9 Best Attractions To Visit In Upstate New York
Upstate New York was attracting tourists before tourism was even a thing. In the early 1800s, travelers came by steamboat and train for the healing waters of Saratoga Springs and the sheer spectacle of Niagara Falls. In 1954, the New York Thruway opened, explicitly built to encourage road travel. Today, upstate New York is still synonymous with the classic American road trip. Tour highways and back roads linking cascading waterfalls, baseball shrines, castles, and sandstone gorges carved by glaciers.
Watkins Glen State Park
You can thank the Ice Age for the unreal landscape of New York's Finger Lakes Region. When glaciers retreated north around 10,000 years ago, they left behind 11 deep troughs that filled with water, while streams carved the dramatic gorges and waterfalls that define the region's landscape today. One of the most famous state parks in the Finger Lakes region of New York, Watkins Glen State Park packs a two-mile, bucket-list hike full of waterfalls and stone stairways. The Watkins Glen Gorge Trail follows the glen's stream and takes you past 19 waterfalls, including Rainbow Falls, Central Cascade, and Cavern Cascade, via stone steps, tunnels, and even sections that pass behind the falling water. The park is open year-round, with the 2026 camping season running from mid-May to mid-October.
Hiking can be thirsty work, and given the state park's location in the middle of wine country, why not stop at Castel Grisch Winery, part of the Seneca Lake Wine Trail. It's less than 10 minutes from the park and offers vineyard views, wine tastings, and Sunday brunch specials.
Storm King Art Center
From natural wonders to larger-than-life works of art, the Storm King Art Center is a 500-acre outdoor museum in the Hudson Valley. Storm King's permanent collection includes over 100 sculptures by prominent artists made of stone, iron, steel, mirror, and soil that shift and change with the wind and sunlight. Some of the featured artists include Alexander Calder, whose "The Arch" welcomes you to Storm King; British artist Henry Moore, who is renowned for his reclining figures; and Maya Lin, who designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington.
Be sure to wear good walking shoes to explore the grounds on foot, as some of the artwork is quite spread out. There are regularly scheduled walking tours, a 30-minute tram tour that runs through the park throughout the day, and bicycles to rent. There's also an indoor museum, shop, a seasonal outdoor cafe, and a cafe cart. The center is open from early April through early December every day of the week except Tuesdays, from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM, and offers free admission on the first Friday of each month.
Walkway Over the Hudson
Stay in the Hudson Valley a while longer to trade monumental art for monumental engineering at the Walkway Over the Hudson, a 1.28-mile pedestrian bridge 212 feet over the Hudson River. Originally built as the Poughkeepsie-Highland Railroad Bridge in 1889, it was retired in 1974, only to reopen on October 3, 2009, as a pedestrian walkway within the Walkway Over the Hudson State Historic Park. A few fun facts about the walkway include that, when it opened in 1889, it was for a time the longest bridge in the world and that during World War II, it was painted black to make it less susceptible to attack.
Today, the bridge welcomes over 600,000 visitors to walk, run, and cycle between Poughkeepsie on the east bank of the river and Highland on the west bank. Each October, the bridge celebrates its 2009 grand opening with a "Starry Starry Night" cocktail-style party in Upper Landing Park. The walkway is free to visit 365 days a year, from 7:00 AM to sunset.
Howe Caverns
From crossing the Hudson high above ground, head underground with a stop at a show cave, once a roadside staple of the American road trip. Commercial show caves had their heyday in the mid-20th century, drawing generations of tourists out of the car and underground, and Howe Caverns was no exception. It was discovered by accident on May 22, 1842, by local farmer Lester Howe, who noticed cool air emanating from a hole in his cow pasture.
The first tours of "Howe's Cave" took place in 1843 and cost 50 cents for a torch-lit, eight-hour trek through the muddy, dank, clay caverns. Today, the "Traditional Tour" lasts 90 minutes as you descend 156 feet below the earth to explore dramatic rock formations, colorful light displays, and attractions like the River Styx, Titan's Temple, and the Giant Formation, before taking a boat ride across the subterranean Lake of Venus. Longer specialty tours, such as a 2.5-hour spelunking adventure called the "Signature Rock Discovery Tour," are also available. Stay overnight at the Howe Caverns Motel overlooking the Helderberg Plateau, and take a Cave Yoga class in the morning. Howe Caverns is open year-round.
Ausable Chasm
Emerge from the underworld carved from limestone into a spectacular gorge cut by rushing water at Ausable Chasm, the "Grand Canyon of the Adirondacks." Like Howe Caverns, Ausable Chasm is one of the oldest natural attractions in the U.S., having been established in 1870. There are plenty of ways to explore the sandstone gorge, making it a fun choose-your-own-adventure kind of trip. You can hike the 1-mile Inner Sanctum Trail, which takes you down into the gorge to the river's edge; then take a 15-minute rafting trip on the Ausable River; finish up with another 1.5-mile hike along the Dry Chasm Trail, which loops back to the beginning. For adrenaline seekers, there's challenging rappelling and rock climbing to be experienced, too.
Ausable Chasm is open year-round, with each season offering you a different kind of visit, from hiking past roaring waterfalls in spring to rafting and tubing in the summer, to guided hiking tours in ice cleats in the midst of impressive ice formations in winter.
The Strong National Museum of Play
The Strong National Museum of Play is the brainchild of Margaret Woodbury Strong, who was born in Rochester in 1897. A lifelong collector, Margaret began sharing her collections of dolls and toys with visitors to her 30-room home, calling it the "Margaret Woodbury Strong Museum of Fascination." Upon her death, she bequeathed her collections and enough financial resources for a bona fide museum, and in 1982, the 150,000-square-foot Margaret Strong Museum opened to the public.
Today, the museum features exhibits devoted to early-20th-century arcade games, a collection of video game consoles, a butterfly garden, a Toy Hall of Fame, and much more, all curated to promote creativity, play, and lifelong learning. Infinitely more than a rainy day activity, the Strong combines the best of nostalgia, entertainment, and education, offering something to fascinate kids of all ages. Open year-round, the museum is open daily from 10 AM to 5 PM, with extended hours on Fridays and Saturdays.
Boldt Castle
Built on a tragic love story, Boldt Castle is a massive Rhineland-style castle in Alexandria Bay on Heart Island in the 1000 Islands. The castle was built by millionaire George C. Boldt, owner of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City, as a declaration of his love for his wife, who died suddenly before construction was finished.
Today, the renovated castle on the 5-acre island is open for self-guided tours from mid-May through mid-October and is accessible by water taxis and shuttles from local companies such as Uncle Sam Boat Tours. There are 6 buildings to explore, including the Castle interior, complete with period furniture, and the Alster Tower, which includes a two-lane bowling alley and a theater. Wander through the expansion gardens, where heart-shaped flowers and clovers will remind you of the ill-fated love story; bring a picnic to enjoy on the grounds, or grab snacks from the ice-cream and hot dog stands. Boldt Castle is open seasonally from mid-May through mid-October.
National Baseball Hall of Fame
Swap a doomed love story with America's ongoing love affair with its favorite pastime, baseball, at the home of American baseball and its National Hall of Fame, Cooperstown. Named for the family of James Fenimore Cooper, the small town is quintessentially Americana, an ideal location for the five-building complex that houses more than 40,000 baseball artifacts, including bats, gloves, uniforms, and even the cap Jackie Robinson wore during the New York Yankees' first World Series championship, all donated by players and fans.
Enjoy exhibits on legendary broadcasters, paintings and sculptures celebrating the game, films, and special tributes to Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron. When you've finished exploring the National Baseball Hall of Fame, take a short walk down to Lakefront Park on Otsego Lake, the "Glimmerglass" that inspired the name Cooper gave the lake in his novels. The lake is always open, but the Baseball Hall of Fame is closed only three days a year: Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day.
Letchworth State Park
With a nickname like the "Grand Canyon of the East," you can't go wrong with a road trip to Letchworth State Park. Full of dramatic waterfalls and scenic overlooks, the park in Western New York is well-suited to outdoor enthusiasts of all stripes, with over 66 miles of hiking, biking, and horseback riding trails. There's even a mile-long, accessible Autism Nature Trail (ANT) with 8 sensory stations that make the experience inclusive for everyone. Stop in at the Humphrey Nature Center to learn more about the wildlife, botany, and geology of the park, and visit the on-site butterfly garden and birding station.
Even if you've hiked the park, it's worth taking the 20-mile scenic drive along Park Road as it winds its way past several overlooks like Archery Field and Hogsback, and gives you a different perspective of the Genesee River gorge and the three waterfalls, Upper, Middle, and Lower Falls. Letchworth State Park is open year-round from 6:00 AM to 11:00 PM.
Upstate New York has always had all the ingredients for a classic American road trip, drawing families to its dramatic natural scenery, historic towns, and varied attractions for centuries. Waterfalls and gorges at Watkins Glen and Letchworth, the underground world of Howe Caverns, the outdoor art at Storm King, and the romance of Boldt Castle each pull road-trippers down a different back road, and there is enough here to fill more than one long weekend.
