Sands Point Preserve
Managed by County of Nassau, New York
244 acres2.5 mi of trail
Trail 4Trail 5Trail 6Trail 2+1
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lotWebsite ↗
Photo: Doc Searls · CC BY 2.0AOutdoors
Outdoors in Sands Point
Sands Point has 300 acres of parks, 110 for every 1,000 residents
4.8 miles of mapped trail cross Sands Point, 1.1 per square mile of land. 96% of residents live within a half mile of a park. The biggest trail networks: Sands Point Preserve (2.5 mi), Half Moon Wetland Conservancy (0.5 mi).
Ahead of 94% of U.S. towns · #80 of 758 in New York. What drives it
Conserved land
9%
230 acres · of 4.2 sq mi of land
Trails
4.8 mi
1.1 per sq mi of land
Park land
300 ac
110 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
96%
of residents within ½ mile
Lakes & rivers
2
9 beaches
What kind of outdoors town is Sands Point?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Sands Point have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Sands Point is ahead of 94% of U.S. towns, #80 of 758 in New York. All four inputs are above most U.S. towns; park acres per resident rank highest, conserved land lowest.
A
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Sands Point’s overall grade.
Conserved land9% of the land · typical NY town 5% · U.S. 4%B+Trails1.1 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (5 mi) · NY 0.4 · U.S. 0.4A−Park land110 acres of park per 1,000 residents (300 acres) · NY 31 · U.S. 13AParks close to home96% of residents within a half mile of a park · NY 70% · U.S. 72%A−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 94%
LessMore
New York towns of 2,500+ (758)Ahead of 90%
Water is 25% of Sands Point’s area (1 of 6 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 6%.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from A to A+. Trails and many small parks come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers, so coverage varies from town to town; the half mile is a straight line from each census block, so a river or highway in the way isn’t counted against it.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
The map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
Easements protect land from building but are usually private.© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Pick a walk
The longest trail network is Sands Point Preserve, with 2.5 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Half Moon Wetland Conservancy
Nature preserve
27 acres0.5 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Guggenheim Preserve
Nature preserve
18 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it
230 conserved acres
9% of Sands Point’s land. Water is left out: Sands Point has 4.2 square miles of land and 1.4 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Sands Point’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
County432 ac
Town or city2 ac
Local Park · 431 acLocal Resource Management Area · 3 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. Public access isn’t recorded for 2 of 4 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sands Point County Park Local Park | County | 215 | Open |
| COUNTY OF NASSAU Land Local Park | County | 214 | Unknown |
| Nassau County Lands Local Resource Management Area | County | 3 | Open |
| INC VILLAGE OF SANDS POINT Land Local Park | Town or city | 2 | Unknown |
Things to do
19 places to go in Sands Point
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Beaches in Sands Point
Sands Point Village Beach
DirectionsPlus 8 beaches without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Playgrounds in Sands Point
10 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Trails & water
6 named trails and 2 lakes & rivers
Named trails
Unpaved · 2.1 mi
Trail 40.7 mi
Trail 50.5 mi
Trail 60.4 mi
Trail 20.4 mi
Trail 10.3 mi
Trail 30.1 mi
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Biking & sports
0.0 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Courts & fields
87Tennis
4Basketball
2Baseball
1Volleyball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Sands Point: April to September
NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the town and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 59 to 86 °F and little rain for the place.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 9.5 | 10.6 | 11.8 | 13.2 | 14.4 | 15.1 | 14.8 | 13.8 | 12.4 | 11.0 | 9.8 | 9.3 |
| High (°F) | 40 | 42 | 49 | 61 | 70 | 80 | 85 | 83 | 76 | 65 | 55 | 45 |
| Rain (in) | 3.4 | 2.9 | 4.2 | 4.0 | 3.7 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 3.5 | 4.3 |
February is the driest month (2.9 in) and July the warmest (highs of 85 °F). 4.3 inches fall in December, the wettest month. The climate in Sands Point →
Next door
Sands Point and its neighbors
Sands Point has the most mapped trails of the 4 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.
| Town | Conserved of land | Trail mi per sq mi | Park acres per 1,000 | Near a park ½ mile | Outdoors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sands Point | 9% | 1.1 | 110 | 96% | A |
| Port Washington | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Manorhaven | 12% | 0.4 | 6 | 99%+ | A− |
| Port Washington North | 4% | 0.4 | 5 | 99%+ | B |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Sands Point
Where can I hike in Sands Point?
The longest trail networks: Sands Point Preserve, 2.5 miles; Half Moon Wetland Conservancy, 0.5 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Sands Point is conserved land?
9% of its land, against a typical 5% for a New York town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Sands Point’s trails?
Sands Point Preserve and Half Moon Wetland Conservancy don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Sands Point?
22,715 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Sands Point or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 300 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Sands Point have?
Ahead of 94% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #80 of 758 in New York. The grade combines the share of land that is conserved, miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, park acres per 1,000 residents and the share of residents within a half mile of a park. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Trail talk
Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Sands Point neighbors.
Share a tip
Sources
Where this page comes from
Conserved and public land: USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), service updated July 2026. Parks, trails, playgrounds, beaches and other places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), map data as of 2026-10-28. Land and water area: Census 2025 Gazetteer. Residents near a park: 2020 Census blocks. National Register: National Park Service. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →