Kids

📚 Story hour

Amagansett Free Library

Amagansett · Works in the rain

Runs a children's story hour.

A small, quiet village library a block off the beach road, open late two nights a week. Summer renters with a lease get a card at the desk.

📚 Story hour

Cutchogue New Suffolk Free Library

Cutchogue · Works in the rain

Runs a children's story hour.

A small Main Road library on the North Fork's farm belt with steady evening hours and an active author-event calendar.

📚 Story hour

East Hampton Library

East Hampton · Works in the rain

Runs a children's story hour.

One of the most beautiful libraries on Long Island, with a serious local-history archive on the second floor and comfortable reading rooms that stay open late. Temporary cards are issued same-day to anyone with a lease.

📚 Story hour

Floyd Memorial Library

Greenport · Works in the rain

Runs a children's story hour.

A block from the Greenport waterfront. The children's room is the best in the North Fork and the main reading room holds late hours through the week.

📚 Story hour

Hampton Bays Public Library

Hampton Bays · Works in the rain

Runs a children's story hour.

Open until 9pm Monday through Thursday, with strong Spanish-language programming for the year-round community.

📚 Story hour

John Jermain Memorial Library

Sag Harbor · Works in the rain

Runs a children's story hour.

The most beautiful library on the East End, and the easiest to use: quiet study carrels under the dome, Wi-Fi that doesn't ask for a password, and a temporary card at the desk if you have a lease. Open past 7pm four nights a week.

📚 Story hour

Mattituck-Laurel Library

Mattituck · Works in the rain

Runs a children's story hour.

The North Fork's central library on Main Road with late hours four nights a week and a dependable set of bookable study rooms.

📚 Story hour

Montauk Library

Montauk · Works in the rain

Runs a children's story hour.

The eastern-most library on Long Island, open seven days a week in season and late four nights a week. A good rainy-day destination when the surf is blown out.

📚 Story hour

Quogue Library

Quogue · Works in the rain

Runs a children's story hour.

A small village library two blocks from the beach, known for its garden and weekly author talks in season. Open until 8pm two nights a week.

📚 Story hour

Rogers Memorial Library

Southampton · Works in the rain

Runs a children's story hour.

The largest public library on the South Fork, with real study rooms, a maker space, and hours open until 9pm four nights a week. The best desk in town if you actually need to get work done.

📚 Story hour

Shelter Island Public Library

Shelter Island · Works in the rain

Runs a children's story hour.

The island's only public library, a short walk from the North Ferry dock. Quiet, friendly, and the easiest way to survive a stretch of rainy beach weather.

📚 Story hour

Southold Free Library

Southold · Works in the rain

Runs a children's story hour.

A comfortable, quietly run North Fork library with bookable study rooms, consistent evening hours, and a well-stocked local history room.

📚 Story hour

Springs Community Library

Springs · Works in the rain

Runs a children's story hour.

A small membership library the Springs Historical Society runs out of the 1980s Parsons-Anderson house — not part of the Suffolk County library system. $30/year gets you borrowing privileges and a call-ahead delivery option; the reading room itself is open to anyone during posted hours.

📚 Story hour

The Hampton Library in Bridgehampton

Bridgehampton · Works in the rain

Runs a children's story hour.

A handsome stone library right on Main Street with bookable study rooms and consistent late hours Monday through Thursday. A rare comfortable desk in Bridgehampton.

📚 Story hour

Westhampton Free Library

Westhampton Beach · Works in the rain

Runs a children's story hour.

Westhampton's village library sits one block off Main Street with consistent evening hours and the usual SCLS digital perks.

🏀 Indoor sport and swim

East Hampton Indoor Tennis

East Hampton · Works in the rain

Open 7 days 7am-9pm, 365 days a year

The club moved: easthamptonindoortennis.com is a 404 and ehit.club redirects to ehindoortennis.com, which is the live site. Six indoor courts, 18 outdoor, two platform/pickleball and three padel. Indoor court rentals run $86-$142/hr for members and $96-$162 for non-members by day and time band; the summer guest fee is $50 per person per day, capped at three visits before membership is required, and lessons are $145/hr. Open 365 days a year including major holidays. tennis@ehit.club, 631.537.8012. Court surfaces are not published anywhere on the new site, so the old "Har-Tru clay" claim has been dropped.

🏀 Indoor sport and swim

Elmaleh Stanton Squash Courts at SYS

Southampton · Works in the rain

The East End's squash actually lives here, not at the private clubs this file used to list. SYS calls the courts the Elmaleh Stanton Squash Courts and describes them as "the first significant expansion of SYS"; the programme is operated by Corner Squash with Mostafa as head professional and director, and it runs Squash Camp and Squash Lessons for "players of all ages - from U11 through U19", drawing "Hamptons-area squash enthusiasts young and old, players, parents, coaches". SYS publishes no court count, no hours, no season and no squash pricing, so none is stated here; the general number is (631) 287-1511. Southampton Village has separately been asked to host an outdoor glass court, which The Southampton Press covered - that court is a proposal, not this.

🏀 Indoor sport and swim

Montauk Playhouse Community Center

Montauk · Works in the rain

Open seven days a week; open gym hours vary

"A high school regulation-sized gymnasium open seven days a week, offering open gym hours, programming and play—including yoga, basketball, pickleball, and volleyball." Run by the Town of East Hampton Recreation Department inside the Playhouse. The Playhouse does not publish the open-gym timetable online.

🏀 Indoor sport and swim

Sarah and Maurice Iudicone Aquatic Center

Montauk · Works in the rain

Lap swim offered; schedule not published online

"A 25-yard lap pool and a warm-water teaching and leisure pool", both indoors and accessible, operated inside the Playhouse by Imagine Swimming — "Lessons, lap swim, family swim, and aqua aerobics". Schedule and rates come from Imagine Swimming, (212) 253-9650, not the Playhouse.

🏀 Indoor sport and swim

Southampton Youth Services (SYS)

Southampton · Works in the rain

Youth clinics and leagues; no adult pickup schedule published

Two hardwood courts, the Blue Court and Red Court (84 x 50 ft each), inside the SYS facility at 1370A Majors Path, (631) 287-1511. SYS publishes basketball clinics (ages 5-12), a grades 3-8 winter league and a summer open rec league — but no adult open gym, so the pickup run listed here is local knowledge. A $10 day pass gets you in; annual membership runs $200 individual resident to $450 non-resident family.

🏀 Indoor sport and swim

Westhampton Beach Tennis & Sport

Westhampton Beach · Works in the rain

The western Hamptons' biggest racquet campus: 20 outdoor courts plus 4 indoor clay, 16 pickleball courts, and a padel court. Open play sessions and court reservations for visitors — no membership required.

🏀 Indoor sport and swim

Wölffer Estate Stables

Sagaponack · Works in the rain

By appointment

Hunters, jumpers and dressage on the Wölffer family's Sagaponack showgrounds — more than 80 stalls, 39 paddocks, four riding rings including an Olympic-size dressage ring, and a Grand Prix field. Boarding, lessons and training. Re-sourced 2026-07-31 to the operator's Our Locations page, which is the page that settles the address this card once got wrong: it lists the stables at 41 Narrow Lane East, Sagaponack NY 11962, (631) 537-2879, as a separate location from the Wine Stand (3312 Montauk Highway) and the vineyard (139 Sagg Road). The stored pin was already within ~15 m of the OSM node for 41 Narrow Lane East, so only the address string had been wrong.

🏀 Indoor sport and swim

YMCA East Hampton RECenter

East Hampton · Works in the rain

Mon-Fri 6am-9pm, Sat-Sun 7am-4pm

YMCA of Long Island's East Hampton branch, (631) 329-6884. Its own location page publishes hours and membership but names neither a gymnasium nor basketball programming, so the pickup run listed here is local knowledge rather than a published schedule. Call before travelling for a game.

🏖️ Beaches

Atlantic Avenue Beach

Amagansett

Has lifeguards 9am-5pm (in season), restrooms and a Mobi-Mat a stroller can cross the sand on.

Yes — walkable from Amagansett village, lifeguarded, and the rare ocean beach with easy food. Worth it for families.

🏖️ Beaches

Big Albert's Landing Beach

Amagansett

Has lifeguards 10am-5pm (weekends from memorial day, daily late jun-labor day) and restrooms.

Yes - calm water and picnic grills make it the town’s best little-kid beach.

🏖️ Beaches

Coopers Beach

Southampton

Has lifeguards 9am-5pm weekdays (from jun 20); 9am-5pm weekends (may 23-jun 28); 9am-6pm weekends (jul 4-sep 7), restrooms and a Mobi-Mat a stroller can cross the sand on.

Yes — the easy answer if you're new and want a real Hamptons beach day. Lifeguards, parking, the wide stretch.

🏖️ Beaches

Crescent Beach (Louis' Beach)

Shelter Island

Has lifeguards lifeguard services available in season (hours not published) and restrooms.

Yes — the Shelter Island sunset spot, hands down. Worth the ferry if you're chasing one great beach day.

🏖️ Beaches

Cupsogue Beach County Park

Westhampton

Has lifeguards 10am-5pm summer and restrooms.

Yes - the big-sky barrier beach; less scene, more sand, and the county day fee beats any village sticker.

🏖️ Beaches

Ditch Plains Beach

Montauk

Has lifeguards 9am-5pm (in season) and restrooms.

Yes — the one non-negotiable Montauk stop, even if you just sit on the rocks and watch longboarders for an hour.

🏖️ Beaches

Flying Point Beach

Water Mill

Has lifeguards 10am-5pm summer, restrooms and a Mobi-Mat a stroller can cross the sand on.

Yes — the Water Mill locals' pick, and the crowd is mellower than Coopers. Worth it on a hot weekday.

🏖️ Beaches

Georgica Beach

East Hampton

Has lifeguards 10am-5pm (memorial day weekend-labor day weekend) and restrooms.

Yes — quieter than Main Beach with a mellower crowd. Worth it if your rental has a non-resident permit.

🏖️ Beaches

Gin Beach

Montauk

Has lifeguards 10am-5pm (in season) and restrooms.

Yes for a family day inside the jetty. Worth it because the water is calm and the fishing boats are a show.

🏖️ Beaches

Goose Creek Beach

Southold

Has lifeguards lifeguards on duty in season; the town publishes no hours and restrooms.

Yes for small children — warm, shallow bay water, a playground, restrooms and lifeguards, and shelter when the Sound is rough.

🏖️ Beaches

Havens Beach

Sag Harbor

Has lifeguards 10am-5pm summer and restrooms.

Worth it for a quick family dip in the bay. Skip if you want waves — this is a protected bay beach, not the ocean.

🏖️ Beaches

Hither Hills State Park Beach

Montauk

Has lifeguards 10am-6pm (late may-mid sep) and restrooms.

Yes - the day-fee loophole: no sticker needed, just $10 a car, and you get a full-service ocean beach.

🏖️ Beaches

Indian Wells Beach

Amagansett

Has lifeguards 9am-5pm (in season), restrooms and a Mobi-Mat a stroller can cross the sand on.

Yes — the surf crowd's Amagansett pick, with consistent waves and a young scene. Worth it if you brought a board.

🏖️ Beaches

Iron Pier Beach

Jamesport

Has a Mobi-Mat a stroller can cross the sand on.

Skip it unless you live in Riverhead — no visitor sticker exists, and parking is enforced year-round by the town police.

🏖️ Beaches

Kenney's Beach

Southold

Has lifeguards lifeguards on duty in season; the town publishes no hours and restrooms.

Worth it if you can park — lifeguards and restrooms, a short walk of sand, and the Sound going gold at seven.

🏖️ Beaches

Kirk Park Beach

Montauk

Has lifeguards 9am-5pm (in season), restrooms and a Mobi-Mat a stroller can cross the sand on.

Worth it for a quieter Montauk alternative with free parking. Skip if you want the scene — this is deliberately not it.

🏖️ Beaches

Lashley Beach

Westhampton Beach

Has lifeguards 10am-5pm summer and restrooms.

Yes - same sand as Rogers with half the crowd; bring your own lunch.

🏖️ Beaches

Long Beach (Noyack)

Noyack

Has lifeguards 10am-5pm summer, restrooms and a Mobi-Mat a stroller can cross the sand on.

Yes — the only truly dog-friendly beach on the South Fork in shoulder season. Worth it for dog owners.

🏖️ Beaches

Maidstone Park Beach

Springs

Has lifeguards 10am-5pm (in season) and restrooms.

Yes for a quiet family picnic on the bay. Worth it for Springs locals who don't want to fight for ocean parking.

🏖️ Beaches

Main Beach

East Hampton

Has lifeguards 10am-5pm (memorial day weekend-labor day weekend), restrooms and a Mobi-Mat a stroller can cross the sand on.

Yes — the polished Hamptons beach day if you can get a parking permit. Lifeguards, snack bar, the full scene.

🏖️ Beaches

McCabe's Beach

Southold

Has lifeguards lifeguards on duty in season; the town publishes no hours and restrooms.

Yes if Kenney's is full — half a mile east, same Sound, lifeguards and restrooms, and usually more room on the sand.

🏖️ Beaches

Mecox Beach

Bridgehampton

Has lifeguards 10am-5pm summer and restrooms.

Yes — the cut is a scene, and the Mon–Fri day pass means non-residents can actually get in.

🏖️ Beaches

Meschutt Beach County Park

Hampton Bays

Has lifeguards 10am-5pm summer and restrooms.

Yes - calm water, cheap day fee, and a beach bar; the family-friendly bay answer to Dune Road.

🏖️ Beaches

New Suffolk Beach

New Suffolk

Has lifeguards 11am-5pm daily in season (the town publishes no season dates).

Yes — lifeguards, a boat ramp and the best parking on the fork, but the town never says there are restrooms, so assume not.

🏖️ Beaches

Norman E. Klipp Marine Park (Gull Pond Beach)

Greenport

Has lifeguards 11am-5pm daily in season (the town publishes no season dates).

Yes if you are staying in Greenport — this, not the village waterfront, is where Greenport actually swims. Bring your own everything.

🏖️ Beaches

Orient Beach State Park

Orient

Has lifeguards 10:30am-6pm daily, 27 jun-7 sep 2026.

Yes — the one North Fork beach anyone can drive up and pay to enter, with a rare maritime forest attached. $8-10 a car.

🏖️ Beaches

Pikes Beach

Westhampton Beach

Has lifeguards 10am-5pm (in season) and restrooms.

Worth it if you're already out west — quiet ocean sand and almost no crowds.

🏖️ Beaches

Ponquogue Beach

Hampton Bays

Has lifeguards 10am-5pm summer, restrooms and a Mobi-Mat a stroller can cross the sand on.

Yes — the best value beach on the South Fork, with easier parking and a real snack bar. Worth the extra drive.

🏖️ Beaches

Reeves Beach

Riverhead

Skip it as a visitor — residents only, and it is the one Riverhead beach the town never claims a beach mat or ramp for.

🏖️ Beaches

Rogers Beach

Westhampton Beach

Has lifeguards 10am-5pm (weekends late may-late jun, then daily-labor day) and restrooms.

Yes - the village’s flagship beach and the friendliest full-service sand west of the canal.

🏖️ Beaches

Sagg Main Beach

Sagaponack

Has lifeguards 10am-5pm summer and restrooms.

Yes — unpretentious, wide, and the locals actually swim here. Worth it if you have a rental permit.

🏖️ Beaches

South Edison Street Beach

Montauk

Has lifeguards 9am-5pm memorial day-labor day.

Yes - the walk-to beach if you are staying in downtown Montauk; everything else is a drive.

🏖️ Beaches

South Jamesport Beach

South Jamesport

Has a Mobi-Mat a stroller can cross the sand on.

Only if you hold a Riverhead permit — but then it is the best of the four: courts, a playground and a summer refreshments stand.

🏖️ Beaches

Southold Town Beach

Southold

Has lifeguards 11am-5pm daily in season (the town publishes no season dates) and restrooms.

Yes, if you hold a Southold permit — lifeguards, restrooms, a playground and a beach wheelchair, on the town's busiest sand.

🏖️ Beaches

Tiana Beach

Hampton Bays

Has lifeguards 10am-5pm summer and restrooms.

Yes — roomy, full facilities, and an easy day-pass beach out west.

🏖️ Beaches

Towd Point Beach

North Sea

Has lifeguards no lifeguard on duty.

Yes for families — shallow, calm bay water and a great sunset, but there's no lifeguard.

🏖️ Beaches

Two Mile Hollow Beach

East Hampton

Has lifeguards 10am-5pm (memorial day weekend-labor day weekend) and restrooms.

Worth it for a clothing-optional stretch and the calmest LGBTQ+ crowd on the South Fork. Skip for families.

🏖️ Beaches

W. Scott Cameron Beach

Bridgehampton

Has lifeguards 10am-5pm (july-august) and restrooms.

Yes — wide, calm, and quieter than Mecox, but parking is residents-only with no day pass.

🏖️ Beaches

Wades Beach

Shelter Island

Has lifeguards lifeguard services available in season (hours not published) and restrooms.

Yes if you're already on Shelter Island. Worth it for calm water and the quietest crowd on the East End.

🐐 Meet the animals

Catapano Dairy Farm

Peconic

Booked goat events, not a drop-in yard: Baby Goat Cuddling is a 30-minute class, ages 3 and up with adult supervision, $15 a participant; Farm Yoga is 45 minutes of yoga in the field beside the goats then a 15-minute meet-and-greet in the pen, Saturdays 10:30am, $15. Weather permitting, minimum numbers apply.

The North Fork's goat dairy — award-winning cheese, goat-milk soap, and a 4pm milking that visitors are welcome to watch. Farm goat yoga runs as a separate event.

🐐 Meet the animals

Hallockville Museum Farm

Riverhead

Heritage-breed sheep, chickens, and farm animals on the museum grounds — confirm seasonal programming at the gate

A working farm museum on Sound Avenue. Twenty historic buildings moved together, plus live sheep and poultry. The annual Country Fair is the October calendar marker for the North Fork.

🐐 Meet the animals

Harbes Family Farm

Mattituck

Barnyard Adventure — over 40 barnyard animals including goats, sheep, pot-bellied pigs, chickens, ducks and bunnies; you hoist goat feed up to the pygmy goats on their overhead bridge, and Mini Highland cows Mocha and Maisie are met through a separately bookable Animal Encounter. April–November; $18.95 weekdays, $29.95 weekends and holidays, 2 and under free.

The North Fork's agritourism heavyweight — original farmstand, an eight-acre Barnyard Adventure with pig races and animal encounters, and a vineyard tasting barn, all on one Mattituck site.

🐐 Meet the animals

Long Island Aquarium

Riverhead · Works in the rain

Touch tanks open during business hours — stingrays, horseshoe crabs, koi

Riverhead's waterfront aquarium on the Peconic River. Touch tanks for stingrays, horseshoe crabs, and koi sit alongside the shark lagoon and the penguin pavilion. The Atlantis Marine World building is the downtown Riverhead anchor on rainy summer days.

🐐 Meet the animals

Quogue Wildlife Refuge

Quogue

Docent-led encounters with resident raptors and reptiles — confirm program schedule before visiting

A 305-acre preserve run by the Southampton Township Wildfowl Association. Seven miles of trails through pine barrens and freshwater wetlands. The Nature Center holds non-releasable native raptors, reptiles, and amphibians used in docent-led education programs.

🐐 Meet the animals

South Fork Natural History Museum

Bridgehampton

Kids' marine touch-tank area with local intertidal species; summer butterfly house

Small natural history museum with live marine tanks, a butterfly house in summer, and guided walks on the neighboring Long Pond Greenbelt. Useful in a rainy-day slot with kids.

🐐 Meet the animals

Sylvester Manor Educational Farm

Shelter Island

Educational farm — confirm seasonal hours before visiting

A 243-acre estate granted in 1652 to Nathaniel Sylvester. The dark story — enslaved Africans labored here for over a century — is now part of the manor's public programming. The farm programs run year-round.

🍓 Pick your own

Cooper's Farm Stand

Mattituck

Pick your own: Pumpkins · late September to late October.

Open eight to seven, seven days, on Breakwater Road near the Sound — the North Fork stand with the friendliest hours on the whole list.

🍓 Pick your own

Hank's Farmstand

Southampton

Pick your own: Apples · Saturdays and Sundays in season.

The summer half of the Hank's operation, right on the County Road 39 traffic artery — the stand you pass on the way east and should stop at on the way back.

🍓 Pick your own

Hank's Pumpkintown

Water Mill

Pick your own: Pumpkins · late September to late October, Apples · weekends and school holidays in season.

Sixteen acres of fall: three interactive corn mazes, wagon and tractor-train rides, giant slides and playgrounds, with a market selling pies, cider donuts and roasted corn from the Corn Shed.

🍓 Pick your own

Harbes Orchard

Riverhead

Pick your own: Apples · late August/September to October, Pumpkins · late September to late October.

Harbes' autumn-only orchard on Sound Avenue: apple and pumpkin picking, a themed corn maze, and weekend live music through the fall.

🍓 Pick your own

Krupski Farms

Peconic

Pick your own: Pumpkins · late September to late October.

A Route 25 pumpkin farm in Peconic, open seven days in season — the North Fork's straightforward pick-a-pumpkin stop without the admission gate.

🍓 Pick your own

Lewin Farms

Calverton

Pick your own: Strawberries · late May to June, Raspberries · mid-June to late August, Blueberries · late June to August, Peaches · mid-July to mid-September, Apples · late August to October, Pumpkins · late September to late October, Christmas trees · day after Thanksgiving to late December.

The original — Lewin was the first pick-your-own farm on Long Island, and it still runs the widest crop list, from June strawberries through cut-your-own Christmas trees in December.

🍓 Pick your own

Patty's Berries and Bunches

Mattituck

Pick your own: Strawberries · late May to June, Raspberries · mid-June to late August, Blackberries · late July to late August, Flowers · summer.

Berries and bunches, exactly as advertised — a Sound Avenue farm where you can pick fruit and cut your own flowers in the same visit.

🍓 Pick your own

Seven Ponds Orchard

Water Mill

Pick your own: Peaches · mid-July to mid-September, Apples · late August to October.

A small Water Mill orchard on the Cornell pick-your-own list — the low-key alternative when the Milk Pail fields are three deep with visitors.

🍓 Pick your own

The Milk Pail U-Pick Fields

Water Mill

Pick your own: Apples · September to October, Pumpkins · late September to late October, Sunflowers · late summer.

The pick-your-own side of the Milk Pail, on Mecox Road. A $31 apple bag admits four people into the orchard; varieties run from sweet-tart classics to rarer selections, and photo shoots need prior authorization.

🍓 Pick your own

Wickham's Fruit Farm

Cutchogue

Pick your own: Strawberries · late May to June, Cherries · early summer, Raspberries · mid-June to late August, Peaches · mid-July to mid-September, Apples · late August to October, Pumpkins · late September to late October.

The North Fork orchard that runs the longest pick-your-own calendar on the East End — strawberries in June through pumpkins in October, on farmland the Wickham family has worked for centuries.

🍓 Pick your own

Woodside Orchards

Aquebogue

Pick your own: Apples · late August/September to October.

An Aquebogue apple orchard that turned its own fruit into a hard cider tasting room — pick apples, then sit down with a flight made from them.

🍦 Ice cream

A La Mode Shoppe

East Hampton

Handcrafted hard pack from a nut-free, sesame-free, egg-free kitchen. Somewhere to sit.

The rare Hamptons scoop shop where an allergy kid can actually order: handcrafted, small-batch hard pack out of a kitchen the shop describes as nut-free, sesame-free, and egg-free, with gluten-free and dairy-free options running right through the flavor list. Nine of the published flavors are dairy-free, sorbets on top of that. The East Hampton storefront posts the same hours every week with no seasonal caveat, which makes it one of the few on this list you can still count on in February.

🍦 Ice cream

Bridgehampton Candy Kitchen

Bridgehampton

On-premises hard pack from a kitchen running since 1925. Somewhere to sit.

Opened on Main Street on May 2, 1925 and passed down three times since: the Parash family — who still own Sip 'n Soda in Southampton — sold it in 1943 to the Stavropoulos family, and Gus Laggis bought it from them in 1981. His daughters Jamie Laggis and Maria Laggis Lima run the day to day now, and his son-in-law Mauricio Lima makes most of the ice cream, thirty flavors of it in summer, still on the premises and still, in the family's words, "the old-fashioned way." The menu runs a proper diner breakfast through lunch, so a scoop here usually comes attached to an order of home fries and an egg. It is the morning-or-lunch ice cream answer on the South Fork, not an after-dinner one.

🍦 Ice cream

BuddhaBerry

Sag Harbor

Frozen yogurt, made-to-order crepes and bubble tea, open late. Somewhere to sit.

Not technically ice cream, but the closest thing to a walk-up cold dessert on Sag Harbor Main Street that is actually open late — 10 PM most nights, 11 on Friday and Saturday. Frozen yogurt with the usual fruit-and-Nutella toppings, and a real dairy-free lane: a vegan matcha milkshake built on coconut-milk frozen yogurt and almond milk, dairy-free Ghirardelli dark chocolate sauce over whatever you like. Also pours made-to-order crepes and waffles, bubble tea, and proper espresso drinks if the person you are with cannot commit.

🍦 Ice cream

Fudge 'n' Stuff

Montauk

Hard-pack scoop counter and a fudge kitchen off the Montauk Circle. Counter only.

On Carl Fisher Plaza off the Circle — a scoop counter and fudge kitchen a minute from the Montauk traffic circle, with candy and popcorn alongside. The operator's own site is a locked storefront that says only that online ordering is off for the summer, so nothing about the flavour board is published anywhere: turn up and look. The scoop shop for the kid who has already seen John's Drive-In three times this week.

🍦 Ice cream

Greenport Creamery

Greenport

Homemade ice cream, gelato, sorbet and Greek frozen yogurt, dairy and not. Somewhere to sit.

"Over 48 years making the best homemade ice cream" is the claim, and the range backs it up: ice cream, gelato, sorbet, sherbet, Greek frozen yogurt, gourmet Italian ice, affogato, non-dairy and vegan across most of it, homemade waffle cones, frozen lemonade. A better answer than Ralph's if what you want is one considered scoop rather than a hundred-flavor board. Pricier by a dollar, worth it. It is at 142 Main Street, not the 308 that floats around online. Note the opening date: this one does not unlock until mid-May.

🍦 Ice cream

John's Drive-In

Montauk

Homemade hard pack and soft serve next to a burger and fried clam line. Counter only.

Since 1967, a roadside walk-up on Montauk Highway that presses its own burgers, fries its own fish, and, in its own words, makes its ice cream on premises. The soft serve is the move after a day at Ditch, but the revolving homemade hard-pack flavors are the reason to come earlier. The queue moves fast because there is no seating — eat on the hood. They stay open year-round, closing for major holidays and the odd snow day, and post no hours at all: the contact page just says to call. You can order ahead through Square for fifteen-minute pickup and UberEats delivers, but the full ice cream menu is walk-up only: "You'll have to visit us in-person for that."

🍦 Ice cream

Magic Fountain

Mattituck

Custom homemade flavors in sampler trays, chipwiches, novelties. Somewhere to sit.

"Crafting delight since 1966" is the shop's own line, and it is the canonical North Fork ice cream stop — the reason Main Road traffic backs up at 8 PM on a summer Sunday. Customizable novelties are the specialty: sampler trays of the homemade flavors, six-pack ice cream sandwiches, chipwiches built to order. The parking lot is big enough that the line never actually feels like a line. Closed Tuesday and Wednesday, both of them — plan around it.

🍦 Ice cream

Ralph's Famous Italian Ices and Ice Cream

Greenport

Over 100 flavors of Italian ice and ice cream, a block off the harbor. Counter only.

The Greenport outpost of the canonical Staten Island Italian ice shop, on Front Street rather than Main — worth knowing, because the two are a walk apart. Over a hundred flavors, plus sundaes, shakes, smoothies, Twisters, Icebergs and açaí bowls. It opens May 1 for the season and the posted hours carry a "weather permitting" on them, which on the North Fork is not boilerplate. Not the homemade-hard-pack experience of Magic Fountain, but the right answer on the walk back to the car after a Claudio's lunch.

🍦 Ice cream

Shock Ice Cream & Dessert Cafe

Westhampton Beach

The Carnival Cone cotton-candy cone, twenty-five years on Main Street. Somewhere to sit.

The shop is "celebrating 25 years in the Hamptons" and bills itself as home of the InstaFamous Carnival Cone — a cotton-candy cone the teen crowd treats as an obligation. Ice cream, Italian ice, frozen yogurt, milkshakes. The Main Street walk-up answer after a show at the Performing Arts Center. Its site is a menu and a mood board with no address and no hours on it, so check before you make the drive.

🍦 Ice cream

Sip 'n Soda

Southampton

Homemade ice cream made on the premises since 1958. Somewhere to sit.

The Parash family opened the soda fountain in 1958 and still owns it — the East Hampton Star, writing up the Bridgehampton Candy Kitchen's centennial, calls Sip 'n Soda "still owned by the Parashes to this day." They have been making the ice cream here the whole time: sixteen or so permanent flavors under a seasonal rotation that runs fresh peach and cantaloupe in summer, pumpkin and candy cane in winter. The Lime Rickey is enough of a house move that it now has a storefront of its own. It is the one venue on this list that is also a sit-down breakfast-and-lunch counter, breakfast until noon and lunch after.

🍦 Ice cream

Snowflake Ice Cream Shoppe

Riverhead

Homemade ice cream from 1953 recipes, rotating flavor of the week. Somewhere to sit.

Opened by Herb and Joan Kunitz in 1953 on West Main Street in Riverhead, and the current owners — who took the place over in 1988 "after leaving our Wall Street jobs" — still use the founders' original recipes. The flavor of the week is a low-stakes tour of why a third generation keeps coming; the one running when we checked was mint with dark chocolate flakes and a peanut butter weave, named DJ Jazzy Jif and the Fresh Mints. Open every day of the year until 11 PM, which makes it the rare scoop shop worth an off-season Sunday drive east.

🍦 Ice cream

Tuck Shop

Shelter Island

The Mashomack S'mores Sundae, hand-made ice cream cakes, and pints and quarts to take home. Counter only.

The island's scoop shop, halfway along Menantic Road, and the one place on Shelter Island still handing out cones after the kitchens have shut. Northforker's 2025 round-up calls it an island favourite for coffee, sundaes and ice cream cakes and singles out the Mashomack S'mores Sundae; pints and quarts go home in the cooler bag. It runs on the season rather than the calendar — open through the summer, open late.

🎬 Movies

Regal UA East Hampton Cinema 6

East Hampton · Works in the rain

Drop-off friendly — the village is walkable for pickup.

Six screens on Main Street showing the wide releases. The only place on the South Fork you can catch a Friday-night blockbuster at 10pm. Matinees are the cheap move.

🎬 Movies

Sag Harbor Cinema

Sag Harbor · Works in the rain

Member screenings are cheaper. Cafe lets you kill time before a show.

The historic Main Street theater. Rebuilt after the 2016 fire as a nonprofit arthouse. Three screens, a lobby cafe, and a programming slate that mixes first-run indies, restorations, and teen-friendly classics.

🎬 Movies

Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center

Westhampton Beach · Works in the rain

Seasonal kids' film series and family matinees; check schedule.

Year-round film series plus live music and theater. The kids' film program runs through summer with weekly matinees. Cheaper than the multiplex and the room is a proper 1930s movie house.

🕹️ Mini golf and arcade

Hampton Maid Mini Golf

Hampton Bays

Shaded holes, easy walk, fine for grade-schoolers.

18 holes on the lawn of the Hampton Maid motel off Montauk Highway. Nothing fancy — windmills, a water hazard, a fiberglass clown — but it's cheap and the turnover is fast.

🕹️ Mini golf and arcade

Puff 'n' Putt Family Fun Center

Montauk

Cash only. Lines are long on rainy afternoons — go early.

The Fort Pond mini-golf course that has been Montauk's summer tradition since the 1970s. 18 holes on a grass hillside, paddle-boat rentals on the pond, a batting cage out back. Cash only, no reservations.

🧸 Kids' shops

Bonne Nuit

East Hampton · Works in the rain

European children's clothing and women's sleepwear.

🧸 Kids' shops

Bonpoint

East Hampton · Works in the rain

French luxury children's clothing, baby items and gifts.

🧸 Kids' shops

Ethel + Row

Sag Harbor · Works in the rain

Children's boutique of organic-textile clothing, footwear and home goods from independent designers.

🧸 Kids' shops

Honey + Hive

Montauk · Works in the rain

Children's clothing, swim and toys from small-batch, women-owned and eco-friendly brands.

🧸 Kids' shops

The Little

East Hampton · Works in the rain

Baby and kids' clothing, toys and books, with a gift registry.