Rockaway Beach, on the southern edge of Queens, has earned the title as the country's largest urban beach. This is New York City's surfer beach, the only spot in the city with areas reserved for riding the waves. You can also swim and fish here, or play a game of beach volleyball. The beach is notable for its long boardwalk, full of food vendors and small pubs. Families with children can choose from among seven playgrounds at the beach.
Breezy Point Tip caps off the western edge of Rockaway Peninsula. This beach is part of federally administered Gateway National Recreation Area and includes untouched stretches of sand for beachcombing, long walks and fishing for striped bass and flounder. Birds-watchers will delight in spotting roseate terns, black skimmers, and American oystercatchers. You might forget you're still within city limits as you wander the 200 acres of beach, Jamaica Bay shoreline, sand dunes, marshes and grasslands. Be sure not to walk through the fragile sand dunes, where the threatened piping plover nests in summer.
The mile-long beach at Jacob Riis Park, also on the Rockaway Peninsula, is a popular summer spot for New Yorkers looking to beat the heat. You can swim here in designated areas, walk the paved promenade bordering the beach, spread out a picnic or barbecue on the park's grills. The National Park service also runs this park as part of Gateway National Recreation Area. The park, nicknamed "The People's Beach," has baseball fields and a bathhouse with restrooms.
Fort Tilden, which is next to Jacob Riis Park, is a former military base now part of the Gateway National Recreation Area. This clean, quiet beach is popular with summertime swimmers (though there are no lifeguards stationed here) and sunbathers, along with bird-watchers and fishers. The park houses two arts nonprofits, the Rockaway Theater Company and the Rockaway Artist Alliance. You can also spend time exploring the decommissioned military structures strewn throughout the park. National Park Service rangers lead occasional tours through the area, including through the maritime forests and along the park's freshwater pond and Atlantic shoreline. Visit the observatory deck atop Battery Harris East, a historic gun site, for panoramic views of New York Harbor, Jamaica Bay and the ocean.
