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A pleasant stroll just down the boardwalk from Coney Island is Brighton Beach, named after Britain’s beach resort. In the early 1900s Brighton Beach was a resort in its own right, with seaside hotels that catered to rich Manhattan families visiting for the summer. Since the 1970s and ’80s Brighton Beach has been known for its 100,000 Soviet émigrés. To get to the heart of “Little Odessa” from Coney Island, walk about a mile east along the boardwalk to Brighton 1st Place, then head up to Brighton Beach Avenue. To get here from Manhattan directly, take the B or Q train to the Brighton Beach stop; the trip takes about an hour from Midtown Manhattan.
Fodor’s Choice |
Brighton Beach.
Just steps from the subway, this stretch of golden sand is the showpiece of Brooklyn’s ocean-side playground. Families set up beach blankets, umbrellas, and coolers, and pickup games of beach volleyball and football add to the excitement. Calm surf, a lively boardwalk, and a handful of restaurants for shade and refreshments complete the package. That spit of land in the distance is the Rockaway Peninsula, in Queens. | Brighton Beach Ave., between Ocean Pkwy. and Brighton 14th St.
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Brighton Beach
| Station:
B, Q to Brighton Beach; Q to Ocean Pkwy.
Brighton Beach Avenue.
The main thoroughfare of “Little Odessa” can feel more like Kiev than Manhattan. Cyrillic shop signs advertise everything from salted tomatoes and pickled mushrooms to Russian-language DVDs and Armani handbags. When the weather’s good, local bakeries sell sweet honey cake, cheese-stuffed vatrushki
danishes, and chocolatey rugelach from sidewalk tables. | Brighton Beach Ave., between Ocean Pkwy. and Brighton 6th St.
,
Brighton Beach
| Station:
B, Q to Brighton Beach
.