, brunches, and restaurants.

While we were enjoying a drag show, a huge thunderstorm started, and thankfully we were already under roof.

After the rain, the water went back to a beautiful blue color, impressive.

For dinner, we decided to go to Sand Castle in Cherry Grove.

The food was very good and enjoyable. Prices were high but everything on this island was anyways.

Before 7 PM it was time to go back to Sayville and then take the LiRo back to New York City.

Definitely a nice day, full of fun, drinks, people watching, shows, and great food.

3) Do Barbenheimmer

Summer movies are definitely something not to miss. And with the AMC Stubs A-List is easier than ever. It is super worthy if you go to premium screens showings, like Dolby and IMAX.

But Barbie and Oppenheimmer were so in my list of movies to see, and Oppenheimmer was the first one I was going to see. A very 3 hour Nolan-esque movie, told out of order but keeping your attention the entire time: 10/10.

And the next day, I would finally see Barbie. Decided to go to Alamo Drafthouse Downtown Brooklyn, not an AMC, just because the other theaters were already sold out when I got the tickets.

The theater provided pink hat and glasses and right before the movie, the director of Barbie, Greta Gerwig, quickly crashed the viewing and had everyone in shock.

I still cannot believe this happened. It was epic. Barbie, 10/10.

Finally, I watched Haunted Mansion, an entertaining Disney flick, very based on the park attraction, 7/10.

4) Do a Staycation

Nothing like waking up in a hotel in Manhattan, like a tourist. And this is exactly what I did. Feeling like a tourist is kind of fun, and in the next entry of this blog, I will show all the places to visit and food I recommend for within the city.