Bridgehampton, NY Travel Guide
It's been my dream for a long time to go to The Hamptons. It has been the go-to summer destination for New Yorkers for decades and I am lucky enough to be dating a NYC native who grew up summering there and could show me around.
Getting There:
We took the LIRR from Atlantic Avenue to Bridgehampton. It took less than 3 hours and was cheaper than the Jitney. We did have to transfer at Jamaica, Queens but it was super easy! The station was also less than a 10 minute walk to the main area of town, so we could get right down to business after we got off.
Where We Stayed:
We actually stayed a town over in Wainscott at the 380 Inn. Wainscott is a tad bit cheaper than Bridgehampton but just as nice! And only a $8 uber ride to the center of Bridgehamton. The staff there is so nice and the rooms came with a full size fridge and counter space! It's perfect if you're staying a few days and want to load up on beach snacks.
What We Ate:
We ate at the cutest little cafe, The Golden Pear when we first got there and we loved it so much we got some train snacks for the trip home the next day. For breakfast I had the biggest açaí bowl I've ever seen and Clark had the most heavenly vanilla french toast (minus 3 bites which I stole from him) and the next day I got a chicken panini and Clark got baked mac and cheese. When I tell you they give you a lot of food- THEY GIVE YOU A LOT OF FOOD. It's a little pricy and that put me off at first, but we would have paid the same price in NYC and got half the food. We had dinner at the one Italian restaurant in town, World Pie and ate the most decadent pasta you could imagine. Again, a little pricey, but pretty on par with what we pay for dinner in the city. We also went to the absolute cutest soda shoppe, Candy Kitchen and ate some amazing homemade ice cream- plus we were sitting mere feet from the Queen, or should I say Countess of NYC, Luann from the Real Housewives. I just about had a heart attack when I saw her because she's such an icon!
Where We Shopped:
As I'm sure you could guess, I was very excited about the prospects of shopping in the Hamptons. We window shopped in a bunch of expensive boutiques (I wasn't emotionally ready to drop $300 on a sun dress). And then we hit the thrift stores, we went to a cute church shop which had a lot of amazing home decor, shoes, and clothes, but at the moment it was still a lot of winter stuff and I felt like if I bought a sweater it would somehow delay spring. We then went to The Retreat Boutique which had amazing brands like Prada and Gucci and worked with a women's shelter, which is a cause I love supporting. A lot of the stuff there was in amazing condition and the prices were pretty consistent with other high-end thrift stores, but a lot of it was too small for me, but I did pick up a vintage Lilly Pulitzer scarf and Clark got a pair of Vineyard Vines shorts- so I guess we're a match made in preppy heaven. We also hit up a lot of home decor shops, we didn't buy anything because apparently you need an apartment/house bigger than a shoe box to warrant those big purchases. But when I'm rich and looking to shop for my summer home, I will be stopping by Loaves and Fishes (my actual favorite store we went to) and Collette Home.
What We Did:
Going to a beach town during the off season might sound scary, but we were certainly never bored! We really enjoyed just walking around the town and enjoying the absolute perfect weather, but we also stopped into some of the local galleries like RJD and The Dan Flavin Art Institute. And of course we had to stop by the beach, even if it was freezing and windy. Seeing the sunset on Scott Cameron Beach was so worth it!
Wainscott:
We also took time to explore where we were staying, Wainscott might be small but it is mighty! I certainly liked spending time in the HomeGoods, but we also got to go to Levain Bakery, which was actually my first time! The lines are always too long in NYC but we were the only ones in the Wainscott location and it was absolutely heavenly! They also had some super cute wine shops, a bagel place, and the most darling seafood shop, that I will be stopping in this summer to eat a lobster roll. Wainscott also is home to Sagg Swamp, a huge nature conservatory and a couple beautiful vineyards that will also be on our list for this summer!
Overall:
I cannot even explain how absolutely wonderful this little trip was. If you get a chance to go to Bridgehampton, please go! Literally every single person we talked to was beyond nice and all the food is amazing. I will say the only weird part was the treatment of our age. Clark and I are both 21, and maybe because we live in NYC where most restaurants don't card us, but every time we ordered a drink the waiter or bartender would inspect our IDs for much longer than we thought was necessary and interrogated us before serving the drink, but when we walked into an expensive art gallery or furniture store, the sales associates thought it was completely possible for us to drop thousands of dollars on a painting. Clark said we probably looked like we were shopping on our parent's dime, but still a little weird and worth noting.
What I Wore:
