Question about The Hamptons, NY

Which one of the hamptons are you going to?

Car service or cab will be very expensive. Train is OK but Hampton Jitney or Luxury Liner (coach service) are better as they make more stops and are more comfortable. Trains are packed (although if you're going now after Labor Day, not so much) and chances are high that you will spend the whole ride standing

If you can rent a car, that's better though as you will have a much better time in the Hamptons with a car. The drive can be a traffic jam nightmare if in high season (i.e. less so after Labor Day)

Need to figure out where you're going: Southampton and East Hampton are the most popular for NYers. Montauk and Shelter Island are more quiet and have a different feel (less party). Fire Island is car-free but a bit of a hassle to get to.

Once you know where you are actually going, you can research restaurants and other good stuff

There are a number of different towns that make up the Hamptons. Most of the snobs think that Southampton and East Hampton especially are the gold standard by which all vacation towns on the two forks should be judged.

IMO, East Hampton is the nicest.

I like Bridge. Bobby Vans, etc. But its just great to be out there period - its not about the food.

What would I do? Stay longer.

I don't like spending more time getting to and from the place I'm visiting than I'll actually spend there.

this is what i would do... over 2 days

Rent a car and head out on the LIE, take the Veterans Memorial Highway to Sunrise Highway...

Get off in Southampton and enjoy lunch at The Southampton Brewery the food and beer are delicious. from southampton get on montauk highway and continue East...

Now you can either take montauk highway all the way to the end and check out Montauk Point (which is beautiful) then return to east hampton in the evening or head straight to east hampton go to the beach for an hour or so then get dinner and stay the night then head to montauk the next day. Even if its cool out a stroll on the beach in east hamton is going to be soothing and delightful.

On your way home the next day you could jump off in Hampton Bays and take Dune road down to Westhampton Beach (stopping off at one of the beaches for a stroll.) Then stop in Westhampton and eat at Star Boggs restaurant. Then head home....

Here is a dining thread at Chowhound.com related to the Hamptons
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/340454

And here is the route i just suggested on google maps.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&saddr=NY,NY&daddr=Southampton,+NY+to:East+Hampton,+NY+to:Montauk,+NY+to:Ponquogue,+Southampton,+Suffolk,+New+York,+United+States+toune+Rd,+Suffolk,+New+York,+United+States+to:westhampton+beach,+NY+to:NY,+NY&sll=40.819006,-72.820129&sspn=0.690079,1.2854&ie=UTF8&ll=40.85589,-72.502213&spn=0.344848,0.6427&z=11&om=1

There is lots to see in the hamptons and some of the best afternoons can be spent just driving along the country and beach side roads looking at all the beautiful sights.

hope this helps.
Brendan

just a quick note. I would not do this trip leaving on a friday or returning on sunday... the best days to me would be leave thursday return friday or leave wendsday return thursday.

I would suggest one of two options for going to the Hamptons:
1. Rent a car and drive up there as per an earlier suggestion
2. Take the train and rent a car one you get to Southampton - the car rental (Avis or Budget I believe) is located across from the train stop.

Once you get there, some suggestions for restaurants/bars:

-Suki Zuki in Watermill has excellent Sushi
-Nellos Summertime has a great Italian menu and you can sit outside (but very expensive). Also check to see if they are still open post Labor Day
-Sunset beach on Shelter Island (take a ferry with your car) is a favorite. Nice restaurant where you can sit outside across from a small beach and spend all day until you watch a great sunset.
-Trata in Bridgehampton has great Greek food and an outdoor bar area
-St Ambreous in Southampton has excellent Italian coffee as well as paninis and gelato. Also their cookies are excellent.
-Cyril's in Montauk is a great dive-bar/highway experience. Set along the highway and outdoors, it's a fun hangout. They have a frozen drink called the BBC which can cause some serious damage if you have one too many (ie more than one)..

As I mention above, check to make sure that these lpaces are open post-labor day as some are seasonal. The hamptons will be much quieter now and there will be significantly less traffic.

Also a nice B&B in Southampton is the 1708 House. I stayed there this summer for a weekend and it was great.

Cheers.

Bumping quite an old thread, but I was wondering where the good places to shop are out there, particularly consignment or vintage. I heard the rich people turn around a lot of their nice clothes out there. I poked around on the internet and could only really find Collette, and they told me over the phone they only carry women's clothes. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

I'm also interested in finding any places to stay over the weekend close by the beach.