North Beach — Attraction in Middletown Township

I'm hard pressed on this review, so let's do a pros/cons list.

Pros

1. Clean beach
2. Went on a Friday and maybe 40 people there: almost empty.
3. Water was cold but lovely - warning strong current at high tide
4. 3 lifeguards on duty
5. Took the Seastreak ferry and the free shuttle to North beach. (R/T $45 from Manhattan) Very easy.

Cons:

1. Snack bar closed (brought my own food anyway)
2. REALLY long walk to the shore from the parking lot. Other reviewers are NOT exaggerating: it was insane.
3. Weird gross barges in the distance took me out of my beach experience.
4. No garbage cans (apparently it's Federal property so they have a carry in carry out policy which I find ridiculous)
5. The flies. This is the main reason I won't go back. I went down to the water after my Lawrence of Arabia like trek nearly gave me the vapors so I could gauge the temp of the water. As I gazed forlornly at the gross barges in the distance I felt a sharp sting on my leg, looked down, and my legs were covered in flies. I'm not kidding. It was fu*ked up. I flipped out a little at the sight of it. All through my stay, the flies didn't stop. At one point, an hour in, I almost left but I paid $45 to get there so I suffered through it. These flies were taking chunks outta my ass- biting me constantly. One of the lifeguards totally lost it at one point, the biting flies were so bad. It really turned me off to this beach and I have been to several in the Tri-State area. I'll never go back. The best part of the day was the ferry ride. I've taken the Clipper City (a fully rigged replica of an 19th century logging vessel) around NY harbor and that was $35 so I'm gonna just turn this lord of the flies day into a boat ride with a bloody layover. Did I mention there were flesh...

South Beach is much better in my opinion. For starters, the walk from the parking lot to the beach takes FOREVER. Seriously, walking from your car to the beach (and back) can be exhausting. In addition, the sand is not very soft, with rocks and seashells everywhere embedded in the sand. This makes walking barefoot kinda difficult. The views are pretty nice though, with a view of both the ocean (obviously) and New York City, and the Verezanno Narrows bridge, something you can't see from South Beach. The only real downside is that there are a lot of cargo ships in the water so if you like a view of the endless ocean these ships might block it. The view on South Beach is just the ocean but it isn't blocked by anything so the water truly looks endless. One more thing, is that north beach wasn't crowded at all, so if you like a quiet beach, this works well. South Beach is the complete opposite, as it gets EXTREMELY crowded by noon. Whatever beach you decide to go to, I suggest you wake up very early and head there early as well. This is because you can see the sunrise (which on a relatively empty beach is really beautiful and life chanfing), you can beat the crowds and then leave when it gets crowded, and Sandy Hook beach gives you free parking (normally $15) if you...

There’s apparently a new rule that only one-pole umbrellas are permitted, so no canopies!

Would’ve been the perfect place otherwise.

You pay $15 per vehicle to enter the premises and drive 10ish minutes to one of the parking lots. The walk from the parking lot to the actual beach was about 5 minutes.

We asked the parking attendant if there was anything we needed to know, and he only advised us that pets aren’t allowed and that one of the beaches was “clothing optional.” (Didn’t tell us about the canopy rule, but refunded us on our way out).

The beach was pretty empty, and there’s a pretty view of the city from it. It was also very clean.

Once we got in, we set up our canopy (since very prone to sunburn), but were told by a park ranger that only one-pole umbrellas are permitted. There are large signs saying “no pets, no kites, no alcohol” but the added umbrella rule is on a stapled paper.

We had to leave, unfortunately, since they didn’t rent any umbrellas...