Long Beach Island, NJ

LBI is a twenty-mile long barrier island situated along the coast of New Jersey. Once a relatively quiet counterpart to some of its more boisterous neighboring communities - like Seaside Heights or Atlantic City - most of the island is now quite heavily developed. It is divided into numerous small communities, each with its own personality and charm. Long Beach Island is also easily thought of as having two parts, the north and the south.There is one bridge connecting LBI to the mainland and it happens to be located near the center of the barrier island. This forces visitors to make a choice when they arrive from the mainland, north or south? Generally the north is thought of as quieter and more affluent while the south offers amenities and accommodations that cater to a wider range of summer visitors.

Lets take a little tour of Long Beach Island so you can learn a bit more about what it is like and what you can expect to find there.

The northern tip of the island is bordered by Barnegat Inlet. A lighthouse was originally built here to signal the dangerous shoals just off the coast and to help mariners locate the inlet as they navigated the waters off of New Jersey. Modern technology has made this, and most, lighthouses obsolete. Yet the Barnegat Lighthouse remains and interesting structures that can help teach us about the past. The lighthouse and the land bordering the inlet are now part of a state park that makes for a fun visit. You can climb to the top of the lighthouse and get a great view of the coast, see the exhibits in the visitors center to learn more about the lighthouse and LBI, stroll along the edge of the inlet on a nice walkway or see some now (relatively rare) natural beach habitats.

The beaches that are found along the coast at each beach community do have some differences but all offer nice places to lounge and ready access to some nice swimming. The width of the beach varies with your location. You can find rock jetties spaced out form north to south along the coastline in a few locations. They offer interesting variation that contrasts with the open sand and provides habitat for some interesting organisms. During the busy summer season there is lifeguard protection across most of the beach. You do need to pay to get on the beach during the summer, which is a way that a lot of New Jersey beach communities cover their expanses for all the municipal services (lifeguards, beach cleaning, trash disposal, etc.) they provide summer visitors.

One of the more appealing aspects of LBI is its lack of over commercialization. A few areas contain the main centers for shopping and entertainment but there are only a few such places and they do not cover large portions of the island. This means there are surprising few hotels and motels for such a busy tourist area. To the north there are hardly any hotels and a lot of houses that are second homes for their owners. They visit during the summer and are largely absent during the rest of the year. Some of these houses are also rented out for a week, a month or the entire summer. Less expensive rental homes and the majority of hotels are more found on the south side of the island. It is best to search for and make reservations well in advance if you want to visit during the summer. The holidays and weekends are often quite busy and many visitors book their accommodations a year in advance.

The main road on the island is the north to south Boulevard. It has numerous names as it passes through different communities it is but the same road throughout. Where the bridge connects to mainland, and therefore delivers a lot of vehicles to LBI during say a Friday night in the summer, the road is split into an east and west side to allow two lines of traffic in each direction. With all the island's traffic using this road it is the natural place for most businesses to be located. As you drive either north or south you will pass through locations where the commercial establishments wax and wane. Hotels, food stores, shops, entertainment and the many ice cream stores can all be found along LBI's main drag.

There are more restaurants and places to pick up food in the south than in the north. Most of the grocery stores are modest in size or are even just small markets. Where ever you shop for food on LBI you will notice pretty quickly that things are more expansive than you are used to at home. Many regular summer visitors that rent a home for their vacation will buy their groceries on the mainland before they arrive. If you are eating out you will also notice the prices are a bit high. This is true if you are at subway or a fine restaurant.

Not everyone visits Long Beach Island as a causal summer visitor. There are both full time residents and people that have summer homes that they enjoy as much, or perhaps more, than their regular mainland residences. Industry, sport and culture are all around on LBI and these too offer some interesting opportunities for visitors. There are a few museums, an artist school/show place and an active live theater that puts on a number of plays every year. Barnegat Light has a commercial fishing industry and offers a co-op that sells fresh seafood. Boating and sailing are popular and many small craft are found at marinas and private docks on Barnegat Bay. There are even a few small yacht clubs, some with histories that go back to the late 1920s. Surf shops and stores that stock all manner of fishing supplies cater to a few of the island's other big sports. If you are interested in sports that don't involve the water you can find public parks that have tennis courts, playgrounds and basketball courts.

This hub has only touched upon a few of the highlights of what you can find at Long Beach Island. The best thing you can do at the beach is relax. With all that you can find on LBI, relaxing is an easy thing to do!