This upstate New York town is a showstopper for scenery

CNN

3 days ago

See More Videos Ithaca's not the kind of place where you drive for an hour, hike for miles, then finally lay eyes on an underwhelming trickle of a waterfall.
The landscape in and around this friendly upstate New York town is so jampacked with falls — more than 150 within a 10-mile radius — that you don't have to go far before coming upon another one, often more impressive than the last.
Water cascades through the gorges that give this town its punny tagline — 'Ithaca is gorges' — a phrase that's 100% accurate but doesn't fully capture the variety of this terrain.
A showstopper when it comes to scenery, Ithaca sits at the southern tip of Cayuga Lake, the longest of New York's Finger Lakes, surrounded by fertile land that's home to wineries, cider houses and farms that stock produce-forward restaurants downtown.
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Share your picks for our top towns in 2026 Ithaca is also a vibrant college town — home to Cornell University and Ithaca College — with more cultural offerings than its size would suggest, thanks in large part to the people those institutions attract.
'With all the students that populate the university and Ithaca College, they bring with them their culture, their background, their richness. So we … have part-time residents from all over the world that come to our small little town and bring so much,' said Alexis Falise, who has lived in Ithaca for more than two decades.
Ithaca is a 'close-knit community' full of 'nature-loving people,' said Falise, who works in member services at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, a powerhouse in the world of birds.
Nature-loving visitors will certainly find plenty to do here. And culture lovers, too.
Ithaca's compact downtown features pleasant tree-lined streets surrounding The Commons, a four-block, pedestrian-only commercial area that hosts popular events like the city's Apple Harvest Festival in September.
Located on the traditional homelands of the Cayuga Nation, Ithaca was settled in the late 18th century by Revolutionary War soldiers who received land grants as payment.
Cornell University, the Ivy League school perched high on East Hill, was founded in 1865. Ithaca College followed in 1892, originally as a downtown conservatory of music — a forebearer of the city's lively music scene. Today, the college is a much wider-ranging institution on South Hill.
All this is ripe for exploration, but ask any local what a visitor should do in Ithaca, and waterfalls top the list. So let's start there.
Three state parks packed with falls are within five to 10 miles of downtown, but you don't even have to leave Ithaca for impressive cascades.
The Cascadilla Gorge Trail (subject to closure) winds through ancient bedrock past six waterfalls and ascends 400 feet from downtown Ithaca to Cornell's campus on the hill.
Up on campus, Fall Creek tumbles down a gorge of the same name. A rim trail and pedestrian suspension bridge offer views of water cascading through the nearly 200-foot-deep gorge. Not far from downtown, Fall Creek makes its final plunge over the impressive 150-foot Ithaca Falls as it heads to Cayuga Lake.
That's just in town. At nearby state parks, you pay once for same-day access to as many NY parks as you can pack in.
Hiking this remarkable landscape may have you wondering — why so many gorges and waterfalls?
'The simplest and shortest way to explain it is during the last Ice Age, the glaciers created the lakes and set the stage for gorge formation,' said Josh Teeter, an environmental educator with New York State Parks. 'So as those glaciers retreated, there was melt water going over the steep sides of those lakes and then it eroded back through the rock.'
The results of this gorge formation, dating back 12,000 years, are striking, and each park offers something a little different.
At Buttermilk Falls State Park, just southwest of downtown, a .65-mile gorge trail follows the sinewy path Buttermilk Creek has carved here, twisting down between rock walls to the final crescendo of Buttermilk Falls.
A couple miles away, Robert H. Treman State Park offers a wider gorge where hikers show up as tiny dots against the towering stone walls of Enfield Glen as they make their way past 12 waterfalls, including 115-foot Lucifer Falls. There's a natural swimming area at the base of the park's lower falls.
About 10 miles northwest of town along the shores of Cayuga Lake, Taughannock Falls State Park is home to a very-big-deal waterfall with easy viewing at the base via a mile-long gorge trail. Taughannock Falls is the tallest free-falling waterfall east of the Mississippi and its 215-foot drop makes it 33 feet higher than Niagara Falls.
This park is also in Finger Lakes wine country, not far from the tasting room at Buttonwood Grove Winery, which sits on a hill with lovely lake views. There are about 10 wineries on the western side of the lake — a handful of the more than 130 wineries in the Finger Lakes region.
This is cider country, too, with about a dozen cider producers in the region.
South of town, near Buttermilk Falls, South Hill Cider is a scenic spot for guided tastings of fermented cider, drinks by the glass and live music. There are also camp sites bookable online. South Hill Cider's owner, orchardist and cidermaker Steve Selin grew up visiting relatives in this region.
ESSENTIAL ITHACA
EAT: Bistro fare and local veggies at Le Café Cent Dix
DRINK: Beer at Liquid State; coffee at Press Cafe
STAY: At Argos Inn or Hilton Garden Inn
SEE: The gorges and waterfalls 'I just fell in love with the vibe and the Finger Lakes,' Selin said. 'It's like hammocks in the woods and swimming holes that you can wade into at night. It was just this magical place.'
After grad school, Ithaca was the obvious choice for Selin and his wife when they decided to return to New York state.
In addition to its outdoor appeal, 'there's plenty of music and film and cultural stuff like that. Like for a small town … kind of almost in the middle of nowhere to have access to film and food and music was pretty key,' said Selin, who's also a musician rooted in old-time fiddle music.
Cornell, Ithaca College and community venues, such as the restored 1928 State Theatre and the Hangar Theatre (housed in a converted municipal airport hangar), weave a rich tapestry of events. Selin listed free concerts at Ithaca College, and the local movie house Cinemapolis and Cornell Cinema in Willard Straight Hall, which presents more than 75 eclectic films each semester.
The Cornell Botanic Gardens are also worth exploring (admission is free), and can be combined with a stop at Cornell Dairy Bar for ice cream — a fitting treat in a town that lays claim to inventing the ice cream sundae.
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Near the university's historic Arts Quad, the free Johnson Museum of Art holds 40,000 works in its permanent collection. On the 5th floor of the striking concrete-and-glass, I.M. Pei-designed building, panoramic Cayuga Lake views are on display alongside statues of the Buddha — part of the museum's impressive Asian art collection.
For visitors with a particular interest in Buddhism, a new Dalai Lama Library and Learning Center (unrelated to Cornell) is located across town on South Hill on the grounds of Namgyal Monastery. Evening meditation is open to the public on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 5:15 p.m.
Bird-watchers will find a trove of knowledge in Ithaca, too. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, several miles from the main campus, combines research, education and participation from around the globe to increase understanding of birds and nature. Anyone with the popular Merlin Bird ID app has sampled a bit of its work.
A shiny new visitor center, with a wall of glass looking out on Sapsucker Woods Pond, opened last summer. Visitors can witness FeederWatch Cam's action in person, borrow binoculars to bird-watch along five miles of trails and explore the hands-on Bird Discovery Lab, which helps visitors understand how birds see, fly, create their distinctive sounds and more. A touchscreen display offers a multisensory experience featuring an array of birds and their calls.
It's easy to get absorbed in bird song or geology or meditative hiking, but getting out and chatting with people is one of Ithaca's pleasures, too, says Cornell student Lexi Barrow.
'People are so willing to converse and be friendly,' said Barrow, 20, a rising junior from New Jersey who's studying mechanical and aerospace engineering.
'I like that it feels very much like a community where people know each other and actually care about it. They participate here … it's not one of those towns where people just stay to themselves,' said Barrow, who was waiting for a table at popular Italian restaurant Thompson and Bleecker just before leaving town for the summer.
Ithaca Farmers Market serves up a taste of that community, literally and figuratively. The market, which dates to the 1970s, is housed in a rustic covered pavilion along the Cayuga waterfront northwest of downtown and sells everything from vegetables and hand pies to cutting boards and woolen mittens. On Saturdays and Sundays, locals gather at shady tables by the water to nibble on their purchases and chat with friends and family.
This town is surrounded by farmland, and vegetables and plant-based foods make a strong showing on restaurant menus.
At Le Café Cent Dix, rotating seasonal vegetable dishes are served alongside classic French bistro fare such as duck breast and steak frites. A recent menu featured spring peas with ricotta, lemon and gremolata.
Moosewood Restaurant, thought to be the country's longest-running vegetarian restaurant, put Ithaca on the national dining map in the 1970s with its bestselling 'Moosewood Cookbook.' Some 50 years later, the airy restaurant on Cayuga Street is still serving tasty dishes such as a salad of hato mugi barley and baby kale.
At Angelhearts, decadent vegan donuts will be a focus when the eatery relocates this summer to a brand-new space in Press Bay Court, where its popular vegan breakfast sandwiches will be available to grab and go. The hearty biscuit sandwiches will likely satisfy any diner — non-vegans included — and that's the idea, says owner Kim Engelhart.
Angelhearts aims to show people that 'vegan food can be fun,' and appealing, 'whether you're vegan or not,' said Engelhart, who's a fan of Ithaca's mix of nature and 'big-city amenities.'
Asempe Kitchen, also in Press Bay Court, specializes in plant-based West African stews like egusi, made with African melon seeds, in the catering operation's new brick-and-mortar restaurant.
There are plenty of options for omnivores and carnivores as well. Casual fare such as Tacos CDMX; pizza by the slice at Franco's; Indian food at longtime staple New Delhi Diamond's.
At the Argos Inn, Bar Argos is a sophisticated cocktail spot housed in a rehabbed 1831 mansion east of The Commons. And just west of The Commons, The Watershed serves cocktails upstairs, while its cozy basement, The Downstairs, offers live music in a community listening room.
And naturally, there's beer here too. Liquid State Brewing Company and Personal Best Brewing are two laid-back spots for cool, refreshing pints — a welcome reward after an exhilarating waterfall hike.
There's world-class wilderness in every direction