• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer

    Life On The Roam

    I love OATs: Outdoors, Art & Travel

    • Home
    • About
    • Blog
    • Destinations
    • Travel Tips
      • Save on Accommodation
    • Resources
      • Travel Resources

    7 Exciting Things to Do in the Finger Lakes, NY

    By Mayra Carvajal

    Like the fingers of a giant leaving their mark on a thick forest, the Finger Lakes in upstate New York are etched in my memory as one of the most beautiful places in the United States. 

    The wonder you see around the Finger Lakes started its formation approximately 380 million years ago when all this was under water, as silently told by the marine fossils you’ll see here and there on the rocks.

    Rocks (and sand and silt) that piled up layer after layer like a lasagna as the surrounding mountains crumbled over time.

    About two million years ago glaciers moved across the state. During the last movement, 21,000 years ago, the thick ice carved deep gorges as it advanced through river streams.

    10,000 years later the glaciers retrieved and water filled the troughs creating the 11 lakes known as the Finger Lakes. This is an outdoor paradise: waterfalls, hiking trails, gorges, lakes, and gardens. And with that comes a lot of fun.

    Disclosure: This post contains some affiliate links. If you make a purchase through those links I will earn a commission at no additional cost to you (zero, nada). To check the full disclaimer, click here.

    Here’s a list of the best things to do in the Finger Lakes, New York.

    Pictures of waterfalls in forest with text "Best Things to Do in The Finger Lakes,NY"
    Pin me!

    Table of Contents

    • Visit the Cornell Botanic Gardens and Arboretum in Ithaca
      • Beebe Lake
      • The F.R. Newman Arboretum
      • The Sculpture Garden
    • See the Tallest Waterfall in the Northeast United States in the Taughannock Falls State Park
    • Follow the Gorge Swirls at Watkins Glen State Park
    • Feel the Power of Ithaca Falls (Falls Creek Gorge)
    • Walk Along the Cascadilla Gorge Trail
    • Hike in the Robert Treman State Park (and See Some Wicked Waterfalls)
    • Enjoy the Festivals in the Finger Lakes

    Visit the Cornell Botanic Gardens and Arboretum in Ithaca

    A garden with flowers
    The gardens at Cornell University

    Roam around the 25 acres of gardens on the Ithaca campus of Cornell University, walking beside colourful flower beds and mature trees that mirror their foliage in a beautiful lake.

    Beebe Lake

    After delighting in the flower gardens near the welcome centre we did the one-mile loop around Beebe Lake.

    A man walking on a forest trail
    The forest surrounding Beebe Lake
    Trees reflecting on the water of a lake
    Beebe Lake

    And because you’re in Ithaca, you can’t leave out gorges, waterfalls, and historic bridges, like the Sackett Foot Bridge.

    The reflection of a bridge on a lake
    The Sacket Bridge

    Enjoy the views from the Fall Creek Overlook where the creek rushes through the rough rocky walls of Hemlock gorge on its way to feed the lake.

    View of a fall in a gorge
    Fall Creek
    View of a gorge with a creek
    Hemlock Gorge

    On the west, you can catch a glimpse of Triphammer Falls and the Beebe Lake Dam.

    A waterfall and a dam
    Triphammer Falls

    You can also find a beach and picnic area.

    The F.R. Newman Arboretum

    A collection of trees with a pond in the foreground
    The F.R. Newman Arboretum at Cornell University

    For an additional 100 acres of greenery with hiking trails go to the F.R. Newman Arboretum next door to walk next to perennial gardens and nine collections of trees including oaks, maple, dogwood, crabapples, and other urban trees.

    The Arboretum is also great for birdwatching and seeing the frogs, turtles, and insects hanging around the ponds.

    A viewing platform in a pond
    See wildlife hanging around the Houston Pond

    The Sculpture Garden

    A concrete sculpture in a garden
    This reminds me of Brutalism. Loved it! (Sculpture by Kent T. Moore)

    Awesome sculptures, good job! must have said Walter Gropius -the celebrated modernist architect founder of the Bauhaus- when he praised the sculptures created by the students of the architecture school in 1961.

    A wave created by concrete columns
    A tall concrete sculpture with an upper arch
    Some other of my favourite projects

    They had a difficult assignment: to be successful at building monumental concrete sculptures out of 10 tons of concrete poured on site. At that time they never imagined their creations (which remind me of mini brutalist buildings) would be preserved as a sculpture garden and that the space would become an arboretum.

    The Cornell Botanic Gardens
    124 Comstock Knoll Drive, Ithaca NY; Open Mon.-Sun.: sunrise to sunset; Free admission (donations welcomed). Metered parking.


    See the Tallest Waterfall in the Northeast United States in the Taughannock Falls State Park

    A tall waterfall in a forest
    Taughannock Falls

    The Cayuga indigenous people saw this wonder and named it Taughannock, meaning “great falls in the woods”.

    I would’ve probably done the same. Taughannock Falls is the tallest single-drop waterfall on this side of the Rocky Mountains with a height of 215 feet (65.5 metres).

    A tall waterfall seeing from the bottom
    “Taughannock” means “great falls in the woods”.

    After the spectacular drop, the water flows through a gorgeous deep gorge that looks like a layered cake made of sandstone, shale, and limestone, before pouring into Cayuga Lake.

    A creek running through a gorge
    The gorge in Taughannock State Park

    You can explore the park through four different trails.

    Two hiking trails and a multiuse trail (where you can do cross-country skiing during winter) let you explore the upper rim forest. Peek through the evergreens and eastern hemlock trees on the South Rim Trail to see the oaks and maples on the north wall face.

    The GorgeTrail (a 3/4 -mile-length accessible path) takes you beside Taughannock Creek and ends at the bottom of the fall for an epic view.

    The park has a swim beach, picnic, and camping areas.

    Taughannock Falls State Park
    1740 Taughannock Blvd. Trumansburg, NY; Parking fee: $9 (transferable to all state parks)


    Follow the Gorge Swirls at Watkins Glen State Park

    A cascade in a gorge
    The stunning landscape of Watkins Glen

    If I would have time to do only one thing in the Finger Lakes, I would visit Watkins Glen.

    This place is all about movement. 

    It’s not only the trees moving with the wind, or Glen Creek constantly flowing, cascading, falling, or flowing lazily on the many pools, but also the kinetic energy of the gorge, always swirling, bending, contracting, and expanding, reflecting the movement of the -back then- hundreds feet-high creek that created it.

    By “back then” scientists mean 275 million years ago. The land masses we know today as North America and Africa collided and, aided by a big methane release, fractured the layered sediment creating nearly 90 degrees joints. The water channels found an easy way through these cracks, forming the gorge.

    A vertical channel in a gorge
    Joints created eons ago by continents’ collision

    To this day, although not that deep, the creek keeps shaping the gorge at Watkins Glen.

    In some sections, even the trail floor is covered with ripples that go back to the time when it was the ocean floor.

    This is one of the most impressive sites in the United States: 19 waterfalls fill a nearly two-mile gorge sculpted by layers of dark rocks and crossed by stone bridges, before releasing their vital liquid into Seneca Lake.

    Three main trails run parallel to the gorge.

    The most impressive is the GorgeTrail: a 1.5 miles -one way- path with stairs near the bottom of the 200-foot tall cliffs that take you through several landmarks.

    If you access the park via the main entrance you’ll first encounter the heart-shaped pool at the bottom of Minnehaha Falls before walking behind a waterfall in the Cavern Cascade.

    Falls in a deep gorge
    Minnehaha Falls
    A cascade pouring inside a cavern
    Cavern Cascade

    The magnificence of the gorge will leave you speechless at Glen Cathedral. Keep your eyes peeled for wildlife (we spotted a beaver hiding in the rocks).

    A curved wall in a gorge
    Glen Cathedral

    Next, you’ll see the tallest fall in Watkins Glen, the 60-foot Central Cascade. Enjoy the top view from the bridge right above.

    If you visit in the afternoon you may see the rainbow at Rainbow Falls followed by the Spiral gorge, a series of cascades with narrow and wide passages. Follow the path to reach Frowning Cliff and the Mile Point Bridge (because it’s one mile from the main entrance of the park).

    Curtain Falls on the side of a gorge
    Rainbow Falls
    A creek running through a winding gorge
    Frowning Cliff

    From here you can keep going towards the upper entrance where you’ll find an Olympic pool, a picnic area, a snack bar, and a shuttle to bring you back to the main entrance.

    Or you can take either the North Rim Trail (1.1 miles one way) or the South Rim Trail (1.8 miles one way to the Railroad Bridge), which merges with the 580-mile long Finger Lakes Trail. This trail connects with other trails including the Bruce Trail, from Niagara to Tobermory, in the Bruce Peninsula (Canada).

    The North Rim Trail is a dirt path through a dense forest of yellow birch and hemlocks with occasional glimpses of the gorge and waterfalls below.

    A trail in the forest
    The North Rim Trail

    This same forest, covered with ferns, mountain maples, and white ash saw how the Iroquois, (the indigenous population of Watkins Glen) lived, hunted, and collected crops in the 18th century. 

    Fast forward to the year 1830 and you would see the Samuel Watkin’s flour mill operating here, grinding thousands of pounds of grains every day. The Glen Creek powered the massive wheels that ground thousands of pounds of grains every day 

    Towards the end of the 19th century, people came here and stayed at private resorts that charged a hefty fee.  Fortunately, in 1906 the state purchased the land and made it a state park.

    You can also enjoy the woods on the South Rim Trail and access the camping grounds.

    The Gorge Trail is open from mid-May until the end of October. You can stay overnight on the camping grounds and cabins.

    Watkins Glen State Park
    1009 N. Franklin St. Watkins Glen, NY; Parking fee: $10



    Feel the Power of Ithaca Falls (Falls Creek Gorge)

    A tall and powerfull waterfall
    Ithaca Falls

    You don’t have to travel to a remote location to see the most powerful waterfall in the Finger Lakes (there are around 150 in the area!). The 156-foot tall Ithaca Falls, part of the Falls Creek Gorge, is right smack in downtown Ithaca. 

    If you would jump inside a time machine and land here in the early 18th century you would be surprised to see a busy place with many factories that used the water from a dam upstream to power their mills.

    The strong currents are a sight to behold and a warning to not swim here unless you want to end up in Cayuga Lake.


    Walk Along the Cascadilla Gorge Trail

    A waterfall running down a rocky slope
    The Cascadilla Gorge

    About eight blocks south of Ithaca Falls you’ll find the Cascadilla Creek flowing through another beautiful gorge carved in ancient times.

    Take the steps of the one-third-mile Cascadilla Gorge Trail to see a waterfall cascading along the 400-foot wall. The trail is part of the Cornell Botanic Gardens, which oversees this and other iconic gorges.

    Cascadilla looks awesome in pictures, but not so much in my pictures. If you want better pictures than mine, with tons of water pouring down the rocky wall, plan your trip when level waters are high (probably during spring).


    Hike in the Robert Treman State Park (and See Some Wicked Waterfalls)

    A waterfall in a gorge
    Lucifer Falls

    What a beautiful park this is, with 12 waterfalls to spice your hike in the forest.

    We accessed the upper park entrance and hiked the Rim Trail for fabulous views from the top of the shale and sandstone gorge and the must-see, 115-foot tall Lucifer Falls.

    Side view of a waterfall
    Another view of Lucifer Falls

    Walk further and take the Cliff stairway down to the Gorge Trail and spend some time frolicking on Enfield Creek and the cascades.

    A waterfall with people on the rocks
    Spend some time in the Gorge Trail
    A creek in the forest
    Wade in Enfield Creek

    You can keep walking along the bottom of the gorge or go up to the rim until you reach the Lower Falls, where you’ll find cabins and a camping area. 

    We were short on time so we walked back to the upper gorge following the Gorge Trail to see the Devil’s Kitchen Falls on the way, and many other scenic spots.

    A waterfall in a dense forest
    Devil’s Kitchen Falls
    A gorge with a creek
    The stunning gorge near the upper entrance

    A section of the Finger Lakes Trail goes through this park where you can also visit the remains of a historic gristmill.

    Robert H. Treman State Park
    105 Enfield Falls Rd. Ithaca, NY; Parking fee: $9 (transferable to all state parks)


    Enjoy the Festivals in the Finger Lakes

    The Finger Lakes is a busy place all year round with several festivals to suit every taste: concerts, theatre, sports, arts, wine, and the list goes on.

    When planning your visit, time it with a festival to enjoy yourself even more. 

    Something going on all year round is the Ithaca Farmers Market. It runs several days a week with different themes (artists market, young entrepreneurs, local produce, food, and baked items). Locations vary according to the season.

    You can enjoy the Cayuga Maple Sugar Festival and a film festival in the spring, wine festivals in the summer, open artists’ studio weekends on the art trail in the fall, and music concerts during winter.

    This is just a sample. There’s much more!


    Do you agree that the Finger Lakes area in New York deserves a spot in any “Most Beautiful Places in the USA” list? Maybe even in a ”world” list?  The striking magnificence of its rugged gorges and the waterfalls that shape them made my decision a breeze.


    YOU MAY ALSO WANT TO READ

    A garden with a rectangular fountain

    7 Fun Things to Do in the Summer on Long Island, New York

    A double cascade waterfall in a rocky gorge surrounded by vegetation

    5 Things the New York’s Catskill Mountains Are Famous For

    BOOKING FLIGHTS AND ACCOMMODATIONS

    Book your flight without losing your shirt

    We check Momondo to find great deals to book our flights. Also, check Great Escape: it combines the listings from Expedia, Kiwi, Kayak, (and Skyscanner on the premium service) to find the best airfares.

    To find a place to stay for less

    Booking.com: this site combines everything under the sun. You’ll find hotels, apartments, B&B, hostels, rooms, etc., with all sort of filters to make your search a breeze.

    Hotwire: the first site I check when we plan to stay at a hotel for a few nights. You can save anything from 20% to 60%.  Use the search filter to find what you want and you’ll end up with three listings that match your criteria. You’ll know which one you’ll get after you book. If you can handle a little bit of uncertainty you can score big savings.

    House Sitting: you take care of people’s pets and house for free while staying for free. It’s the closest thing to experiencing a place “like a local”. But it comes with responsibilities… Are you an animal lover? It may become your new way to travel.

    To get travel insurance

    SafetyWing: travel medical insurance that gives us peace of mind knowing that we’re covered in case of emergency. It’s convenient, affordable, and suitable for digital nomads who spend a long time outside their home country.

    Check the full list of travel resources on my Resource Page for more options and savings

    • Share
    • Tweet
    • Email

    About Mayra Carvajal

    Hi, I’m Mayra. A full-time nomad with an appetite for travelling. Art and design are my salt and pepper, with a side order of nature and outdoors. When I’m not gazing at architecture or any other form of art, you’ll see me on a hiking trail, at the top of an ancient ruin, or under a beach umbrella. Here you’ll find practical tips for independent trips, travel stories, and images that may inspire you to explore a new place or high-five your creative muse. Read my About page if you want to learn more about how this site can help you travel more.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. nia

      July 31, 2022 at 12:29 PM

      Such great photos and I haven’t heard much about this area so this post was really inspiring! Thanks for highlighting it!

      • Mayra Carvajal

        August 1, 2022 at 11:32 AM

        I know! When you hear about New York it’s all about NYC. But there’s so much more!

    2. Olga Wefler

      July 31, 2022 at 12:37 PM

      This place looks amazing! I hope we can visit Finger Lakes when my kids will be older. Thank for idea.

      • Mayra Carvajal

        August 1, 2022 at 11:31 AM

        Thanks for reading! You’ll find many fun activities to do with your kids.

    Don’t Miss Out

    Latest posts and extra tips, once a week

    We will use and protect your data in accordance with our Privacy Policy. No spam. Unsubscribe at any time.

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Twitter
    • Pinterest

    Terms and Conditions

    Privacy Policy

    Disclaimer

    Copyright © 2025 · Life On The Roam · All Rights Reserved ·

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
    Privacy & Cookies Policy

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT