Fire Island National Seashore - Plan Your Visit (U.S. National Park Service)

Fire Island park folder and National Park Service Map and Guide covers.

Times to Visit

Places to Stay

Lodging (on or near Fire Island)

Pre-Visit Materials

People on ferry arrive at Watch Hill facilities.

If you haven't been to Fire Island National Seashore before, you may want to watch the park's orientation film, now available on-line. (See Photos & Multimedia.)

Explore and Enjoy Diverse Resources and Recreational Opportunities within Fire Island National Seashore

Parts of Fire Island are accessible all year, although the majority of visitors come to Fire Island during the summer months when all facilities are open. From late June through early September, the weather is the most favorable for beach-related activities. However, the beach can still be enticing on those warmer days of autumn, winter and spring. Properly prepared, every visit to Fire Island can be special.

Blue sky with puffy white clouds over uncrowded lifeguarded beach along calm ocean.

Even during July and August, you may be able enjoy a relatively uncrowded beach if you visit mid-week. Watch Hill's lifeguarded beach is about a half-mile walk over a boardwalk trail from the ferry dock.

The half-hour ferry ride from Patchogue to Watch Hill, or from Sayville to Sailors Haven, is part of the experience of visiting Fire Island National Seashore.

The Fire Island Lighthouse and Wilderness Visitor Center—both parts of Fire Island National Seashore—and Smith Point County Park and Robert Moses State Park—located on either end of Fire Island—are accessible year-round, but operating hours vary by season.

Fire Island's Sailors Haven, Barrett Beach/Talisman and Watch Hill units are dependent on water travel, and their facilities are open from mid-May through mid-October each year.

A few of the Fire Island communities are able to accommodate day-use visitors, but most provide seasonal services for residents and their guests only.

The William Floyd Estate, on Long Island in Mastic Beach, is open Memorial Day weekend through Mid-November, Friday through Sunday and holidays.

Ranger-led interpretive activities are primarily scheduled for summer months at all locations, but special walks and programs are offered throughout the year.

Bar graph showing steady rise and fall in visitation during summer months.

Typical Visitation Pattern for Fire Island

By visiting during the shoulder seasons of spring and fall, or by planning to visit on weekdays during the summer, you may avoid the crowds.

In the off-season (October through April), however, public transportation to the island may be limited, and some services on various parts of the island are unavailable.

"Passport to Your National Parks" can be stamped at seven locations in Fire Island National Seashore.

Participants in the National Park Travelers Club and other cancellation stamp collectors may get their passport book stamped at seven locations: Fire Island Lighthouse, Wilderness Visitor Center, Park Headquarters in Patchogue are open all year, but days and hours vary by season; William Floyd Estate, Watch Hill Visitor Center, Sailors Haven Visitor Center and the Patchogue-Watch Hill Ferry Terminal are open seasonally. You will have to plan more carefully in the shoulder and winter seasons in order to get your passbook stamped.

You may be able to purchase a "Passport to Your National Parks" book at each Fire Island National Seashore visitor center, or you can order the item online directly from Eastern National.

Be sure to review the train and ferry schedules in advance, and pay particular attention to the return schedules. Ferries run regularly to the island in the summer months but are limited in the off-season. See "Directions" for park access information.

Schedule at least a full day for each visit to Fire Island, since getting to and from the island requires more time than you might expect. Allow for time to enjoy the seashore.

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