9 Towns in the Finger Lakes with Vibrant Downtown Areas

Across the Finger Lakes region of New York, a number of towns have downtowns busy year-round, built around independent shops, local restaurants, art galleries, and theaters. Skaneateles stands right on its lake, its shops a block from the water. Downtown Ithaca centers on a pedestrian mall at the foot of Cayuga Lake. Farther north, Waterloo took shape along the canal that ties two of the lakes together. Each of these downtowns puts its shops, food, and galleries within a short walk of the water and the countryside.

Watkins Glen

Watkins Glen counts fewer than 1,900 residents but takes in millions of visitors a year. The village stands at the south end of Seneca Lake, the deepest of the Finger Lakes, and its downtown follows Franklin Street with independent shops, restaurants, and ice cream stops within a few walkable blocks. Two landmarks bring most of the traffic, the state park and the racetrack.

At Watkins Glen State Park, Glen Creek drops 400 feet within two miles, passing 200-foot cliffs and 19 waterfalls along a gorge trail that winds over and under the water. Watkins Glen International, just outside the village, hosts NASCAR and IMSA races along with the Finger Lakes Wine Festival each summer.

Seneca Falls

Seneca Falls lies in the heart of the region, along the Cayuga-Seneca Canal near the north end of Cayuga Lake, with a population just over 6,800. Its downtown forms a historic district of nineteenth-century buildings. The town is often named as the inspiration for Bedford Falls in the film It's a Wonderful Life, though the movie was not shot here.

The Women's Rights National Historical Park marks the first Women's Rights Convention, held here in 1848, with a visitor center, historic homes, and the restored Wesleyan Chapel. Each July the park hosts Convention Days to mark the anniversary and the history of the suffrage movement. North of town, the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge, an Audubon Important Bird Area, brings waterfowl, raptors, and bald eagles to its marshes and trails.

Canandaigua

The county seat of Ontario County, Canandaigua carries a population just over 10,500 at the northwest end of Canandaigua Lake. Its name comes from a Native American word meaning the chosen spot. Many of the buildings along its downtown date to the 1800s.

Two historic sites stand out. The Sonnenberg Gardens and Mansion State Historic Park has public gardens and a mansion open for tours. The Granger Homestead combines an 1816 federal mansion with a carriage museum. Main Street carries independent shops, galleries, and the New York Kitchen, a culinary center with a restaurant, teaching kitchens, and tasting rooms. The Canandaigua Lake Wine Trail links area wineries and breweries over about 20 miles.

Geneva

Geneva stands on the north end of Seneca Lake, with a population just over 12,800 and a downtown busier than its size suggests. Linden Street closes to traffic on weekend nights through the warmer months so its restaurants can move outdoors. The compact center packs dozens of restaurants within a few blocks.

Beyond the food, Geneva has more than a dozen parks, several playgrounds, a turf arena and ice rink, and a disc golf course. The arts matter here too. The Smith Opera House leads a year-round music calendar. Geneva Night Out, held the first Friday of each month, brings art, music, and local businesses downtown.

Skaneateles

Skaneateles lies at the north end of Skaneateles Lake, at the eastern edge of the Finger Lakes, with a village population around 2,500. Its downtown reaches right to the water along Genesee Street, a compact historic district of nineteenth-century buildings now full of boutiques, restaurants, and art galleries. The Sherwood Inn, a former stagecoach tavern from 1807, still stands at its center as an inn and restaurant.

Clift Park brings the downtown right to the lakefront, with a gazebo, a swimming area, a pier, and free concerts on summer Fridays. Mid-Lakes Navigation offers lake cruises from the same shore, among them a working US mailboat that still delivers to lakeside camps. Skaneateles Lake, one of the cleanest in the country, supplies drinking water to Syracuse.

Ithaca

Ithaca's population just over 32,000 understates the feel of the place, a college town at the south end of Cayuga Lake. Cornell University and Ithaca College both call it home. Their students give the downtown much of its energy. The Ithaca Commons, a pedestrian mall closed to cars, gathers much of the shopping, dining, and arts.

Ithaca Gallery Night, on the first Friday of each month, features work from area galleries. A growing collection of street murals spreads across the city's walls. Downtown theaters include Cinemapolis, the State Theatre, and the Kitchen Theatre. The surrounding gorges carry more than 150 waterfalls within 10 miles, among them Ithaca Falls. The Cornell Botanic Gardens spread across the university campus.

Waterloo

Waterloo lies between the north ends of Cayuga and Seneca Lakes, four miles from Seneca Falls and seven from Geneva, with a population just over 4,800. It is known as the birthplace of Memorial Day, recognized as such by federal proclamation, and the whole downtown marks the holiday each year with parades, car shows, and festivals.

The area was long home to the Cayuga, at a village known as Skoi-Yase. The Waterloo Library and Historical Society maintains archives and Native American artifacts on Williams Street. The Cayuga-Seneca Canal Trail follows an old railroad bed beside the canal for nearly seven miles, with plans to extend it further. Main Street, recently rebuilt for walkability, carries the town's shops and eateries.

Corning

Known for its glassmaking, Corning counts a population just over 10,500 and a historic downtown called the Gaffer District. The streetscapes there mix small businesses, restaurants, and a walking tour that lays out the town's history. A separate chocolate trail leads past chocolate shops and stores selling chocolate-scented soaps and other oddities.

The Corning Museum of Glass, the town's best-known draw, stands just across the river from downtown. Downtown itself centers on Centerway Square, with honey locust trees, a clock tower, a covered stage, and cafe seating. A historic pedestrian bridge crosses the Chemung River to connect the two sides of the district.

Trumansburg

Trumansburg, population about 1,700, was not named for a president. Its founder was Abner Treman. The village began as Treman's Village before a postal misspelling reshaped the name. Downtown has an artistic streak, with cafes, pubs, and independent shops along a walkable Main Street of early-1800s buildings.

Nearby Taughannock Falls, within its state park, drops 215 feet in a single plunge, the tallest single-drop waterfall east of the Rocky Mountains and taller than Niagara. A three-quarter-mile gorge trail leads to its base. An overlook offers the same view from above. The Black Diamond Trail, a stone-dust path of about eight miles, links Trumansburg and Ithaca along a former rail line.

More Than Wine and Water

The Finger Lakes are known for water and wine, but the downtowns earn attention on their own. Corning built a walkable district around its glass trade. Geneva turned a lakeside grid into a dense run of restaurants and music. Seneca Falls wrapped a historic movement into its streets. Each town works at a different scale, a village of under 2,000 here, a small city of 30,000 there, yet all of them put shops, food, and culture within a few blocks of the water. That mix is what brings people downtown.