Despite it only being an hour (usually an hour and a half with traffic) from my hometown, I’ve only been to the Hamptons a handful of times.
I recently went back on a stay-cation with my family, and it was the first time I had been there in a few years - and it really brought back a lot of nostalgia for me.
In the summer of 2014, I worked at a summer camp out there, so I lived in East Hampton from June to the end of August and it was definitely one of the best summers ever.
I remember when I left that summer, driving home on sunrise highway, I felt soooooo much gratitude radiating from my heart. It was one of the strongest moments of gratitude ever. I was so grateful for the people I had met.
Amongst my co-workers were a group of girls, mainly from the UK, that I had grown so close with. We had such fun adventures and a lot of laughs. I personally love learning about other cultures, and I always had an affinity for British culture, so it was so incredibly fun to ask them so many questions about their lifestyle, language (its so funny how we all speak English yet American English vs British English is SO different!), and just everything! I actually flew over that following January and visited all of them for a few weeks, but that’s a story for another time!
Anyway, they were sad to part when we were leaving, as was I, but so excited about seeing each other again.
Not to mention, the campers! I had so many pre-teen campers, who were so sad about camp ending and said I was their favorite part (cue tears forever) because I made it so fun for them! ( I taught video so mainly my camp classes were us just running around making silly comedy skits and music videos with lots of props - it was amazing, I loved it too!).
It was just an overwhelming feeling of feeling like I had a positive impact on so many people I had known for such a short time. I felt so special and so loved by both the campers and my co-workers, and I mutually really loved all of them too!
So anyway, going back this summer made me smile so much. The town hadn’t changed too much (Though there was a new Gucci! And a lot of other high end designers added in, and unfortunately my beloved Scoop du Jour ice cream shop had closed due to the pandemic) and it had all the same lovely vibes.
I love being in the Hamptons - it just feels right to me. The mansions, the hedges, the class, the cute beachy vibes (which tbh most of Long Island has! Especially growing up on the South Shore), the designer stores (even if I can’t shop there YET, someday! LOL) - it just feels like the life I was always meant to life.
We rented an Airbnb in East Hampton (well, my sister did! She really did all the research and found it) and it was so cute, so nice, and had an awesome built in pool, FINALLY big enough to fit this big swan float I bought years ago because Taylor Swift had one HAHA.
One day we walked around Southhampton, which was always one of my favorite villages even from my summer out there years prior. Southhampton is really cute and had a good vibe to it. It has a nice waterfront area, a greenery (Which they had a craft fair on the day we were there), and is easy to walk around. I recommend their Ice cream place, The Fudge Factory, which still holds up as great ice cream.
Southhampton also is home to Tate’s Bake Shop - which makes the best cookies in the world. It might be just a New York thing, I’m not sure, but you can find them in most super markets around here at least. But the ones in the bake shop specifically are soooo fresh & just so tasty.
Sag Harbor is also a really cute town to walk around! You get a great view of the boats, and it also has a few great spots to eat on the water. It also most notably has a toy shop that’s fun to just walk around, look at, and play around.
East Hampton holds my heart, though!
Definitely go to Main Beach, it’s the best, however since the pandemic they seem to have changed the rules that you need a permit to park there. (It was previously permit OR pay). No word if that’ll ever change back again, but the simple solution is to park in the East Hampton village (it’s free for the first 2 hours and then you can add payment on your phone after that… just make sure you take down the website info, it’ll be displayed in the parking lot, and plus remember your license plate, it’ll ask for it!),
And then you can either walk there - it’s a 1.3 mile walk, it’s not bad and its really pleasant. BUT if you have a lot of beach stuff, you can drop people off at Main Beach first, then turn around and go park and come back.
You can also use the Circuit app! We didn’t use this because we went earlier than it was open (I believe it starts at 9am) but it looks like a tip-based service that will pick you up anywhere in East Hampton and drop you off at major points (like Main Beach). We saw some other people using it and it seemed like a great idea.
Main Beach also has a breakfast in the morning - I definitely recommend their Acai bowl, it was one of the best I’ve ever had.
As for food, my favorite restaurant there is Serafina. It’s a really pretty yellow, floral looking place just past the main part of the village, and it has such good Italian food (my favorite). I had the Penne Alla Vodka, and again, it was one of the best I’ve ever had. So fresh, so delicious, and such a big portion. The staff was really nice too!
The only downside of the Hamptons in summer is there’s always traffic, so plan accordingly, and definitely use Waze so you can maybe take some back routes and avoid the main roads (Which are all 2 lanes because it was built before mass amounts of people and cars lol)
There’s definitely a lot of social events that will vary season to season and day to day, when I lived out her that summer I remember people always going to Reggae Night at the yacht club, or to certain clubs and bars, or even to just a float & boat festival. I've also seen this year they have drive-in movies - so there’s always something if you’re looking to be out on the social scene, just make sure you look ahead of time, it’ll always change.
Anyway, if you’re into just laying on the beach, walking around towns, eating good food and ice cream, definitely recommend going to the Hamptons at some point :)
