The Polar Bear Plunge on New Year's Day

The Coney Island Polar Bear Club swims in the Atlantic all winter, and on New Year's Day it invites everyone else in. Thousands of people in swimsuits, costumes and sheer bravado run into the ocean at Coney Island Beach at Stillwell Avenue, shriek, and run back out, while a crowd on the boardwalk cheers. The 2026 plunge, the club's 123rd, raised money for nonprofits in the Coney Island community, and the club says the annual plunge is open to the public.

Registration runs through the club's event page, and you join as an individual or a team; it is free to plunge, and donations, which fund local organizations, are encouraged. The 2027 registration had not opened when we checked in October, so watch the club's site in late fall. Bring a towel, a robe, water shoes and a change of warm clothes in a bag someone else can hold, and do not linger in the water. Take the D, F, N or Q to Stillwell Avenue; the boardwalk is a block away.