Tell a visitor that one of New York City’s most charming New England-style fishing villages sits inside the boundaries of the Bronx, and they will likely think you are pulling their leg. Yet just beyond Pelham Bay Park—connected to the mainland by a single bridge over Eastchester Bay—lies City Island: a 1.5-mile-long strip of maritime history surrounded by the sparkling waters of Long Island Sound.

Settled in the eighteenth century and long renowned as a premier shipbuilding hub (where legendary America’s Cup twelve-meter yachts like Columbia and Constellation were constructed at the Minneford Yacht Yard), City Island still divides its population neatly into two proud camps: "clam diggers" (those born on the island) and "mussel suckers" (everyone else who moved here and fell in love with it).

Skip the weekend bridge traffic completely by riding the 6 train to its final stop at Pelham Bay Park and transferring directly onto the Bx29 bus, which rolls straight down City Island Avenue—the island’s lone main thoroughfare—in less than ten minutes.

Step off mid-island and wander the quiet side streets—such as Fordham Street, Pilot Street, and Horton Street—where weathered Victorian sea-captain houses, front porches draped in nautical flags, and active boatyards frame views of Manhattan’s distant skyline across the water. On weekend afternoons, duck inside the City Island Nautical Museum at 190 Fordham Street (housed inside an 1897 brick schoolhouse) to inspect vintage sailmaking tools, ship telegraphs, and wooden racing hulls.

Along City Island Avenue, browse antique shops and maritime bookshops, stop for an iced latte or garden brunch on the shaded patio at The Black Whale (279 City Island Ave), and pick up a scoop of small-batch ice cream at Lickety Split.

Save your main appetite for the very southern tip of the island, where City Island Avenue dead-ends into the water at Johnny’s Reef (2 City Island Ave) and Tony’s Pier. At Johnny’s Reef—an iconic, cash-only counter spot operating since the 1950s—you load up a cafeteria tray with golden fried whole-belly clams, jumbo shrimp, steamed little-neck clams in garlic butter, and crinkle-cut fries, then carry it out to the breezy picnic tables right on the seawall as sailboats tack across Long Island Sound.