Long Island

Long Island is an island stretching eastward from New York City in the Metro New York region. The largely suburban area is approximately 115 miles long from Brooklyn and Queens at the western end, to Montauk at the easternmost point. At its widest the island is approximately 20 miles from north to south. While Long Island geographically includes Brooklyn and Queens, politically Long Island in general includes Nassau County and Suffolk County of New York State only.

The primary tourist attractions are the large number of excellent beaches along Long Island Sound to the north and especially along the Atlantic Ocean to the south. The North Fork is also home to many wineries. Other attractions include harbor towns such as Port Jefferson, where a variety of eateries and small businesses thrive in a bohemian atmosphere.

Long Island consists of Nassau and Suffolk counties. Queens and Brooklyn are boroughs of New York City, and are generally not considered to be part of "Long Island," even though they are physically part of the island. A generation or so ago, Suffolk had a lot more farmland; the only remaining farmland is on the East End, where one can find many farmers' markets and wineries. Brookhaven National Laboratory's particle accelerator in Upton is visible from space.

Long Island Bus has a main terminal in Hempstead. There is also a terminal which serves about 4 or 5 different buses in Mineola that take you to the North Shore. Long Island Rail Road (which has a major transfer point at the Jamaica LIRR which nearly EVERY train line goes through) can take you to Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn.