Gateway National Recreation Area

So much to do and it’s a great place to explore any season. From hiking, biking, fishing, relaxing on the beach, or soaking up some sun and history, this is the place to go. $ 15 a car load or $ 75 for a season pass (Memorial Day thru Labor Day). We always get the season pass because it’s worth it if you go more than 6 times, which is easy for us to do. From bayside to oceanside, there’s something for everyone.

beautiful and peaceful place to spend time with the family! you can swim, grill, and rent a bike! so much to do here! i think they charged $ 10 per car but totally worth every penny!

So much to do here! Plenty of beach space to lounge on, tide pools and tidal marshes to explore, great fishing, a lighthouse and decommissioned fort with running/​biking trails, this is really a great place to spend time, whatever you’re into.
There are also some fantastic views and photo ops available– we did our engagement pictures here and they came out beautifully. Great view of New York Harbor, Coney Island, Staten Island, and planes taking off from JFK. All in all, a very cool place.

A beautiful, long, quiet, clean beach. It is a national park and charges only $ 10 a carload. One section is nude.
Great biking and hiking trails. Food and bathroom options are convenient, but not exactly lavish.
The northernmost beach on the shore, so it can save you some driving – Exit 117 – with lots of good lunch, and dinner options on the way to and from the Parkway.
Not usually crowded on weekdays – and jammed, like the rest of the shore, on weekends. Watch for signs on parkway notifying when the lot is full.
Great for fishing and kite flying.

Great beach and biking trials. During summer time there are food trucks at the various beaches. If you are biking drive to the Fort and park for free=

A great set of beaches oceanside and bayside, nice trails for walking, and for biking. Lots of room for fishermen too. Not too crazy about the condition of the restrooms, but I don’t know what can be done about that with the pressure of all the visitors. Nice
grassy areas at the old fort for picnics. Just a really nice beach experience.

Drove 2 hours including 45 minutes for last mile to get to gate where rangers were turning people around due to «park closed lots full» at 1 PM in the afternoon. Not even letting one in for one out. Driving out there were still at least an hour of lines of cars lined up like lemmings in shiny metal boxes unknowingly waiting to get into the «closed» park. A hassle most like everything in this overcrowded area. Why bother.

It is a less than an hour drive for me. So It is perfect for day trips. The parking fee is reasonable and allowing you to bring your own food and drink is a real plus.
The beaches are plentiful and some for different people desires (nude) and lifestyles. The walking and biking paths are great, the lighthouse is historic and the armaments are from a time gone by.
It is one of my favorite places to go for a day of sunbathing, reading, relaxing, feeling those cool oceans breezes.
I am going to swear you to secrecy «don’t tell anyone» that a wonderfully day could only be an hour away

One of my favorite places in New Jersey. It’s so cool! A peninsula with a WWII army base on it, and a lighthouse! You can spend a whole day just exploring the Army base, and the lighthouse. At the entrance to Gunnison beach (a nude beach) there are 2 huge guns that are accessible to the public. There are a myriad of hiking trails that lead to the other various bunkers and mortar positions, and although the actual guns have been removed, the ruins of these fortifications are so cool. Prickly Pear cactus grow along the trails, and the small pink fruit they produce are sweet and delicious.(watch the spines). There is a guided tour of the lighthouse on the weekends that starts around 1:30 pm, and its worth the climb! You can see all of Sandy Hook. You do have to sign up for the tour, as they can only fit a couple people at a time. History House is also worth seeing. An Officers quarters completely furnished as it was in the 1940’s, I got some really cool pictures on my I-pod.There is a theater next to History House where you can see plays if thats your thing. There are various beaches, one just for fishing, and the bathrooms are open year round. If youre hungry theres the Seagulls Nest, which is only open during the tourist season, however Bahrs restaurant on Route 36 overlooks Sandy Hook, and is a whole other attraction in itself, it is also boat accessible! If you like nostalgia and the ocean, you will fall in love with Sandy Hook/​Fort Hancock, and Bahrs restaurant. Did I mention I like this place?

Beach. I never go to the beach here on the East Coast, where the ocean is an angry color and the waves tend to mug you if you’re not careful.
But a pushy colleague harangued me into taking a day off during the week and trekking out to Jerz to go here. Sandy Hook beach. A gaggle of girls we were, trooping out on the warm sand, pleading with the sky to open up and warm us up some more. And the heavens complied, sneakily burning some, avoiding some and also toasting some to a lovely shade of deep golden brown (I was lucky to fall into the latter category and banish the sickly yellow from my gams).
The water was warm, if maniacal. I lost a contact and my hair clip (and nearly my bathing suit top, but luckily I left the water, well was propelled forcibly by the waves rather, before I could flash the nearby kiddies).
Like with all things that are good, there’s not much else to say except it was a perfect beach day.

Sandy Hook beach was a nice drive from Hoboken, closer than many other shore towns down the Parkway and you don’t have to pay to get on, just to park your car (which is only $ 10). There are a handful of different beaches you can get to with park access, livening up the experience. The beaches are clean, not many bugs — it serves its purpose. Lots of great restaurants in the Highlands to get your seafood on after a long day on the beach.
What did bother me was there are NO garbage cans anywhere on the beaches. If you bring food or drinks, you have to go off the beach to dispose of it. If you’re going to have a sign when you step on the beach instructing beachgoers to keep it clean and not dump their trash, provide receptacles!

This is one of my favorite places. In the summer, beaches are ample and you pay by the car. The State has now attempted to fix the traffic problem and there is no more draw bridge, so we shall see this season how that turns out. There are signs from the GSP telling you if Sandy is closed. I like coming not in season too. On a really nice day, all of Jersey, NY and Atlantic Ocean in one view. It’s really amazing. This place came a long way and is much cleaner. The population is changing as well. I think this is a very iconic Jersey location. I would recommend anyone visit.

This place is a great get away for New Yorkers. You can take a ferry from the east side of Manhattan and be there in 30 minutes and it will transport you to another world. With numerous beautiful beaches (including a nude one if you are so inclined), bike trails, and a beach bar that makes you feel like you are in the Caribbean and not New Jersey. It is the Island get away that lets you be back in the city by dinner feeling refreshed and renewed. Also full of wonderful history and nature this is one of my favorite escapes from the city.

Gateway National recreation area is a 1,665 acre barrier beach peninsula at the northern tip of the New Jersey Shore. The park includes seven miles of ocean beaches, salt marshes, hiking trails and a maritime holly forest.
Food concessions are available. Alcohol is allowed on this Federal park, unlike most New Jersey beaches.
Fort Hancock Museum, in the former post guardhouse. Daily 1PM-​5PM.
Sandy Hook Lighthouse the oldest continuously operating lighthouse in America (1764).
Gunnison Beach — A clothing optional beach.
Beach activities: swimming, sailing, surfing and fishing.
Learning about ecosystems and their relationship to city life.
Bird watching, beach clean-​ups and nature talks.
Hiking and biking.
Touring historic military sites.
Gardening, photography and poetry readings.
Opera, symphony, and contemporary music and cultural festivals.
Organized athletics: soccer, football, baseball, tennis and cricket.
The winds were very strong when we went and there was so much to do and see we didn’t get to actually check out any of the beaches.
We did however see wind surfers in the bay and it seemed to be cooler in temperature and windier than most water areas we have been to.
It was practically empty maybe due to the winds and hurricane brewing and I was shocked as to how empty it was since my reason for avoiding it before is I thought it would be overly crowded due to the buses and ferries from New York and other areas. It doesn’t feel like the rest of the Jersey shore. That is not good or bad just an observation.
I would like to go to check it out next summer when it is warm.
There is a lot of wild life here. We went for a very informative educational session at the visitors center and there were signs indicating wild life. I asked if there were raccoons since I am terrified of them. He informed me that there were dozens of raccoons and they were friendly because people feed them. He was not aware of the raccoon problem in NYC or that they are rabid or large here in the city. I wasn’t aware that there were actually raccoons that were small and friendly and not rabid so I learned something about my irrational fear. But if you tell me Jersey has friendly bed bugs that is where I draw the line!

Gateway National Recreation Area is a pretty decent park, the Sandy Hook area in the atlantic highlands area of new jersey. It’s really worth seeing If youre in the area. there is a cool lighthouse and some of 1800’s barracks for you to check out. there’s a (boring) guided tour that takes you through some buildings and so forth. otherwise you can stroll around. you go out and climb on top of one of the batteries and you can get a really great view of new york city.