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The East End presents a unique challenge for the travel writer because so much of the place is already beyond parody.

Every summer, thousands of people arrive hoping to discover some secret version of the Hamptons that exists beyond the influencers, private equity executives, wellness founders, celebrities, and people who somehow manage to be all four at once. They want the hidden beach, the local coffee shop, the restaurant that hasn’t been discovered yet. Unfortunately, everyone else had the same idea.

The modern Hamptons is a machine for converting beauty into content. Every sunset becomes a photo opportunity. Every restaurant becomes a backdrop. Every lobster roll becomes evidence that somebody is having a better summer than you are.

The strange thing is that the underlying beauty remains completely real. The beaches are sick. The fishing culture is still here. The light that attracted generations of artists still does something unusual to the landscape. The problem isn’t that the East End is overrated. The problem is that an entire economy now exists to package and monetize the experience of being here.

As you can imagine, this guide is highly subjective. I have been working in this region for over a decade, and the places mentioned here are places I go. Some new, some old, all serve their purpose.

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