Help me plan a 2-3 day trip to the Catskills (New York: rent, hotels)

[deadheadinboston]

Hello.
I just found this website and am enjoying through all of the old posts.
very useful information here, especially because i will be looking to move to CNY w/in the next year from Boston. thanks to everybody who contributes to this site.

i am planning an anniversary weekend to the Catskills. I have only been there once when i was a kid, but my wife and i need to head to 'cuse for a wedding and i wanted to stop by the Catskills for a few days before we get to 'cuse.

any personal suggestions on hotels/B&B's, places to eat, activities that we shouldn't miss, etc. would be appreciated.
the weekend will be during the summer (nice weather), but right after july 4th, so i want to make reservations early.

[JustSayNo]

Well, the Catskills is BIG, just where are you looking? Hunter/Windam area, the town of Catskill, Woodstock, Margareteville, Highmount?

Do you want a lot to do, or just to cozy in by yourself all weekend?

Give us a little better pinpoint and than we can share!

[deadheadinboston]

no specific area is important.
we are driving from boston and have 3 days to kill.
ideally, i want to check into a nice place and stay there for 3 days.
i'd greatly prefer not having to change locations after we got there.

looking for a balance of private time and social time. i'd like to hear about specific activities people can suggest----something on one of the lakes, or park w/ hikes, white water rafting trips.....
then a nice place to eat after having a busy day.

i just ordered the info. that iloveny.com offers, but i'd prefer more personal info.

thanks in advance.

[ontheroad]

My favourite area is around Woodstock. Lots of B&Bs; good snowshoes required in the area. Several interesting places within a 20 mile or less drive (like Phoenicia, Saugerties); good coffee, several nice restaurants and nice views.

Hudson Valley has some good websites for local events.

[warm heatherette]

Love the Catskills!! Have vacationed there with my husband and dog every summer for several years. It's a different trip every time. 3 days is not much time, but if you want to maximize your activities in a short time, I would suggest staying in the Woodstock/Saugerties area. Woodstock has great shopping and the artsy/groovy thing going on.

For hiking, just outside of town is the Overlook Mountain. This is a great hike, for two reasons - the ruins of the old Overlook Mountain House Hotel (incredible) and a former fire tower (that you can climb) are at the top - with fabulous views.

For tubing on the river (Esopus ?) you can rent tubes in Phoenicia (a short drive from Woodstock) and tube your way down the river.

For quirky/odd touristy stuff, there is the worlds largest kaleidescope (built by some hippies in the 70s) near Mt. Tremper.

For an awe inspiring outdoor landscape sculpture made with New York bluestone, decades in the making, there is Opus 40 between Woodstock & Saugerties.

For dining, Ric Orlando's New World Cooking Co. restaurant on Rt. 212 in Saugerties is a must. Fabulous food (& organic) at reasonable prices (www.ricorlando.com) (broken link). We make a point of eating there every time we visit. Make a reservation.

All of the above are either in Woodstock or within a 10-15 minute drive.

Can't help you much with accommodation - we always camp when we visit - but we've seen many beautiful B&Bs in the area.

For antiquing, Hudson is THE place.

For amazing mansion tours along the Hudson River - there are too many to count. Most impressive is Olana, the Mills Mansion, the Vanderbilt Mansion, Roosevelt mansion, Vanderstein, to name a few. The Kingston stockade district is also fascinating, and the Rondout area of Kingston also has some great restaurants.

There is so much more I could suggest but you will need to make a second visit.

[homeward bound]

Hi, deadheadinboston.

A bit off-topic, but I'm interested in your reasons for moving to CNY in the future.

Also, what areas are you looking at?

I ask 'cause we're gonna move that way ASAP, too (from Virginia, and for reasons that I've bored everybody with on this forum far too often to repeat here!).

Thanks, and hope your Catskills trip is great.

[deadheadinboston]

Originally Posted by warm heatherette

Love the Catskills!! Have vacationed there with my husband and dog every summer for several years. It's a different trip every time. 3 days is not much time, but if you want to maximize your activities in a short time, I would suggest staying in the Woodstock/Saugerties area. Woodstock has great shopping and the artsy/groovy thing going on.

For hiking, just outside of town is the Overlook Mountain. This is a great hike, for two reasons - the ruins of the old Overlook Mountain House Hotel (incredible) and a former fire tower (that you can climb) are at the top - with fabulous views.

For tubing on the river (Esopus ?) you can rent tubes in Phoenicia (a short drive from Woodstock) and tube your way down the river.

For quirky/odd touristy stuff, there is the worlds largest kaleidescope (built by some hippies in the 70s) near Mt. Tremper.

For an awe inspiring outdoor landscape sculpture made with New York bluestone, decades in the making, there is Opus 40 between Woodstock & Saugerties.

For dining, Ric Orlando's New World Cooking Co. restaurant on Rt. 212 in Saugerties is a must. Fabulous food (& organic) at reasonable prices (www.ricorlando.com). We make a point of eating there every time we visit. Make a reservation.

All of the above are either in Woodstock or within a 10-15 minute drive.

Can't help you much with accommodation - we always camp when we visit - but we've seen many beautiful B&Bs in the area.

For antiquing, Hudson is THE place.

For amazing mansion tours along the Hudson River - there are too many to count. Most impressive is Olana, the Mills Mansion, the Vanderbilt Mansion, Roosevelt mansion, Vanderstein, to name a few. The Kingston stockade district is also fascinating, and the Rondout area of Kingston also has some great restaurants.

There is so much more I could suggest but you will need to make a second visit.

thank you so much for your advice.

[deadheadinboston]

Originally Posted by homeward bound

Hi, deadheadinboston.

A bit off-topic, but I'm interested in your reasons for moving to CNY in the future.

Also, what areas are you looking at?

I ask 'cause we're gonna move that way ASAP, too (from Virginia, and for reasons that I've bored everybody with on this forum far too often to repeat here!).

Thanks, and hope your Catskills trip is great.

quite a few reasons actually:
the cost of housing in boston is crazy. we both have professional jobs and refuse to pay the price of buying.

my wife grew up in liverpool (suburb of 'cuse) and had a wonderful childhood.
we don't have children yet, but they are on the way. 'cuse has great school districts.

i can buy a new house that is in our budget.

we both went to college in CNY (ithaca) and loved the area of CNY in general.
the hiking, views, lakes, wineries are amazing there.

we have some college friends that live around there.

that is the majority of the big reasons (good schools, friends, family, cost of living, natural beauty).
how about you?

[Glen NY]

Good move, you'll love it. signed Happy in Bville

[homeward bound]

Hi, dhb:

We're moving to CNY for very similar reasons, actually.

We love the depth and variety of history, too, and the sheer variety of it all. Cities, towns, villages, countryside, farms, near-wilderness, all so close by. You just can't exhaust the state's variety. And tons of beautiful architecture, towns on a great/walkable scale, a sweet pace of life, four real seasons, and proximity to the Great Lakes and Ontario.

I know people believe it's gloomy up there with job-losses and long winters, etc. But to me it's always been quite cheerful, for many of the reasons you and I have listed. Plus, we love snow--I never got enough of it, even living in Buffalo/Western New York for many years.

And because IT'S NOT APPALACHIA, where we are now, and which we find relentlessly gloomy, closed in, pretty barren (despite the many fine lifelong Appalachian-livers we know). Even NY's Southern Tier, which seems to me the state's most Appalachian area, has a different feel than where we are in Virginny. More frozen in time in a good way, a homey way, than sitting in gray squalor squinting at any idea of a change for the better, which seems the rule around here. Probably NY state's generally excellent education system and tradition of enterprise and progress has a lot to do with this. People at least know of self-improvement and developing one's talents as a concept or goal up there. That can be hard to find in Appalachia, where finding Something to Feel Cheated By seems to be a general specialty. (Again, there are plenty of exceptions, and I admire the endurance that living in Appalachia requires. It's just not for me, and the exceptions don't make the general rule any less overwhelming for me.)

I don't mean to be cavalier about taxes--I've had to watch pennies my whole life, and will for the rest of it, so I appreciate what a burden they can be. But paying higher taxes to live a more live-able life is well worth it for us.

Plus we're also in a college town where the barbarians--er, college students--outnumber non-college students by over 2-1, and we're sick of the violence, drunkenness, drunk driving, etc., etc. We can't sit on our porch Thursday through Saturday night in nice weather without watching out for random spoiled rich-kid drunks throwing beer bottles at us for their "cool" fun, duuude--and that's just the start of what we face. And it's useless to expect the town to do anything about it--it's the College Town Tradition, blahblahblah. By contrast, except in the really run-down & crime-ridden areas of the big cities in NY state, it feels so civilized, balanced, and cheerful. New England with elbow room--and real community. You don't have to go to a college town to get quaintness or beautiful neighborhoods, a village green, a nearby lake, good schools, parents who care about their kids' futures, etc.--they're abundant in so many areas up there.

I better stop--I've said all this before, and I have to cope with being stuck here until we can make our getaway. Thanks for replying and best of luck on your move!