, that unique mix of wealth and laid-backness (if that’s a word), makes the Hamptons worth a quick getaway!
I got a great deal on Travelzoo for an offseason Sunday to Friday rate at Gurney’s for a room overlooking the ocean, along with a bottle of prosecco and a $60 credit at the onsite restaurant! The package came to about $275 for a March overnight as opposed to roughly $1,300 per night stay in July! Ouch!
Where exactly are “the Hamptons”?
Just under 118 miles from New York City, at the eastern tip of New York State’s Long Island. According to Wikipedia, the Hamptons,
“.. comprise a group of villages and hamlets in the towns of Southampton and East Hampton, which together form the South Fork of Long Island, in Suffolk County, New York.“
How do you get there?
Well, you can take the Long Island Rail Road from New York City. Or, you can drive like we did. We took the Belt Parkway, to Sunrise Highway to Montauk Highway all the way to Montauk (it took us 51/2 hours from our home in New Jersey due to a lot of construction. Brutal.). If you're not keen to drive, there are private bus services that connect the Hamptons to the rest of Long Island and to New York City. If you’re coming from
Connecticut, the ferry is the way to go.
What’s there to do?
During the summer, you can do all things beachy. We were there in early March, and it was FREEZING! Besides, there wasn’t a ton going on which was fine with us.
Still, we managed to walk around the area surrounding the Montauk Point Lighthouse (it was closed due to the pandemic).
There are also lots of wineries to visit. We decided to forego the wineries (1) because we were exhausted from our trip up and adding alcohol to the mix would have only made us want to take a nap; (2) On the way home, we didn’t need to start drinking before our long drive.
Where’d we eat?
The great thing (for a freezing March night) was that the hotel restaurant was open - Scarpetta Beach. Since we were only going overnight, we made reservation there. While I thought the food was only a 3/5, the restaurant staff, like the hotel staff, could not have been nicer. I had a pasta dish and Hubby had chicken. Again, nothing memorable, especially not for $180, but certainly not the worst meal we’ve ever had. We did have some delish cocktails, though!
For breakfast, we used our $60 credit, but not as we expected. Although the on site deli for which we had a credit, was closed, the hotel accommodated everyone at Scarpetta Beach. The view was lovely. I had a $20 avocado toast (yikes!) and Hubby had French toast. Thank goodness we had a $60 breakfast credit!
But, like I said, the staff at the hotel and at the restaurant was fantastic.
Where’d we stay?
As I mentioned at the beginning, we stayed at Gurney’s in Montauk. Yes, our room overlooked the ocean, but you also had to overlook the parking lot to see the ocean. And there was ongoing construction. Our room was comfortable, and clean, but I did find a toenail on the floor (gross), which I did not tell the hotel about since we were there for such a short time.
COVID protocol
New York and New Jersey have a “no quarantine” agreement. So that was nice, but social distancing, masks, and the whole nine yards of pandemic life was still required (no temperature checks – yay!)
What’s the verdict?
Given that we were in Montauk during the off season, it was a nice getaway, but maybe five plus hours of travel time was a bit long for an overnight. That said, it broke up the pandemic monotony. Would I recommend the trip? Maybe a five-hour ride each way is best save for a three or for day weekend, not a 24-hour getaway!
