The Best Small Towns in the Finger Lakes to Chill Out In 2024

Glenn Curtiss tested some of America's earliest seaplanes on Keuka Lake, partly because the water was calm and partly because Hammondsport was in no hurry to stop him. More than a century later, the pace has not changed much. The Finger Lakes still move at the speed of a long lunch and a slow boat, their shores stitched with vineyards and small downtowns that lean toward the water. In Skaneateles, that looks like a slow morning out on some of the cleanest water in the country and an afternoon glass of red from Anyela's Vineyards on the hill above it. By Sunday, the hardest call left is usually which winery has the better view.

Geneva

Geneva calls itself the Lake Trout Capital of the World, and the open water of Seneca Lake backs up the claim. The town sits on the northern rim of Seneca, the largest of the glacial Finger Lakes, and reportedly took its name from Geneva, Switzerland.

Its downtown ranks among the best in the region, with more bars and restaurants than most towns its size and a run of restored old homes along South Main Street. Hobart and William Smith Colleges occupy the lake's north end, and the row houses near Pulteney Park pull a steady stream of admirers. The restored Smith Opera House stages shows downtown, and Belhurst Castle holds the lakeshore just south.

Ithaca

Ithaca is gorges, as the local bumper stickers put it, and the joke holds up. The town climbs a hillside above Cayuga Lake, the longest of the Finger Lakes, cut through with waterfalls and steep ravines. Cornell University runs along the ridge, its mix of old stone and modern buildings regularly landing on lists of the country's most beautiful campuses.

The free Cornell Botanic Gardens and the 100-acre F. R. Newman Arboretum spread across the slope, planted with maples, oaks, and dogwoods. Down in town, the Museum of the Earth holds one of the largest fossil collections in the country, and the Macaulay Library at Cornell is the largest archive of natural sound on Earth. The Statler Hotel, run by Cornell's hospitality school, puts visitors a short walk from all of it.

Skaneateles

Skaneateles, Iroquois for "long lake," sits at the north end of one of the cleanest lakes in the country. The water is clear enough to drink unfiltered, and a walk out on the pier shows why people pay millions for the lakeside cottages, a few of which double as celebrity summer hideaways. Patisserie turns out the best breads and croissants in the village, and Skaneateles Bakery handles the donuts.

Past the pier, the Guppy Falls Trail runs the rim above a creek to an overlook in the Skaneateles Conservation Area. Clift Park gives swimmers a lakefront spot in town, and the dog-friendly Anyela's Vineyards pours its reds on a hill above the water.

Watkins Glen

Watkins Glen State Park drops through a gorge of nineteen waterfalls at the edge of town, which is reason enough to stop. The rest of Watkins Glen fills in around it. Its downtown holds one of the better main streets in the Finger Lakes, with boutiques and restaurants along rows of Revival-era storefronts. Nickel's Pit on North Franklin Street serves barbecue and pig wings with local craft beer, and Seneca Harbor Station, set in a train depot more than 140 years old, plates clam chowder over lake views.

Cavern Cascade, one of the most sought-after waterfalls in the Finger Lakes, sits inside the park. The Watkins Glen Harbor Hotel, named Best Waterfront Hotel in the Nation by USA Today, runs along the Seneca Lake shore.

Canandaigua

In 1873, Susan B. Anthony stood trial in Canandaigua for voting in the previous year's presidential election. The town that calls itself "The Chosen Spot" has kept the kind of downtown worth lingering in, lined with restaurants like Simply Crepes Craft Kitchen and shops like the Renaissance Goodie II Shoppe.

The Canandaigua Lake Wine Trail strings together more than 20 miles of tasting rooms and farm kitchens nearby. At the edge of town, Sonnenberg Gardens and Mansion State Historic Park preserves one of the most complete Victorian-era country estates in the country.

Hammondsport

Hammondsport gave the world Glenn Curtiss, the aviation pioneer, and the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum keeps his early aircraft alongside vintage motorcycles and automobiles. The town rests at the south end of Y-shaped Keuka Lake, which runs shallower and warmer than most of its neighbors, so the swimming season holds on longer. Small as it is, Hammondsport packs a lot around Pulteney Square, a village green and national historic district ringed by shops and bakeries like Vern's, known for its cinnamon rolls.

The Finger Lakes Boating Museum traces the region's boat-building history a short walk away, and the Pat II, a roomy vintage launch, runs tours out onto the lake. Champlin Beach closes the day with a sunset over the water.

Corning

Corning runs the largest glass museum in the world, and that is the place to start. The Corning Museum of Glass holds centuries of glasswork and live glassblowing demonstrations, and the city earned its "Crystal City" nickname honestly, with glass-cutting shops scattered through downtown.

A block from the river, The Rockwell Museum, the only Smithsonian Affiliate in Upstate New York, shows American Western and Native American art inside a restored 1893 city hall. The Chemung River runs through downtown, good for a paddle past the cliffs on a warm afternoon. The Gaffer District keeps the restaurants and rooms within a short walk of all of it.

The Slow Side Of The Finger Lakes

What these towns share is restraint. Ithaca lets its gorges and its campus do the work, Watkins Glen builds a whole town around a single gorge, and Canandaigua keeps its history close to a walkable downtown. None of them rushes a visitor through. The lakes set the pace, the wine trails fill the afternoons, and the main streets stay short enough to cover on foot. For anyone in the region looking to slow down for a weekend, these are the towns that make it easy.