Contributing Travel Editor Tracey Minkin shares an itinerary for three days of leisure in our favorite destinations around the world. Find more travel inspiration in Weekend Hop.
I'm the person who hides in the Hamptons. There's nothing wrong with the whipped-up Montauk scene or the old-school literary cocktailing that takes place at The American Hotel. But for me, the sweet spot on the South Fork is Amagansett, with its quieter, compact downtown, its easy reach to some of my favorite gardens, museums, and distilleries (you read that right), and a few stellar boutiques that are a short hop away. And now, with a gorgeous little sanctuary hotel allowing me to relax behind garden walls, this anti-Hamptons heaven is complete. Here are my favorite haunts for going Hamptons-quiet in Amagansett.
Sleep in Splendor
While many lovely small hotels and inns promise an escape from the Hamptons, the recently opened Reform Club makes good on it. With the careful tending of a master gardener to his orchard (spoiler alert!), a small team including architects and local artists (famously painter and musician Dan Rizzie) assembled inspiration for their redo of the former Inn at Windmill Lane over the course of around two years. The result is a serene, sublime hideaway with luxury cottages, suites, the 21 House summer house, meandering paths, a garden, and yes, an orchard created with Charlie Marder’s nursery and design group, for meditative strolling and occasional whispered gossip.
More From Veranda
The interiors are as assured and serene as the garden rooms, with original artworks curated by owner Randy Lerner. who also owns Amagansett Square. One truly can retreat to The Reform Club with books and backgammon and never leave the property—even your meals can be sourced from local restaurants and delivered for private garden dinners. It's a verdant Hamptons heaven.
Hunter Women's Refined Stitch Detail Chelsea Boots
The Met Luxury Linen Watercolor Set
Gigi Pip Leather Hat Carrying Tote
Sustenance Seeking
If you’re venturing out in the morning, good for you! And you deserve the excellent hot (and iced) pours at Jack’s Stir Brew Coffee on Montauk Highway (there are excellent vegan baked goods if that makes you even happier). If you’re venturing out mid-day, browse the abundance at Amber Waves Farm, Market & Café, which features the farm’s own beautiful produce as well as other locally grown beauties, plus café delights from breakfast tacos to farm tostadas, socca, and surf bowls.
Continue your taco journey (if you’re on one) at local favorite La Fondita on Montauk Highway. And if you’re a good advance planner, reserve this: After a home run pop-up at Marram Montauk in 2020, NoHo culinary institution Donna Leonard has settled in for good on Main Street in Amagansett with her latest: il Buco al Mare. The seafood—from octopus and prawns to tinned fish—is superb. So are the rustic, contemporary interiors. Finally, it is well worth the run into Sagaponack for the cocktails and bottles of locally distilled vodka, gin, aquavit, and liquors at Sagaponack Farm Distillery. It's a new spin on Long Island's deep tradition of potato farming, and it's the best souvenir you'll find.
Other People’s Gardens
There is no good visit to the Hamptons without a visit to Madoo Conservancy in Sagaponack, the idiosyncratic and marvelous two acres of garden loved and tended for 40 years by the artist and writer Robert Dash. It’s a master class of observation: Oriental, early Greek, Tudor, and High Renaissance influences inform the gardens, and there’s something to learn every time you go. Check the website for special classes this spring, like May’s tabletop topiary workshop with British topiary artist Darren Lerigo. Reserve ahead to view “The Artists’ Circle: Selections from the Robert Dash Collection” for exquisite ephemera (running through May 21); Madoo itself will reopen for the season April 29, by reservation only.
The most intimate marriage of art and garden in the Hamptons may be LongHouse Reserve, textile design titan and collector Jack Lenor Larsen’s 16-acre reserve and sculpture garden in East Hampton’s Northwest Woods. Horticulturalist-led Spring Colors Garden Walks on Saturdays through the end of May are a perfect way to get to know the place, but you can also just reserve a date and time to stroll; LongHouse Reserve opens for the season April 30.
Fallen in love with Charlie Marder’s serene orchard at The Reform Club? Visit his lovely 40-acre Marders nursery and design in Bridgehampton for inspiration and horticultural take-homes. Try to catch one of the lecture series events to up your gardening game, and for a breezy night out, come to Friday night outdoor classic films.
Some Art, Because You Are in the Hamptons
Whether it’s to avoid the sun, dodge a cloudburst, or just expand your mind, several museums around Amagansett are a must, and Parrish Art Museum in its vast, artist-studio-inspired space by Herzog & de Meuron Architects, leads the list. Don't miss the Parrish's centerpiece exhibit this season: "An Art of Changes: Jasper Johns Prints, 1960-2018," a fascinating glimpse into the artist's six decades of printmaking (on view April 24-July 10). From there, the recently opened Peter Marino Art Foundation is a public-facing display of the architect’s private collection, in the restored Rogers Memorial Library in Southampton (opens for the season May 30). Venture north to Sag Harbor for artists Eric Fischl and April Gornik’s project, The Church, which inhabits a restored former Methodist Church and will feature rotating exhibitions, starting with this season’s “Empire of Water.”
Some Shopping, Because You Are in the Hamptons
You’re here to relax, yes, but that doesn’t mean a quiet little excursion into Amagansett isn’t an excellent idea. Especially when there are the latest colors of Turkish loafers to consider at Sabah House on Main Street and beach-perfect layers (including a canvas sun hat) to acquire at Jenni Kayne in Amagansett Square. Done and done. For your spring fashion edit, plan some time at Tiina the Store, the superb shop curated by former model and Karl Lagerfeld design assistant Tiina Laakkonen. For a second fabulous fashion edit, head to Bridgehampton and Communitie, fashion designer John Patrick’s post-Marfa (and very successful) expansion to the Hamptons. And for one more must-see fashion edit, boho edition, come home to Amagansett and Ulla Johnson, the designer’s eponymous storefront in Amagansett Square. Quench your outdoor design thirst at Mecox Gardens, everyone’s favorite flagship spread in Southampton.
Before You Leave
Consider booking a retreat within a retreat: a day (or more) at the divine Shou Sugi Ban House in nearby Water Mill. Inspired by Japanese wabi sabi principles and infused with wellness and healing arts practice, here is a place for serious restoration. Call well in advance to discuss booking spa rituals as a day guest or give in and spend several nights.
