Rockaway, marked

You don't have to leave the city for a real beach day. Here's exactly how to do it right.

A quick note before we start: Rockaway is huge, and this only covers one little sliver of it – the stretch where people from Manhattan and Brooklyn tend to go for a beach day. It’s not the whole story of the peninsula, just the corner I’m most familiar with.

But it is, to me, the best weekend getaway you can pull off without actually leaving the city. You get on a boat or a train, and an hour later you’re sitting on the beach with a fish taco in one hand and a frozen drink in a paper cup in the other. It really does feel like you got out of town.

Below, I’m sharing my whole itinerary: the english muffin breakfast sandwich I’m obsessed with, the taco stand that’s one of my favorite restaurants in the entire city, the dive bar pouring frozen piña coladas you can bring onto the sand, and the rooftop to drink on as the sun sets. Here’s everything you need for the perfect day.

Getting there

Two real ways in.

• The ferry is the fun one – about an hour from the city, skyline views the whole way, and beer for sale on board. The catch is that it runs on the weather and the lines get unreasonably long on hot weekends. Direct routes run from Wall St in downtown Manhattan and Sunset Park in Brooklyn.

• The subway is the more reliable one: cheaper and runs at all hours, which matters if you’re staying for dinner or a concert. A good compromise is to take the ferry out and the train back.

Stay

The Rockaway Hotel: We finally stayed overnight on our last Rockaway trip and loved having more time to spend. The hotel has a pool, a rooftop, a spa, and a real restaurant, all a short walk from the beach – turning a day trip into an overnight changes the whole pace of the day.

Breakfast & coffee

Get there before the line does.