Independent picks for ages 14, 16 or 19—under-18 first, then 18 and up.
Under 18 · 5 picks (all-ages picks appear in both lists)
Beaches, skate parks, mini-golf, arcades, movie houses, surf lessons, ice cream worth the wait, public courts, library teen rooms, and the summer day camps worth a weekly drop-off.
5 picks
BEACH & WATER · 1
Montauk · 1
Beach · Montauk
The surf classroom of the East End. Gentle reforms on the inside bar most summer mornings, lifeguards on the central stretch, and a rotating cast of kids on foam boards taking their first waves. Park in the lot at the bluff or walk down from Otis Road.
For parents: Lifeguarded in summer. Rip currents show up on bigger swells — beginners should stick to the guarded stretch.
PLAY · 3
Montauk · 3
Arcade · Montauk
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.
For parents: Cash only. Lines are long on rainy afternoons — go early.
Sport · Montauk
Corey Senese's Ditch Plains surf school. Weekly camps for kids 8-17, private lessons for adults, and the most consistent name in Montauk instruction for twenty years. Book two weeks out in July and August.
For parents: Weekly camp format with safety briefing, foam boards, leashes.
Sport · Montauk
Morning lessons at the Lodge's Fort Pond Bay doorstep, then flat water practice at Ditch. The 18-and-up crowd comes for the scene; the under-18 classes run earlier and don't cross paths with the bar.
For parents: Morning sessions only for under-18s; the property serves alcohol in the evening.
LEARN & CHILL · 1
Montauk · 1
Camp · Montauk
The nonprofit that puts middle-school girls through triathlon training, open to every sixth-grade girl in participating East End schools from Mastic to Montauk. It runs from late February to mid-July — after school once a week plus Saturdays — and ends at the Hamptons Youth Triathlon at Long Beach, Sag Harbor.
For parents: "i-tri is free for all participants" — classes, training, equipment, uniforms and race-day buses included. The only cost is the $45 Hamptons Youth Triathlon entry, waived if a family cannot pay. The 2026 season is closed; the race was 11 July 2026.
18 and up · 1 picks (all-ages picks appear in both lists)
All-ages music nights, late coffee shops, the beach scene after the lifeguards leave, the summer job circuit, group sports that age up, and gallery openings where under-21s are welcome.
1 pick
BEACH & WATER · 1
Montauk · 1
Beach · Montauk
The dawn patrol plus the after-work session. If you can surf, you belong. The cliff-side parking lot is where the night session decompresses — coffee from Ditch Witch, a tailgate, no drinking.
Legal: Surf leash required on guarded beach. Parking enforcement cards non-resident vehicles.
What’s strictly enforced out here
🪪 Drinking age is 21, and the East End enforces it harder than most of the state.
🏖️ Beach parking permits are real — and at 16 you can hold your own.
🚗 Licences come in tiers, and the curfew is not a suggestion — Suffolk County cops write tickets that stick.
🌊 Beach rules worth knowing before you pick a spot.
When in doubt: see safety for tick checks, water conditions, and lifeguard hours, and see concierge for emergency contacts, urgent-care locations, and the after-hours numbers that locals keep on a fridge magnet.