Coney Island Beach
Brooklyn, NY
Coney Island anchors the western end of Brooklyn's shoreline, two and a half miles of boardwalk running past Luna Park, the Wonder Wheel, and the New York Aquarium, an amusement district that's been drawing crowds since the 1890s. The beach itself is wide, free, and entirely public, no membership beach club required.
A genuine slice of old New York and completely free, but the water quality and crowd match any beach this easy to reach by subway.
How we score beachesCome on a weekday morning if you want the rides and the beach without the weekend subway crowd. The boardwalk opens early and the amusement park lines are nonexistent before noon.
Street parking lines the roads dead-ending into the boardwalk. A large paid lot sits next to MCU Park.
The boardwalk is flat and paved for its full length, with ramps down to the sand.
Leashed dogs are allowed on the boardwalk but not the sand from May 1 through October 1. Outside that window, dogs are welcome on the beach too.
Water reaches the mid 70s by August, alongside the Atlantic hurricane season that runs June through November. The rides and boardwalk stay open well past the swimming season, into early fall.
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