10 Great Things to do in the Hudson Valley
A sailboat on the Hudson River photographed from the Mario Cuomo Bridge walkway. Photos by John O'Boyle / The Empty Nest Explorers
We really love the Hudson Valley region of New York State! It has so much to offer - interesting historical sites, beautiful scenery, nature activities, and a growing restaurant scene.
It is also famous as a wine-producing and cider-producing region, has excellent antique shopping and serves up a wide variety of artistic and cultural experiences. All within an hour or so drive from NYC.
When I think of the Hudson Valley, what comes to mind is a respect for the old with an eye on the modern. There is a legacy of “old money” in this neck of the woods, yielding a fine legacy of luxurious mansions and estates for today’s visitors to tour. And yet, there is plenty of small-town charm, with progressive and artsy downtowns and a strong connection to the region’s maritime and agricultural roots.
Here are some of our favorite things to do in the Hudson Valley:.
Table of Contents
Visit Historic New Paltz
New Paltz maintains it's "funky" flavor with nice touches like this John Lennon photo.
Lively New Paltz is a SUNY college town, historic site and “hippie hotspot”. It is also a gateway to many outdoor activities in the beautiful Hudson Valley Heritage Region, and it is only 90 miles from NYC, easily accessible via the NY Thruway.
Highlights of a visit to New Paltz include a walk through the Historic Huguenot Street District. Seven stone houses built by the French Huguenot settlers in the 1700s are preserved in this area, as well as their burial ground at nearby Walloon Church. This settlement is considered the oldest continuously inhabited street in America. It is interesting just to walk about in this historic neighborhood - it feels rather suburban! - or you find out about touring inside the homes here.
Another area of interest in New Paltz is its funky and eclectic downtown. You’ll find artsy shops and lots of eateries on Main Street. It is also fun to explore the Water Street Market, connected to Main Street via a narrow walkway. The Market is an attractive and stylish European-inspired shopping village and community center, where every shop is independently owned by locals. I made some good finds there!
With the Wallkill River nearby, as well as the scenic Shawangunk Mountains of Minnewaska State Park, there is no shortage of outdoor activities available. Many visitors to New Paltz are here for the numerous hiking trails, swimming beaches and water-related activities, such as the popular kayaking at Sojourner Truth/Ulster Landing State Park.
Connecting New Paltz to Kingston, this part of the Empire State Trail encompasses the scenic Wallkill Valley Rail Trail, which repurposes the former Wallkill Valley Railroad rail corridor. The trail is one of the prettiest bike rides in the region, winding through mature woods, past historic iron works, and over the historic Rosendale railroad trestle.
But if that sounds a bit adventurous and you’ll instead be driving from New Paltz to Kingston, Perrine’s Covered Bridge is worth a stop for a photo or two. This sweet covered bridge was built in 1844 and still carries pedestrians across the Wallkill River. It’s an easy quick stop, located right below Rt 278.
Read more about visiting New Paltz in our separate post - A Visit to Historic New Paltz, NY
Check out the sculptures of Storm King Arts Center
A very unique attraction in New Windsor, NY is Storm King Arts Center, an open-air museum of large-scale sculptures exhibited over the natural landscape. It is named for the nearby Storm King Mountain, and features unique and ambitious works of art by such modern masters as Alexander Calder and Henry Moore, as well as contemporary sculptors.
Part of Storm King’s mission is to promote and preserve the surrounding landscape, so it really has the Hudson Valley at its heart. And since nature - and not gallery walls - is its backdrop, every visit to Storm King is different depending on the season, weather and time of day.
You’ll need 2-3 hours to really appreciate Storm King. There are more than 100 outdoor sculptures across its 500-acre landscape to explore.
Plus, with an admission cost of $25 for adults, it’s a pretty pricey ticket, so you will want to spend some time and get your money’s worth. The idea of combining the cultural experience with an outdoorsy walk is pretty cool though, so it’s money well spent.
Complete ticketing and visitor information is available on the Storm King website.
The terrain is quite varied; including rolling meadows, hills, wooded areas, paved paths, gravel paths, and mown lawn. Hiking shoes are recommended.
You can get around the grounds by walking, biking on a specified trail or via the provided Loop Tram that has six designated stops and is wheelchair accessible.
As far as getting there is concerned, we think the best way to travel around the Hudson Valley in general is by driving, and this seems the simplest way to get to Storm King. There is ample parking there as well, though bear in mind that it may get crowded on nice days in the summer. Best to arrive early or go on a weekday if you can.
However, you can also take a Coach USA bus from Port Authority Bus Terminal in NYC. The round-trip bus fare includes admission to Storm King.
Take a scenic walk on the Walkway Over the Hudson
The view from the Walkway over the Hudson.
We absolutely love the Walkway Over the Hudson, a unique pedestrian and bicycle path created on a defunct railroad bridge that traverses the Hudson River from Poughkeepsie to Highland, NY.
As the world’s longest elevated pedestrian bridge, the views from the walkway are fantastic! And being part of the Empire State Trail, it is well maintained and features points of interest along the way, as well as special event days. The terrain is flat, paved, and easy.
This is a top-notch Hudson Valley experience. Can’t say enough good things about it!
Access is free during regular operations but there are sometimes special events in the park that require tickets.
We have lots of information about the Walkway in our post Walking across the Hudson River via 3 popular bridges - so be sure and check that out.
Tour FDR’s home and Presidential Library
A bust of FDR outside the library entrance.
Hyde Park is one of the best towns in the Hudson Valley, and the highlight of visiting this charming area is taking a tour of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s home, Springwood, and his Presidential Library & Museum, which is also located on the estate.
The FDR Library & Museum is endlessly interesting - it features such artifacts as his presidential desk, car he drove with hand controls, the actual office he worked when at Hyde Park with his furniture still set up, and a recreation of the Map Room he used in the White House to monitor the progress of WWII.
This was the first Presidential museum established in the USA and set the mold for all that followed. This is a must see!
Do take the time to tour his beloved home, Springwood as well! It’s lovingly preserved and the 45-minute guided tour is totally worth it.
The house is set up as it was in the 1940s during FDR’s life and it is full of family heirlooms and personal treasures.
Plan on spending half a day on the beautiful grounds here along the Hudson; you won’t be disappointed. Please do this - it’s awesome!
For complete info and our personal insight on this great visit, check out our very thorough post about it: Visiting FDR’s home and Presidential Library.
Eat at the Culinary Institute of America
There no shortage of dining options in the Hudson Valley, but if you are in Hyde Park, why not try something different and have lunch or dinner at The Culinary Institute of America? It’s located right on Rt 9, so you will likely be passing it anyway.
I was surprised to learn how many higher learning institutions and colleges make their home in the Hudson Valley, and Culinary Institute is one of the more unique ones.
CIA is not only a prestigious culinary school, it is a full college experience. Students earn their bachelor's degrees in many aspects of hospitality. Food science, restaurant management, even farming are some of the diverse fields of study besides learning to become a chef.
There are actually six restaurants on campus, all completely run by current students, who rotate through the various kitchens and stations to learn the ropes of each.
You will need a reservation for the more well known restaurants on campus - Le Bocuse, American Bounty, or Caterina de’ Medici.
The more casual options are Apple Pie Bakery and Post Road Brew House. You still may need a reservation at busy times and all the restaurants are closed during the students’ summer break from early August to mid-September, so best to check these websites for accurate information before you go.
An added bonus is the student food hall The Egg which is open to the public. It is also run by students and offers lots of delicious, fresh, student-prepared takeaway options in their Marketplace as well as a sit down café and a brewery classroom.
Alternatively, you can also book a behind the scenes tasting tour of campus for something a little different!
Seems like a pretty inspiring learning environment for sure. :)
Visit the Vanderbilt Mansion
While in Hyde Park, you can also pay a visit to the Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site. Located on Vanderbilt Road (of course!)
The 1896 mansion was the Vanderbilts’ “summer cottage” and it’s as glitzy as you might expect from the nouveau-riche Gilded Age family. Unlike the Roosevelts, who were “old money” New Yorkers, the Vanderbilts felt the need to impress their guests and built the elaborate home to show off what their “new money” could do. The interior is lavishly decorated to display their wealth and worldliness.
You can take a guided tour of the mansion for $15 per adult; information is available from the National Park Service here.
We didn’t take the tour and opted just to walk the grounds around the estate. There are hundreds of acres to explore, including lovely gardens and trails throughout the park.
If you start early and time it right, you could definitely visit both Roosevelt and Vanderbilt mansions in one day; they are not far from each other.
Explore the unique neighborhoods of Kingston, NY
We enjoyed our dinner at Savona's.
Kingston is a great stop while exploring the Hudson Valley, easily accessed right off the NY Thruway. It offers not only the prerequisite charmingly strollable streets of shops and restaurants, but a very interesting waterfront area, where you can enjoy a boat excursion or visit several unique museums.
Kingston is comprised of three distinct neighborhoods:
Uptown Kingston, also known as “The Stockade” is known for its architecturally distinctive buildings, a historic church, art galleries, restaurants and eclectic shops.
Midtown Kingston is the creative center of Kingston, where artists have turned old industrial sites into studios. It also hosts the yearly O+ Festival in October, featuring music performances, visual and performance art, vendors and a variety of health and wellness workshops.
Downtown Kingston, also called the Rondout or waterfront, was our favorite part of town when we recently visited. There are lots of nice places to eat along Broadway, its main street. But the really cool part of Kingston is the waterfront along Rondout Creek, a tributary of the Hudson River, where barges once unloaded coal from points upstream. There is an interesting Maritime Museum that delves into this rich heritage and several different options for sightseeing cruises, including visiting nearby Rondout Lighthouse. This area also connects to the Empire State biking & hiking Trail along the waterfront.
For more details on visiting Kingston, read our recent blog post - A Visit to Kingston, NY: what to see and do.
Take a trip to Tarrytown & Sleepy Hollow
Flags mark the grave of Washington Irving.
Perhaps the quintessential Hudson Valley excursion is to Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow. The town served as the inspiration for Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and it goes out of its way to embrace its connection to that most famous of American ghost stories. Particularly in the month of October, when special tours and events take place.
Irving lived here for part of his boyhood and later returned to live out his final years at Sunnyside , his family retreat which is now a historical site that offers interesting tours.
Irving is buried at the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, along with many other famous denizens of the area - including Andrew Carnegie, Walter Chrysler, Samuel Gompers, Elizabeth Arden, Leona Helmsley, Brooke Astor, and William Rockefeller. The cemetery is truly an amazing place - an extensive natural park in and of itself and worth exploring. But please be respectful - though historic, it is still an active cemetery.
The Cemetery also connects to the historic Old Dutch Reformed Church and its related burial grounds, where some graves go back as far as the Revolutionary War. Irving got the inspiration for some of his characters from reading the names on some of these headstones.
Lively Tarrytown has lots of good eats and great shopping, plus a Saturday farmer’s market at Patriot’s Park, and music performances at the Tarrytown Music Hall, a beautiful historic theater in the center of town.
Most posts about Tarrytown always mention the Kingsland Lighthouse (circa 1880) which is visible from the Tarrytown Light- Kingsland Point Path along the water. We have never quite figured out how to get onto this path - the area has been under semi-construction for awhile and we just can’t find the access. But if you figure it out let us know! - hello@theemptynestexplorers.com
Tarrytown & Sleepy Hollow are both part of the same community and are easily drivable, and also accessible by train.
We did an extensive blog post on Taking a Day Trip to Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown - so please check it out for lots more information.
Walk across the Mario Cuomo Bridge
The very wide two-way path across the Mario Cuomo Bridge.
This might sound a bit unusual, but there is a really nice walking and bike path on the Mario Cuomo Bridge. Its Westchester landing and entrance is in Tarrytown, so if you are overnighting in the area it’s an easy and different thing to do before you leave town.
The Bridge connects to West Nyack in Rockland County on the other end - but you don’t have to go all the way. Even just going to the center over the river and coming back is a fun experience. There are amenities like restrooms and some parking at both landings.
The Bridge Path, as walkway/bikeway is called, is beautifully paved and has six very different scenic overlooks for gazing over the Hudson River. Each stop is designed to celebrate the history of the Hudson Valley, and includes interactive and educational public art.
Plus, it’s a very uniquely designed bridge - it always feels like I am on a high masted sailing ship to me, even when driving across - and is usually aesthetically lit up at night in some striking, celebratory color, so it may be even more fun in the evening. (In fact, they have a lighting calendar on their website to explain what the colors are celebrating.)
The Bridge Path is open from 6am to 10pm. The approximate walk time, one-way is 80 minutes and the approximate bike time one way is 20 minutes.
We have more details on walking over the Mario Cuomo Bridge (and others!!) in our post Walking Across the Hudson River via 3 Popular Bridges.
Take a tour of West Point Military Academy
The public can visit West Point Military Academy by online reservation.
While you won’t be able to just freely roam the campus, visitors can take a guided bus tour of the West Point grounds, departing from the Visitors Center. Tours are available year-round and can be reserved three months in advance.
You can visit the West Point Museum which houses a vast collection of artifacts pertaining to the Academy and to the US Army. There's also a pretty cool Army gift shop.
On a previous visit to the museum at West Point, I was happy to see Astronaut Michael Collins, Command Module pilot of Apollo 11 and a hero of mine - represented among the exhibits at the museum. Collins was a graduate of West Point and he passed away in 2021, at the age of 90.
Lots of history in this region of the country!
We hope you enjoyed our suggestions for visiting the Hudson Valley. There are many adventures to add, but this should get enough to get you started exploring one of our favorite regions that is not too far from home.
This post was researched and written by Debbie of the Empty Nest Explorers. You can learn more about the Empty Nest Explorers here
Where to stay in the Hudson Valley
Moondance Ridge Bed & Breakfast
Full-service spa
Swimming pool
Breakfast
More information here
Elmrock Inn
18th-century Dutch Colonial farmhouse
Two-course farm-style breakfast
Luxury Bed Linens and Plush Towels
More information here
Hutton Brickyards Riverfront Hotel
Unique rooms on the Hudson River
Firepit and bicycles
Free breakfast
More information here
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