These 10 Towns In Upstate New York Were Ranked Among US Favorites In 2026
Upstate New York holds hundreds of towns, and these ten rank among its very best. Skaneateles Lake runs clear enough to drink. Saratoga Springs still pours cold mineral water pulled straight from underground. Cooperstown guards baseball's Hall of Fame beside the lake James Fenimore Cooper called Glimmerglass. A painted hippie bus sits parked at Bethel Woods, on the field where half a million people gathered in 1969. Each town here earned a spot on a 2026 list of US favorites. Their draws run from bluestone sculpture to Victorian gardens to Gilded Age ruins above the Hudson.
Saratoga Springs
Saratoga Springs is a storied city situated near the Adirondack Mountains. The town is home to one of the oldest horse-racing tracks in the U.S. and a top tourist destination, the Saratoga Race Course. Saratoga Springs embraces all things equine, with over a dozen fiberglass horses to spot throughout town. Beyond the race track and its 2026 racing season, Saratoga Springs is nicknamed the “Queen of the Spas,” a tribute to its reputation as a place to experience the restorative powers of its mineral waters. Today, you can still enjoy the healing waters at the historic Roosevelt Baths and Spa at The Gideon Putnam, a luxury hotel named after the town founder that first opened in 1935.
Located in the over 2,000-acre Saratoga Spa State Park, the luxurious hotel and spa provides access to the original landmark, the Victoria Pool. It also puts you within walking distance of attractions in the park, including the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, the Saratoga Automobile Museum, and the Geyser Loop Trail. This 2.9-mile walk takes you past the springs, the famous Geyser Island Spouter, and the Orenda mineral spring.
Skaneateles
Skaneateles sits at the northern tip of Skaneateles Lake, one of the cleanest and clearest lakes in the Finger Lakes region. While the lake is the star of the town, the unofficial community hub is Clift Park, which hosts summer concerts. Go picnicking in the park, swim in the lake, or book a boat tour from Mid-Lakes Navigation, which runs a 50-minute narrated sightseeing cruise as well as a 2.5-hour dinner cruise with a three-course plated dinner.
The town's historic Main Street architecture is perfect for exploring on foot, and Skaneateles leans into its Dickensian look every year with Dickens Christmas in Skaneateles. Stop by the Skaneateles Library, dedicated in 1890 with a speech by Melvil Dewey, the creator of the Dewey Decimal System, and the Barrow Gallery, which houses over 400 oil paintings by Hudson River School-style painter John D. Barrow.
Geneva
Another Finger Lakes town, Geneva rests on the northern end of Seneca Lake. Its architecture rewards a slow look, starting with the Geneva Row Houses, a set of architecturally matched homes that share side walls in a form borrowed from Europe and built here in the early 1800s. There is also the Smith Observatory, built in 1888 for the prolific comet-hunter William R. Brooks and tied to the town’s academic and scientific history.
Belhurst Castle is a historic landmark-turned-resort on Seneca Lake, featuring multiple hotels, a spa, the tasting room for Belhurst Estate Winery, the pub-style Stonecutter’s Tavern, and the upscale Edgar’s Restaurant in the Castle. Situated just west of Geneva’s historic downtown, the Seneca Lake State Park shoreline offers two marinas for boating, walking trails, and plenty of green space for picnicking and watching the sunset over the lake.
Cooperstown
Cooperstown, better known as the “Home of Baseball,” sits between the Adirondack and Catskill Mountains. The National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum is the marquee attraction, full of interactive exhibits for all ages alongside priceless baseball artifacts and memorabilia. Beyond the ballpark, there is plenty of family fun at Fenimore Farm & Country Village, with its collection of historic 19th-century buildings relocated to the outdoor museum from across the state, including the Lippitt Farmhouse and the Dr. Thrall’s Pharmacy building, which dates to around 1832.
Cooperstown is at the southern tip of scenic Otsego Lake, often called Glimmerglass. The nickname comes from the novels of James Fenimore Cooper, the son of the town founder, William Cooper. The nearby Glimmerglass State Park features 50 campsites, a swimming beach, and a boat launch. Hyde Hall, a 19th-century example of neoclassical architecture, is the park’s centerpiece and hosts classic films like “Great Expectations,” Gilded Age Parlor Parties, and the Hyde Hall Talks series on American art, architecture, and the cultural history of the surrounding Glimmerglass landscape.
Ithaca
Ithaca offers a little bit of everything. The rugged gorges and waterfalls at Taughannock Falls State Park and Robert H. Treman State Park give way to the waterfront parks at the tip of Cayuga Lake, where the town sits. Take a relaxing sunset cruise or an interactive eco-tour with Discover Cayuga Lake, where you can examine plankton under microscopes or learn about the Milky Way on a clear night. Ithaca Commons is a four-block, pedestrian-only part of downtown, home to independent shops, restaurants, food trucks, and festivals.
The Discovery Trail, a collection of eight educational attractions spread across downtown Ithaca, takes you on a walking journey to the key art, science, and history institutions in this college town. Stops include the Sciencenter, a hands-on museum with over 250 exhibits you can touch; the Museum of the Earth, home to one of the largest fossil collections in the U.S.; and the Cornell Botanic Gardens, with landscaped gardens, the 150-acre F.R. Newman Arboretum, and protected natural areas like old-growth forests and wetlands.
Cold Spring
Sitting on the Hudson River, about 50 miles north of New York City, Cold Spring is a riverside village with a walkable Main Street full of antique shops, cafes, galleries, and one-of-a-kind boutiques housed in 19th-century brick buildings. One of these is the historic Cold Spring Depot, set inside the original 1893 railroad depot. Today, the Cold Spring station is a still-active stop on the Hudson Line that brings day trippers from Manhattan to spend time in the Hudson Highlands State Park Preserve, one of the top natural attractions in Cold Spring. The Cornish Estate Trail is a popular 1.8-mile hike that leads to the photogenic ruins of an estate built in the early 1910s by diamond merchant Sigmund Stern and later owned by Edward Cornish, steeped in Gilded Age history.
For a more challenging hike, take the steep 5-mile round-trip Washburn Trail, which passes an old quarry up to the top of Bull Hill (also called Mount Taurus), where you’ll be rewarded with views of the prestigious U.S. military academy West Point and Bannerman Castle, a ruined Scottish-style castle on Pollepel Island.
Saugerties
This town is another classic upstate New York destination, with a magnificent 1869 landmark lighthouse, the Saugerties Lighthouse. Tours of the lighthouse and museum are available seasonally on Sunday afternoons from June through August. The lighthouse also operates a year-round bed & breakfast if you want to experience 19th-century life on an extended stay.
Opus 40 is a top attraction in Saugerties, a massive environmental sculpture in an abandoned bluestone quarry at the foot of Overlook Mountain. Opus 40 covers 6.5 acres among forested quarry trails, meadows, and the Quarryman’s Museum, which celebrates the lives of stoneworkers, agriculturists, and blacksmiths.
Woodstock
Woodstock is an artsy small town in the Catskills with deep roots in music, theater, and spirituality, forever linked to the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival, which borrowed its name and mythology from the town even though it was held 60 miles away in Bethel, New York. The drive to the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts is a must for diehard music fans who want to deep-dive into the festival's history through films, music, and a hippie bus at the on-site museum. You can even take a guided golf cart tour of the original festival grounds.
The town that became synonymous with the peace and love movement celebrates its reputation with a distinctive village atmosphere along its top tourist attraction, Tinker Street. Full of tie-dye t-shirt shops, head shops, vegan restaurants, and historic properties converted into modern-day establishments like the Tinker Street Tavern, the strip is compact and very walkable. Visit the historic Woodstock Playhouse, celebrating its 88th anniversary in 2026, and catch a production from its summer lineup of Broadway musicals and classic theater.
Narrowsburg
Narrowsburg is a hamlet on the Delaware River, set between the Catskill Mountains and the Pocono Mountains. Downtown Narrowsburg is full of vintage shops, unique boutiques, and fun restaurants, including The Heron, which offers riverside views during mealtime. The Delaware Valley Arts Alliance, a community cultural hub, marks its 50th anniversary in 2026 with a year of special exhibitions and a film series at its Tusten Theatre.
The scenic river winds its way through town, making it a popular destination for kayaking and tubing offered by Lander’s River Trips. For landlubbers, there are numerous hiking trails in the region, including the Mongaup Valley Wildlife Management Area, where you may spot bald eagles and check out the 2.9-mile Tusten Mountain Trail.
Canandaigua
Canandaigua is another town in the scenic Finger Lakes region of New York State. About 30 miles from Rochester, it sits at the northern tip of Canandaigua Lake, with several well-known wineries nearby on the Canandaigua Lake Wine Trail. For nearby wine tastings, visit Heron Hill’s satellite tasting room on the lake or Acquilano Wine Cellars on Main Street. Enjoy exploring historic downtown Canandaigua and its Victorian architecture, then wander down to the waterfront to stroll along the City Pier to Kershaw Park, where you’ll find a gazebo, picnic tables, grills, a beach, and places to launch a kayak.
Beyond its lakeside beauty and wine country experiences, one of the town’s most celebrated attractions is the Sonnenberg Gardens & Mansion State Historic Park, a 50-acre estate with a Victorian-era mansion, formal gardens, and one of the best-preserved collections of period greenhouses in the U.S., which remain in use today.
Upstate New York’s 2026 Standouts
Skaneateles and Canandaigua sit on clear Finger Lakes framed by lakefront parks and historic estates. Geneva and Ithaca add castles and waterfalls to the mix. Cold Spring and Saugerties line the Hudson with riverside trails, while Woodstock and Narrowsburg lean into artsy Main Streets. Altogether, these ten towns make up Upstate New York’s 2026 standouts.
