The beach is lovely and the boardwalk is great.You can walk sown the boardwalk to the Aquarium and Coney Island. I think people who visit here love to walk under the elevated train and see the Russian shops. There are bakeries, fish stores, clothing shops and of course, Russian Restaurants.
Not a terrible beach if you dont mind way too many people, few good food options around, an hour train ride to get there, and trash all over the place.
All the friends visiting from Russia love Brighton Beach. It's like a Soviet "sausage" immigration wildlife preserve, not Soviet, not American, more like a bottleneck experiment in evolution. If you don't understand Russian it's only half the fun. The greatest concentration of furs, shaven heads (on men) and platinum blonds (women) in the Western hemisphere, and probably on the planet. You get into a barber shop and while getting a trim are offered suspect Gucci sunglasses and even more suspect hot "cheburekis" (meat pastry). Russian food stores carry imports from all of the Eastern Europe with hilarious translations, restaurant menus are straight from engrish.com, and T-shirts insist that Russian Tank is the Best. That's what would have happened if one could cross Odessa with Toad Suck, Arkansas.
This is the real thing. Full of people speaking Russian, crowded streets, wonderful markets and bakeries. Little Odessa is a bit touristy but the main drag is a delight.
My wife and I took a day trip to Coney and had to include Brighton Beach. They join each other by the boardwalk and having heard of Brighton in movies and books, we just had to go. We had a beautiful day weather wise and the walk to the end on the boardwalk was great. After getting to the end of the boardwalk we then went to the shoreline and walked back along the ocean. Didn't go swimming but saw others who were. The Russian emigre population was evident in the people and restaurants. It was actually to take a break and stop at a restaurant called Tatianas for a good Russian lunch combo of borscht soup, salad and verenikes ( dumplings or perogies ) that came with sour cream and melted butter. YUM!!!! After the lunch we had to walk it off. I think that the Russian emigres picked a good place to settle with the ocean and beach right there. Saw some examples of their culture in the locals that were out. Anyways a good extension to our trip to Coney Island. Try it, and enjoy.
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