Long Island Travel Forum

Advice needed - our Manhattan home exchange is going ahead (hooray), but our best price flight arrives at 1.30pm on August 30th - two days before we can move in. We like the idea of visiting and relaxing somewhere that's not Manhattan directly from JFK (on public transport). It can't be the Bridgehampton area, because there's a huge horsey event taking place on the dates we'd be there. Montauk, Amagansett and around sound lovely - but we don't want to spend loads on accommodation - it would cancel out the good value flights. We also don't want to lug luggage more than we have to either from the airplane or back to Manhattan on the Friday afternoon. Are there any reasonably priced lodgings, near the train stations (or bus stops), for two nights at the end of August? Should we go to Brooklyn instead?

hi - this will be some sort of answer, but not necessarily a good one. The week you are talking about leads into the three day Labor Day weekend and is the busiest and most expensive week of the year in the Hamptons. Assuming you can find a place to stay at all, it will be costly and may require a minimum stay of 3 -7 days. That said, Montauk is the farthest out and less upscale than the other places on the South Fork. New York City, on the other hand, will be as empty as it ever gets because everyone is out of town and you may be able to score a relatively cheap room. Rather than Brooklyn, consider Queens which has many attractions. There are many chain hotels in Queens and a widely diverse food environment as well. If you should find a place here, repost your question because some are inconvenient and others not in prime areas. The hotels around JFK airport are inconvenient and should not be a preferred choice. Queens has the subway to Manhattan as well as the Long Island Railroad for day trips. Good luck. >--!