By evening, the 7 train is carrying people home from Manhattan and others toward Flushing, where the sidewalks around Main Street stay busy well past dinner and the windows fill with tea shops and restaurants. Farther west, in Astoria, the crowds shift toward the beer halls and cafés, and along the Rockaway peninsula the day-trippers thin out as the ocean goes dark.
Queens is not a single nightlife district but a collection of them, spread across a borough that is among the most linguistically and ethnically diverse places in the world. A night out here tends to suit people who want to move between neighborhoods, eat and drink in the company of the communities that live there, and treat the trip itself as part of the evening. If you are looking for one dense strip of clubs, you will be planning several separate outings instead.
Where to go out in Queens
1. Flushing
Flushing is the borough's late-eating and late-drinking center, and the area around the Flushing-Main St stop on the 7 train is where it concentrates. If you like bubble tea with sago and tapioca, there are several good spots within a few blocks of that stop; one of the best is on the corner of Main St. and 39th Av.
This suits a night built around food and conversation rather than standing at a bar, and it works well for groups who want to keep moving between small places. The practical point is simply to arrive by subway: the Main St stop puts you in the middle of it.
2. Astoria and the Bohemian Hall
Astoria's best-known drinking destination is the Bohemian Hall, known citywide simply as "The Beer Garden," near the Astoria Boulevard subway stop. It covers an entire city block, is walled and filled with trees, indoor and outdoor picnic tables and a cool crowd, and serves Czech and German beer. You drink ales by the pitcher at wooden picnic tables under a leafy canopy, surrounded by hundreds of people.
It is popular in the summer, so this is a warm-weather night rather than a winter one. The address is 29-19 24th Avenue, just west of 31st Street, reached by the N or W to Astoria Blvd.
3. Woodside
Woodside is home to an Irish population and is loaded with bars and cheap happy hours, as well as drinking festivities before a Mets baseball game. There are several Irish pubs by the Woodside train station.
This is the neighborhood for a straightforward pub night, whether you are starting early or stopping in on the way to or from the ballpark. If you want something to eat with it, check out the burger at Donovan's.
4. Rockaway Beach
The Rockaways give you a night out that begins at the water. Rockaway Beach is a fine stretch of relatively unpolluted sand on a narrow peninsula linked by bridge and by the subway (A train) to the rest of Queens, and it can also be reached by road from Nassau County and by bridge from Brooklyn. Aside from the still-visible Empire State Building and the frequent planes landing at nearby John F. Kennedy Airport, it is perhaps the most pastoral experience in New York City.
This suits an evening that starts with a beach walk and continues somewhere nearby rather than a bar crawl. The cleanest beach on Rockaway can be found at Jacob Riis Park, part of the Gateway National Recreation Area; note that Jacob Riis is a federal beach and subject to different laws than the rest of the Rockaways. Women can legally go topless at any public New York beach, although not very many do.
5. Citi Field and the U.S. Open
Two of the borough's biggest evening crowds gather around sport. You can watch a New York Mets game at Citi Field in Flushing, and the U.S. Open tennis tournament is held at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, also in Flushing.
Both suit a night planned around a single event, with the surrounding neighborhood — Flushing's tea shops and restaurants in particular — as the natural place to eat before or after.
How a night out unfolds
The sources describe drinking and eating as evening and summer activities rather than giving fixed hours. The Bohemian Hall is popular in the summer; the Flushing tea shops and the Woodside pubs serve as evening destinations; and the farmers markets that anchor daytime eating in the borough — at the New York Hall of Science, the Queens Botanical Garden and in Jamaica — run on weekday and weekend mornings and afternoons from June to November, which tells you the borough's food culture has a strong daytime rhythm as well. Plan on eating first and drinking after, and check current hours for any specific place before you set out.
Festivals and events worth timing a trip around
- Columbus Day — October
- Halloween — October
- Election Day — November
- Veterans Day — November
- Thanksgiving Day — November
- Christmas Eve and Christmas Day — December
- New Year's Eve and New Year's Day — December into January
- Martin Luther King Jr. Day — January
Frequently asked questions
Where should I go for a drink in Queens?
Two areas stand out in the sources. Astoria, for the Bohemian Hall beer garden near the Astoria Boulevard subway stop, and Woodside, which is loaded with bars and cheap happy hours and has several Irish pubs by the train station.
Can I get to the beach without leaving Queens?
Yes. Rockaway Beach is on the Atlantic Ocean, on a narrow peninsula linked by bridge and by the subway (A train) to the rest of Queens, and it can also be reached by road from Nassau County and by bridge from Brooklyn.
What is there to do in the evening in Flushing?
Flushing is the place for bubble tea with sago and tapioca, with several good spots within a few blocks of the Flushing-Main St stop on the 7 train. It is also where you go for a Mets game at Citi Field or the U.S. Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
What rules should I know about the beaches?
Women can legally go topless at any public New York beach, although not very many do. Jacob Riis Park is a federal beach and is subject to different laws than the rest of the Rockaways.
Pick one neighborhood for the evening rather than trying to cross the borough, check the hours of any specific place before you go, and let the subway set the shape of your night.