The Perfect Coney Island Day Trip
With the weather warming up, I’ve been spending as much time outside as possible and one of my absolute favorite places to be outside is Coney Island. Coney Island is about an hour (by train) outside of Manhattan, making it the perfect NYC day trip. One thing that always amazes me are all of the great beaches just outside of NYC. Coney Island especially, truly feels like you hopped on a plane and landed somewhere in California. My friends and I have basically come to the conclusion that the best way to describe Coney Island to someone who has never been is as a cross between Venice Beach and Santa Monica pier! It’s got Santa Monica’s fun, carnival vibes and endless activities for any age, with a whole lot of Venice Beach weirdness thrown in (in a good way!).
First off, how do you get to Coney Island?
To get there, I usually start in Union Square and take the N or the Q downtown. It’s about an hour long trip, and I definitely recommend bringing a friend or a good book because you won’t have service for a large portion of the ride. Coney Island is the very last stop on the line, so you can’t miss it— and I kind of love the above ground part of the trip where you get to see parts of Brooklyn that you probably woudn’t otherwise see.
I’m here… Now what?
Whenever we go to Coney Island, our first stop is always Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs. It’s a little touristy and the lines are long, but like they say in Uptown Girls, “you have to pay the toll”. You can’t go to Coney Island and not get a hot dog from Nathan’s. Especially if it’s your first time there. It’s basically a right of passage, I don’t make the rules. This is always Euler’s favorite part of the trip because he gets his own hot dog every time. I always get a chili cheese dog and the jalapeño ranch fries. I highly recommend the fries, they’re seriously SO good!
After Nathan’s, I usually spend an hour or so walking the boardwalk. During the off season dogs are allowed on the beach, so I’ll take Euler down to the water and play fetch with him for about an hour. This time of year dogs unfortunately aren’t allowed on the beach, but they’re allowed on the boardwalk year round! Coney Island is definitely a dog friendly day trip if you want it to be, but if you do bring your pup it does rule out any of the rides or hanging out at the beach, so it changes the trip a little bit.
As of last weekend when I went, the rides are up and running! I had Euler with me, so I didn’t get to go into the ride area of the boardwalk this time, but I want to go back with just Jerry at some point this summer and get the full experience.
On the boardwalk, there are a few other restaurants and bars to check out if you want to grab a drink and enjoy it at a table overlooking the beach, or take it to go and sip it as you walk along the water. There are also a couple of great bars inside the park near the carnival games. We grabbed margaritas at the Margarita Island Tiki Bar and I highly recommend them. They were HUGE and deceivingly strong. We lucked out and happened to be there during happy hour, where the large margaritas were buy one get one free! I also highly recommend grabbing a couple of fried Oreos from the stand that’s right there. So bad for you but so, so good! When in Coney Island, right?
Once you’re done playing on the beach and exploring the boardwalk, head down to Coney Island Brewing. This was one of my favorite parts of our last day trip to Coney Island. The patio welcomes dogs, and the staff was so friendly! The beer is great (and affordable) and if you still have room after the hot dogs and carnival food, they have a full food menu, too! I recommend grabbing one of their flights so you can try a couple different kinds of beer, but if you don’t want to go for a flight their Mermaid Pilsner is always a safe bet!
Have you been to Coney Island yet?