There are so many things to do in the Finger Lakes!
And we have had the benefit of enjoying most of those things. So, the good news is that we can share all of that with you! If you are coming for a special occasion, like Cornell Graduation, Ithaca College Graduation, Hobart-William Smith Graduation or Wells College Graduation..this is the most wonderful place to rest your feet or host a private gathering. If you are coming up to the Finger Lakes to enjoy wine tasting, our location is centrally located. If it is just a family reunion, a girls' getaway or a bachelorette party. The location right on the lake front could not be more spectacular. There are so many things to do right at the house. But here are some great things to do in the area.
Wine Tasting
Within 15 miles of the Painted Porch Finger Lakes Vacation Rental, there are 14 wineries that all offer tastings! Some also offer lunch at lovely organic bistros. There is even a wine tasting boat tour that you can take on Cayuga Lake! Here are a list of the wineries closest to the lakefront rental cottage.
Wineries & Their Friends
Varick Winery & Vineyard
Knapp Winery & Vineyard
Americana Vineyards & Cafe
Swedish Hill Vineyards
Toro Run Winery
Goose Watch Vineyards
Button Hill Grove Vineyards
Cayuga Ridge Estate
Hosmer Winery
Thirsty Owl Winery
Sheldrake Point Winery
Montezuma Winery
Lucas Vineyards
Bellweather Hard Cider
Long Point Winery
Six Mile Creek Winery (Ithaca)
Treleaven (across the lake)
NEW Shepherdless Tasting Room
Frontenac Point Winery
Other Highlights
Cayuga Lake Creamery (ice cream)
The Glenwood Pines
O'Malley's Cabin on the Lake
Busy Bee Seasonal Grocer
Atlas Bowl in Trumansburg
Rongovian Embassy in Trumansburg
College Tours
There are so many colleges near the Painted Porch Rental Cottage at Sheldrake.Whether you are visiting the Finger Lakes while spending time with your college student child, or attending one of the various summer programs or seminars, this is a great place to stay. Our vacation rental is an ideal command base if you and your family are looking at colleges. Syracuse University & Upstate Medical Center is an hour from the Painted Porch. Hobart William-Smith & Ithaca College are 30 minutes from the Sheldrake. Cortland State and Wells College are about 45-55 minutes away. And the New York Chiropractic College is only 25 minutes away. And, of course, there are all of the colleges in the Rochester area, like RIT and the University or Rochester, which are all about an hour and 20 minutes away from our lakefront rental house.
Local Festivals & Events in the Finger Lakes Region
If you can think of it, there is a festival for it! Summer in the Finger Lakes is an ideal time to spend time outdoors and there is pretty much something for everyone! Here is a calendar of events in the area. The Painted Porch Calendar for 2016 is in the process of being updated for 2016 as we learn more about what is coming! But following the 2016 calendar, you will find highlights for 2015, which will at let give you a rough idea of when things are likely to happen in and around the Painted Porch Vacation Rental and the Finger Lakes Wine trail.
May 2016
Sunday May 22nd: 2016 Ithaca College Graduation
Sunday May 29th: 2016 Cornell University Graduation
June 2016
June 3rd - 5th: 2016 Ithaca Festival
July 2016
August 2016
September 2016
October 2016
May 2015
23rd Annual Wine & Herb Festival. (Participating Wineries) May 1
2300 Degrees Glass-Fest, Corning NY, May 21 & 22
Boardwalk Arcade Celebration, Museum Square, Rochester, May 30 & 31st
The Ithaca Festival, Ithaca, May 28 - 31st
Ithaca Farmers Market @ Steamboat Landing, Every Sat 9-3 & Sun 10-3
June 2015
Raspberry Meets Chocolate, Hosmer Winery, Saturday June 6 (1-5pm)
Keuka Lake Triathalon, Sunday June 7
Sahlen's 6 Hours at the Glen, Watkins Glen Race Track, June 25 - 28
Ithaca Farmers Market @ Steamboat Landing, Every Sat 9-3 & Sun 10-3
July 2015
Sports Car Club of America Super Tour, Watkins Glen, July 3-5
Finger Lakes Wine Festival, Watkins Glan Starts July 11th
Grassroots Festival, Trumansburg, NY July 16 - 19
Glenora Winery Vintage Classic Race, Watkins Glen, July 24th - 26th
Ithaca Farmers Market @ Steamboat Landing, Every Sat 9-3 & Sun 10-3
August 2015
Nascar Cheezit 355 at the Glen, Watkins Glen, August 6-9
Renaissance Festival, Sterling NY August 9th
The New York State Fair, Syracuse, August 31st
The Trumansburg Fair, Trumansburg, August 25th-30th
Ithaca Farmers Market @ Steamboat Landing, Every Sat 9-3 & Sun 10-3
September 2015
Finger Lakes Triathlon, Canandaigua NY September 11-13th
40th Annual Ithaca 5 & 10 (race) Ithaca, September 12th
Ithaca Farmers Market @ Steamboat Landing, Every Sat 9-3 & Sun 10-3
No matter what time of year you visit our rental cottage on Cayuga Lake, there are a ton of things to do. Here are some great ideas of fun things to do in the Finger Lakes:
Corning Glass Museum
Have you ever been to a factory? Might not sound like the coolest thing you ever heard of, but I think you might be pleasantly surprised by how cool the glass blowing is! Not to mention the Steuben collection and the amazing history of the Corning empire. It is about 40 minutes from the Painted Porch Lakefront Vacation Rental. Get your tickets to the Corning Museum in advance and blow your own glass! Great fun for the whole family. We strongly recommend starting your visit in a glass blowing demonstration. It really gives a great context for the balance of what you will be seeing and learning.
Women's History Museum in Seneca Falls
Seneca falls is about 25-30 minutes from the vacation rental and happens to be where the women's suffrage movement began. There is a fabulous museum in Seneca Falls which celebrates the evolution of women's rights through the past 200 years. Well, I'm getting old...more than 200 years!
Watkins Glen Race Track
OK all you racing fans! Watkins Glen is only about 35 minutes away and it is a terrific way to enjoy some exhilarating times in the summer. The venue is fantastic and you never know which star driver you might find standing next to you! A great thing to do is to go up early in the morning and hike the Watkins Glen gorge. The breathtaking environment carved by thousands of years of water running through the slate is like non-other.
Hike the Gorges
Watkins Glen is not the only place that you will find a gorge in the Finger Lakes. After all, Ithaca's motto reads "Ithaca is GORGES!" Within 15 minutes of our Lakefront Vacation Rental is Taughannock Falls, which is the tallest waterfall east of the Rockies! There is hiking trail that allows you to walk up the stream to the base of the falls. It is pretty flat and wide. Unless there has been a disturbance on the trail, it is usually handicapped accessible. It is maybe 20 minutes each way. And a very nice walk on a hot day, because it is so well shaded. There is also an overlook that you can drive to if you are checking off waterfall experiences in the Finger Lakes, but short of time.
Waterfalls
Obviously Taughannock Falls is a great place to visit. It is part of a State Park which also has a boat ramp, a playground and a shale swimming beach with a lifeguard. Other great waterfalls include Treman State Park, Buttermilk State Park, Ithaca Falls, Fall Creek and Cascadilla Falls. There are also many other smaller falls that you can see if you follow some of the trails in the Finger Lakes Trail Guide. All of the bigger falls are within 30 minutes of the Painted Porch Cottage in the Finger Lakes.
Go to the Farmers Market
Ithaca has an amazing Farmers' Market. From to April through October, there is a version of it that you may visit almost every day of the week. You can grind everything from flowers to organic produce, wine to artisanal cheese, jewelry to fine art and just about any other thing you can imagine. The weekend market is our favorite because there is live music, it's on the water and you will be sure to meet old friends there! We recommend that you stop at the Farmer's Market on Saturday before you come check in on Saturday afternoon, so that you can enjoy amazing food and fresh cut flowers all week long! There are other farmer's markets all over the Finger Lakes. Corning, Auburn, Canadaigua, Watkins Glen, Skaneateles, Geneva, Seneca Falls, Moravia and Hammondsport all have great markets. And they are all within an hour of the Painted Porch Cottage.
Take a Ride on the Erie Canal
The Finger Lakes are connected by the Erie Canal to the Atlantic Ocean. The specific intent was to connect the Hudson River (at Albany) to Lake Erie (near Buffalo.) The canal opened in 1835 and enabled trade through the early history of the region. Donkeys would walk along the edge of the canal and tow barges through the canal. Now it is a sleepy canal that is used more for transportation between the finger lakes and portage of boats to their new homes on the Finger lakes.
Shop at MacKenzie Childs
While this might sound like a very specific idea, but every time we visit the area, we meet people who have traveled to the Finger Lakes specifically to go the MacKenzie Childs. The farm and the shop are located directly across the Cayuga Lake in Aurora. While the original artists are no longer involved, the brand still continues to garner the attention of interior decorators throughout North America. Once a year, with a ten day warning, MacKenzie Childs holds a barn sale. Incredible prices and open to the public.
Museum of the Earth in Ithaca on Rt. 96
You might not think of dinosaurs when you thing of the Finger Lakes, but the area's geological history has lent itself to a legacy of fossil studies.There is a fantastic museum of natural history right next door to the hospital. We were surprised how interested our 11 and 13 year old girls were when we visited there this spring. Fun and interesting for visitors of any age.
Enjoy the Local Summer Theater Scene
Just at the South end of Cayuga Lake is the Hanger Theater. Their summer stock program is fantastic. Last year we howled laughing and singing along for Little Shop of Horrors. Here are the 2015 performances. Buy your tickets before you get to Upstate New York.
God of Carnage June 11 - June 20th
Spring Awakening June 25 - July 11th
Hound of the Baskervilles July 16 - 25
Talley's Folley July 30 - August 8th
The Ithaca Shakespear Company performs each season in the Cornell Plantations ( outside in an arboretum.) For Summer 2015 they will be performing HENRY IV: Banish all the World. Once they have the dates for this production we will publish them.
The Cornell Savoyards perform Gilbert and Sullivan musicals every year to sell out crowds. This year, in honor of Cornell's sesquicentennial celebration, they will be performing Princess Ida! The dates will be June 23rd, 24th and 28th.
Rent a boat and enjoy Cayuga Lake
There are a few places where you can rent a boat. We have a kayak that you are welcome to use, but if you are looking for more than that, you can rent more from the busy bee which is just a few houses away. Here are some other places that rent boats for your enjoyment in the summer. Reagan's Canoe and Kayak Livery will actually deliver Canoes, kayaks and SUP's to you at the Painted Porch vacation rental. Finger Lakes Boat Rentals will deliver motor boats, but you will need to reserve these in advance. They have both speed boats and pontoon boats.
Educational Paddleboat Ride or a Dinner Cruise on Cayuga Lake
This is a favorite activity of our kids. You spend a few hours on the lake with esteemed experts in the history, geology and marine biology of Caygua Lake, which is glacially formed and one of the deepest lakes in North America.
Read the Ithaca Times
The Ithaca Times is a Free Local Newspaper that coms out every Tuesday and while including a few human interest stories, is essentially the day to day guide of what is going on in Ithaca. There is a huge music scene and tons of free concerts all over the area. So pick up an Ithaca Times as soon as you arrive and lay out the other special things you might want to do while you are staying at the cottage.
IthacaTopTen.com
This is the best website to let you know what is going on the specific week you are visiting. Great resource!
Cayuga Lake.com
Is another great reference. Things like the Museum of the Earth, are covered there. I didn't even know that there was a museum in Ithaca with one of the largest collections of fossils in the world
Check it out at CayugaLake.com.
Finger Lakes Waterfront Vacation Rental
Click on the map to get to the Cayuga Wine Trail interactive Website