If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.
Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (USD233.10), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.
Long Island’s North Fork may lack the same voguish reputation enjoyed by its southern neighbor the Hamptons, but the Shoals Suites & Slips is ready to tack things around. The self-proclaimed ‘boatel’ has 20 apartment-style suites, each with its own boat slip you could sail right into on arrival, and architect Thomas Juul-Hansen has expertly combined a chic Scandi spareness with seafaring features that tow in Southold’s maritime past. But, by land or sea, the great outdoors is where you’ll spend most of your time. Hop between Peconic Bay and Shelter Island on the hotel’s Chris-Craft boat, shuck oysters, and sip sauvignons at surrounding cellars. So, set yourself adrift from a Hamptons break and dock at this breezy beachside spot.
20 suites, each with an assigned boat slip on the hotel's pier or at Albertson Marine (day rates apply).
Check–Out
11am, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 4pm.
Prices
Double rooms from £213.02 ($266), including tax at 14.125 per cent. Please note the hotel charges an additional resort fee of $25.00 per room per night on check-out.
More details
A $25 hotel fee is charged for each stay, which includes Continental breakfast, bike hire and beach passes.
Also
The Shoals has an accessible boardwalk, and one of the suites has been adapted with a roll-in shower for those with mobility issues.
At the hotel
Garden terrace with fire pit, food truck, bikes to borrow, a boat to charter (for an extra fee), alfresco showers, boutique, bay-facing lounge, and free WiFi. In rooms: TV, kitchenette, mini fridge and freezer, tea- and coffee-making kit, free bottled water, air-conditioning, steamer, and Malin + Goetz toiletries.
Our favourite rooms
The spacious Grand Suites, set a little further back from the main hotel, are a favourite for us; ochre and navy hues add pops of colour to their otherwise minimalist oak interiors, and there’s a furnished terrace for sundowners. The hotel’s shuck truck may be steps away, but should you wish to cook up your own catches, all the suites are handily equipped with full kitchens, too.
Packing tips
Bring your Moleskine journals for jotting down wine-tasting notes; and your sea legs for watery adventures.
Also
Female-owned business the Little Ram Oyster Co, helmed by mollusc-power-couple Elizabeth Peeples and Stefanie Bassett, has set up shop in the hotel. They also host private shucking workshops and farm tours that you’re welcome to join.
Children
Little Smiths are very welcome, but there’s no kids’ club or babysitting.
Sustainability efforts
The oysters grown by the hotel’s partners – Little Ram Oysters – help to depollute the waters (one live mollusc is known to filter up to 50 gallons a day) and promote reef growth. But sustainable practices at the Shoals don’t stop there – all produce is purchased locally (wine comes from North Fork wineries and cocktails are canned in Long Island’s Liv distillery) and single-use plastics are kept to a minimum.
Take your lobster rolls to the lawn for views over the dock.
Dress Code
Navy, golden accents and boat shoes, ahoy.
Hotel restaurant
Dining here is very casual, largely because the hotel restaurant is a food truck parked on the grounds. But this is more the Ferrari of ‘meals on wheels’, for North Fork Table & Inn’s Michelin-starred chef mans it. Burgers and lobster rolls take centre-stage, and on Wednesday evenings the Little Ram Oyster Co takes over for a (s)hell of an evening. An array of freshly baked pastries are served in the lounge for breakfast.
Hotel bar
You can make your own cocktails or help yourself to beer and wine in the Oyster Lounge, the hotel's laidback bar.
Last orders
The Food Truck serves from noon until 8pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and from noon until 6pm on Sundays, and light bites are available to buy in the Bait Shop all day. The Oyster Lounge closes at 11pm.
Room service
There’s no room service, but all suites have kitchens for in-room meals.
You’ll find the Shoals Suites & Slips hideaway in Southold, overlooking Shelter Island and a glimpse of Peconic Bay, on Long Island’s lesser known North Fork enclave.
Planes
International arrivals can land in New York City’s main hubs – LaGuardia and JFK – both are around a two-hour drive away from Southold. Or, land at Newark in New Jersey, just over two hours away. If you’re travelling from within the States, you can land a little closer at Long Island MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma, an hour's drive from the hotel.
Trains
The famed Long Island Railroad makes travelling around New York fairly easy; the trains run from Manhattan’s Penn Station all the way up to Greenport and Southold (both a five-minute drive from the Shoals).
Automobiles
Once you’re out of the city, driving up to Southold follows a scenic route, and a set of wheels will be a blessing if you’re planning on venturing beyond Greenport.
Other
You’re right on the water here, so boats are as common as cars. The hotel has a private boat that you’re welcome to take for a spin around the Long Island Sound and Peconic Bay for an extra charge, each room has its own slip to dock in if you’re planning on arriving by water, and there are plenty of boat-rental booths dotted around.
Worth getting out of bed for
Summer days at the Shoals Suites & Slips are spent sailing back and forth to Shelter Island on the hotel’s boat (staff can arrange two- to six-hour charged charters, with food and drinks on request), kayaking and paddleboarding at nearby beaches and (fittingly) sipping Long Island iced teas on the dock. But there’s plenty for landlubbers to do, too. Wineries are in no short supply, Croteaux is for the rosé-fiends and Sparkling Pointe is best for bubbles; or, for something a little more active, take out one of the hotel’s bikes for a 45-minute cycle up to Orient – North Fork’s easternmost town – and stay to watch the sun set over Long Beach. Greenport Village also has small boutiques and vintage-furniture shops.
Local restaurants
After you’re done nosing around the Bait Shop, head into town, as the Shoals’ owners have three restaurants that are well worth a visit; North Fork Table & Inn offers a seafood-based menu from Michelin-starred chef John Fraser, French-favourites (creamy-Cognac steaks, black squid linguine and Barolo-braised ribs) take centre stage at François Payard’s Southold Social, and Southold General dishes up all-American classics for breakfast and lunch. If you’re here for the oysters – which is likely as they’re one of the Fork’s main draws – then head to Little Creek Oysters in Greenport and order by the dozens or platterful at Duryea’s Orient Point.
Local cafés
Get your caffeine fixes at the North Fork Roasting Co, where, beyond an array of brews, they serve up bulky breakfasts, including egg burritos, bacon-filled croissants and grilled cheeses.
Local bars
Drinking is largely centred around the vineyards here, but if you want to shake(r) things up, then head to Brix & Rye, an unassuming cocktail bar along Greenport’s Main Street, for pizzas, picantes and the classics.
Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this nautical hotel in Southold and unpacked their shucking kits and bottles of chardonnay, a full account of their bayside break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside the Shoals Suites & Slips on Long Island’s North Fork…
The Hamptons have had their time in the limelight, and though we won’t be turning our backs on the bougie holidaying spot anytime soon, New York’s North Fork is due some love. So, head to bijou retreat the Shoals Suites & Slips, where a group of Southold natives have rallied together to bring something special to the building that once housed a locally-loved fish market. It now has stylish minimalist interiors, and each of the rooms have subtle nautical nods (knotted light fixtures, braided jute rugs and teal-toned bathroom tiles) to allude to its former life. Bikes and boats await your arrival, cocktails and lobster rolls are dished up alfresco, and coastal-chic open-plan spaces fill with eager shuckers during the summer months. But oysters aren’t the only thing that’s fresh at the Shoals, for this seaside suburbia is on the rise – so, watch out Hamptons, this summer we’re Fork-ing out for a serene shoreside break.
