I have been going to Long Beach Island (also known as LBI) almost every August for about twelve years. It’s a great getaway for families and it’s only a few hours drive from New York City. It is certainly cheaper than the Hamptons and is a very good locale for family reunions and getting together with friends.

image courtesy of Aileen Marshall

Long Beach Island is a barrier island off the New Jersey shore. It is eighteen miles long and no more than a quarter of a mile wide. The only ways onto the island are by causeway or boat. People who go to LBI know very well that it’s accessible from Exit 63 of the Garden State Parkway. It’s common to see people with bumper stickers of the green exit sign.

Since the island is so narrow, there is only one main street that runs along the north-south axis of the island, Long Beach Boulevard. This is where most of the businesses are located. There are plenty of different restaurants, stores, motels, and activities along this boulevard. The side streets coming off the boulevard are all either one or two blocks long, many are dead ends, terminating either at the bay on the west side, or the ocean on the east. These side streets are where most of the houses are located. This makes for very light traffic and it’s common to see children playing in these streets.

Most of the houses on the island are available for rent, either through an agency or by the owner. The year-round population of the island is only 8,556. There are also many hotels on the island. Traditionally houses are rented on a weekly basis, from one Saturday to the next. Therefore, traffic on the causeway is usually heavy on summer Saturdays. The few grocery stores are usually very busy on Saturdays and Sundays.

The north end of the island tends to have larger homes with bigger yards and less commercial businesses while the southern end has plenty of rental houses, and motels. There are plenty of quaint little shops along the Boulevard, as well as many different miniature golf courses where one can perfect their game, a small Fantasy Island Amusement Park, and some arcades. There is a water park called Thundering Surf Water Slide & Squirt Works, which I can personally recommend. The giant water slides are fun for kids of all ages! There are places where one can rent fishing equipment or charter a fishing boat, as well as jet skis, and parasailing equipment. The Surflight Theatre puts on plenty of family friendly productions and there are also two movie theaters on the island.

Overall, Long Beach Island is a very convenient family getaway. If you would like to know more about these websites are very helpful:

References

http://www.longbeachisland.com

http://www.lbi.net