City Island
104B Fordham St, Bronx, NY
Bronx, NY
A tiny New England-style fishing village of clapboard houses, boatyards, and seafood shacks, improbably tucked into the far edge of the Bronx.
At the far eastern edge of the Bronx, reached by a single bridge, lies City Island, a slender mile-and-a-half of land in Long Island Sound that feels nothing like the rest of New York City. Its one main street runs down the spine of the island past clapboard houses, marinas, and seafood restaurants, and the sound laps at the ends of the side streets, giving the whole place the air of a New England fishing town somehow set loose inside the five boroughs.
For generations City Island has lived by the water, first by oystering and fishing, then by building boats, including some of the fastest racing yachts in the country. Today it is beloved as a place to eat fresh seafood by the water, poke through its nautical shops, and feel, for an afternoon, a world away from the city just across the bridge.
What Guests Love
- The startling feel of a small maritime village inside New York City
- Seafood restaurants and clam shacks lining the single main street
- Boatyards, marinas, and a long history of building racing yachts
- Old clapboard houses and a slow, salt-air pace unlike anywhere else in the city
Worth Knowing
- One bridge and one main street run the length of the island, so it is easy to explore on foot
- Weekends and summer evenings draw crowds to the seafood spots, so expect a wait
- It borders Pelham Bay Park and Orchard Beach, worth combining into a visit
- It is a working village, so much of the waterfront is boatyards rather than public shore
Details
Bronx, NY
Learn about City Island
A maritime village in the city
City Island sits in the waters of Long Island Sound that were long the homeland of the Lenape peoples, whose communities fished and gathered shellfish along these shores. English settlers took the island in the colonial era, and by the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it had become a working maritime community, its people making their living from oystering, fishing, and the sea.
There was even an early dream of turning it into a great rival port to Manhattan, which is said to lie behind its grand name, City Island. That never came to pass, and instead the island settled into a quieter identity as a nautical village, a bit of old maritime New England preserved at the corner of the modern city.
The boatbuilding tradition
City Island became famous for building boats, and above all for building fast ones. Its yards turned out yachts renowned for their speed and craftsmanship, and for a long stretch of the twentieth century boats built here competed for and defended the America's Cup, the most prestigious prize in yacht racing.
That heritage still shapes the island. Boatyards, sail lofts, and marinas line the shore, and the water off the island fills with sailboats in the warm months. The nautical trades gave the village its working character, which persists alongside the restaurants and shops of today.
Seafood and the single main street
For most visitors, City Island means seafood by the water. The main street and the island's tip are lined with restaurants and clam shacks serving fried fish, clams, lobster, and shellfish, some grand and old-fashioned, others plain counters where you eat off paper trays looking out at the sound.
The rest of the island invites a slow walk: streets of nineteenth-century houses, a small nautical museum, antique and marine shops, and views of the water at the end of nearly every block. Because everything strings along the one main street, it is an easy and pleasant place to explore entirely on foot.
Pelham Bay Park and the seasons
Just across the bridge lies Pelham Bay Park, the largest park in the city, several times the size of Central Park, with woods, salt marsh, trails, and the wide crescent of Orchard Beach along the sound. A visit to City Island pairs naturally with the beach and the park's green space.
Summer is the island's liveliest season, when the seafood spots overflow and the marinas fill with boats. Fall brings cooler air and thinner crowds, a fine time to walk the streets and the beach. Winter quiets the island to its year-round village self, gray water and clapboard houses under the low sun, while spring wakes the boatyards and the sailing season once more.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Bronx
Pelham Bay Park
At the bridge
The city's largest park, with woods, salt marsh, trails, and a golf course wrapping around the approach to the island.
Orchard Beach
About 2 miles
A long crescent of sand on Long Island Sound, built in the 1930s and known as the Riviera of the Bronx.
The Bronx Zoo
About 6 miles
One of the largest and oldest zoos in the country, with sprawling naturalistic habitats.
New York Botanical Garden
About 6 miles
A vast garden and old-growth forest tract in the Bronx, with a grand Victorian glasshouse.