I'm planning a trip to eastern Long Island. Want to visit Montauk, Sag Harbor, Greenport, Fire Island Lighthouse, Sands Point Preserve, Cold Spring Harbor and Eaton Neck Lighthouse. We'll be coming into (and departing from) Orient Point on the ferry from Connecticut. We'll be in our own car. Plan to stay in Riverhead.
Probably mid-May – definitely mid-week.
We will get into Orient Point mid-day on day 1, and need to leave by 3 or 4 pm on the day we leave. I know 3 nights would be best but wondering if this would be possible in two (one full day plus to partial days)?
We won't be climbing the lighthouses or touring the mansion at Sand Point, just exteriors. Besides those we just want to visit "cute" villages, walk along harbors, etc. Don't need any beach time. Unfortunately we will not be doing any winery or sit down restaurants or anything "inside". I am high risk and with mask mandates gone I don't feel comfortable inside. Fortunately, what we enjoy anyway is scenic drives, window shopping (I do go inside shops briefly), looking at boats, photographing lighthouses, etc. It looks like there will be plenty of good take-out food (and if not crowded we do outside table service restaurants).
My questions are:
How bad is traffic at that time of year (mid-week)? I know what google says for drive times but I don’t know how accurate that is. Google is actually very accurate for where I live (western Mass) but on road trips we’ve encountered lots of times when google was overly optimistic.
Has anyone done Sands Point Preserve (or Oheka) and what can you say about them? I'm really missing being in Europe and would love to just get a "taste" and they look like a way to do that.