As far as items of interest that are a short drive away:
- Woodstock is a neighboring town and it's the origin of the concept behind the first Woodstock festival (although not the location). It's interesting to note that none of the 3 Woodstock festivals were held in Woodstock ... the 1st Woodstock festival was held in 1969 in Bethel, NY, the 2nd Woodstock festival (25th anniversary) was held in Saugerties in 1994 and the 3rd Woodstock festival (30th anniversary) was held in 1999 in Rome NY.
Woodstock has unique/fun shops, great restaurants, and is on many people's lists of places to visit. Woodstock is a scenic, 15-minute drive along State Route 212 from Saugerties.
- The world's largest kaleidoscope is located on Route 28 in Phoenicia.
- Kingston, NY is the home of preserved, historical buildings from Colonial times. Kingston was the original capital of New York and was burned down during the Revolutionary War.
The Catskill Mountain Flyer in Kingston is open for spring and summer train rides on Saturdays beginning mid-April with departure times scheduled for 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Catskill Mountain Flyer rides are available in coaches and open train cars and tickets cost $17 for adults, $16 for seniors, active duty military and veterans and $11 for children. Children under the age of 2 can ride for free on the lap of a paying adult. From mid-November until late in December, the ride changes to the Polar Express.
Train rides, which last approximately 90 minutes, leave from Westbrook Lane Station in Uptown Kingston and the round-trip route travels over Esopus Creek and up Hurley Mountain while passing through historic farmland. Rides run until mid September. There will be additional Friday rides in July and August. For more information and to purchase tickets visit www.catskillmountainrailroad.com, email info@catskillmountainrailroad.com or call 845-332-4854.
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Summertime is a good time for tubing the Esopus Creek in Phoenicia (40-minute drive from Saugerties). For rentals, Google "Tubing Esopus Creek".
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Throughout the Catskills, there are trails, trails, trails . . . if your family is into hiking. We've put together a "Hiking" page just for visitors to Saugerties. Also, you can find trails by using Google search (e.g. "Catskill Mountains trails"). One example of a good trails page is the Catskill Mountaineer site. Many visitors to Saugerties who have a visit to the lighthouse in mind will already be ahead of the game, trail-hike-wise. There is a short/easy (10-15 minute, level) trail from near the end of Lighthouse Drive to the lighthouse itself. The only thing that would be good to check before you take this hike is the tide-table chart on the Lighthouse website.
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And if you want to take a breath-taking walk on the world's largest pedestrian bridge . . . within a 50-minute drive, you can be at the Walkway Over the Hudson, a New York State Park where you can "walk on air" between the Ulster County hamlet of Highland and the Dutchess County city of Poughkeepsie. There's nothing greener than a healthy walk across a river! -
Olana State Historic Site is a historic house museum and landscape in Greenport, New York, near the city of Hudson. The estate was home to Frederic Edwin Church (1826–1900), one of the major figures in the Hudson River School of landscape painting. The centerpiece of Olana is an eclectic villa which overlooks parkland and a working farm designed by the artist. (The preceding is quoted from Wikipedia's page about Olana.) The estate features 40 works of art by Frederic Church and his friends. Olana is a 30-minute drive from Saugerties. For more information, visit the Olana website.
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During the summer, Hunter Mountain has a zip line ride that is not to be missed. The link is taken down during the winter, but during the summer, visit https://www.huntermtn.com and search for "zip line".
The Hudson Valley area is dynamic and the list of places to see is growing all the time. In general, you can browse through our Village Web site and perhaps find some other events (see the calendar) that might interest your family.
Best of luck, safe travels and we hope you enjoy your stay in friendly, historic Saugerties.