These are two different Shores that share a page because families ask for both in the same breath. Point Pleasant Beach has a train, a packed amusement boardwalk, and Jenkinson’s. Long Beach Island is an 18-mile barrier with a bridge, rentals, and almost no railroad. Pick one as the bed. Treat the other as an optional drive, not as a second hotel.
This is an independent guide. It is not the official New Jersey tourism office.
Why go
Point Pleasant is the family boardwalk north of Seaside: aquarium, rides, arcade, a beach that sells badges, a station on the Coast Line. Bay Head, the next stop and the end of the line, is quieter and mostly houses.
LBI is the island south of Barnegat Inlet: Barnegat Light at the north, Beach Haven toward the south, and a string of townships in between. People come for the beach, the surf, and a week in a house. A two-night motel stay works. A no-car weekend does not.
Pick a base
- Rides, aquarium, train from New York — Point Pleasant Beach.
- Quieter sand at the end of the Coast Line — Bay Head.
- A house, a bike, a long strand, a lighthouse — LBI. Sleep in Beach Haven or Ship Bottom unless you have a reason to be at the Light.
- Do not book Point Pleasant and plan to “pop down” to LBI every few hours. The drive is real, the parking is worse, and the weekend will be the car.
Point Pleasant without a car
North Jersey Coast Line to Point Pleasant Beach. Many trains change at Long Branch. The station is close enough to the boards that a rolling bag is annoying, not impossible. Summer weekends the train is the sane arrival from New York. Parking lots by Jenkinson’s fill; municipal meters run a long season.
Badges are in force in summer. This is not Atlantic City. Confirm the current gate price on the way in rather than memorizing last year’s number.
Tickets: NJ Transit for visitors.
Long Beach Island with a car
The Garden State Parkway to the exit for Route 72, then the causeway over Manahawkin Bay. That bridge is the weekend. On summer Fridays it is a queue. On Sunday afternoons it is a queue the other way. There is no useful train. Buses exist if you enjoy them.
The island is one long road with beaches on the ocean side. Barnegat Lighthouse State Park is the north-end outing. Beach Haven is the south-end town with more of a center. In between you are in residential Shore: rentals, badge booths, a supermarket run.
Where to stay
Point Pleasant: a motel or hotel west of Ocean Avenue if you drove; closer to the boards if you came by train and will not move the car. LBI: a house rental if you have a group and a week; a small hotel or motel in Beach Haven or Ship Bottom for two nights. Two-night minimums in July are normal on both.
Broader coast: Jersey Shore hotels.
Saturday
If the bed is Point Pleasant: boards and beach first, aquarium if someone is under twelve, dinner a block off the planks. The amusement piece is the point; do not apologize for it.
If the bed is LBI: beach in front of the house or the nearest public access, then the Light if you have the north end in you. Dinner in the town you can walk to. Do not add Point Pleasant as a Saturday night afterthought.
Sunday
One more beach hour. Leave LBI before the causeway becomes a parking lot. Leave Point Pleasant on a midday Coast Line train if you can. Combining both towns on Sunday is how you meet Route 72 and the Parkway in the same mood.
With kids
Point Pleasant wins daylight. LBI wins the week-long house and a bike. Seaside Heights is a different, louder boardwalk further south — only add it if someone specifically asked. Island Beach State Park is the undeveloped alternative if the rides are too much and you still have a car.