Heip with several weekend trips to the Hudson River Valley

You're planning too much for that first Saturday. Kykuit, lunch and Storm King in themselves make for a full--and rewarding--day. As for Kykuit, I'd plan on taking the tour (or tours) which cover both the mansion and the outdoor area.
For your Saturday in Hyde Park, it would make sense to add lunch or dinner at the Culinary Institute and a visit to the Vanderbilt Mansion.
Boscobel and DIA Beacon are also excellent choices.

If it helps at all, Cooperstown - Tarrytown is about 3 1/2 hours, I went to school in Oneonta and did volunteer work in Cooperstown, know the route well!

I think your plans are good for Kykuit/Storm King, as long as you get an early start. See Kykuit in the AM, have lunch in TT and head to Storm King by 1:00 ish. If you run out of time, you could stay near West Point, then Storm King/Beacon the next day. We do day trips from Tarrytown - Beacon all the time.

For your second trip, I agree about the CIA for lunch or dinner, and to see the Vanderbilt Mansion.

For your third trip, you might want to cross over into Mass and see the Berkshires....or, check out the Hudson River Valley web-site: http://www.hudsonrivervalley.com/Home.aspx

One more idea would be a trip through the wine trail around the New Paltz area. There are also nice trails/parks in this area. Probably about a 2 hour drive from Albany.

Have fun!

Thanks for the info...I will get a early tour time for Kykuit. Lunch at the CIA should be great ! Thanks again for the responce.

Hi jsolo, not a tremendously helpful post but while you're in Cooperstown check out the Ommegang Brewery, and the last time my husband and I made it up there without kids we had a fabulous meal at Alex & Ika's - they have this crazy thing they do to the tomatoes in the salad (the salad!!) that had my husband and I fighting over them. Enjoy your adventuring!

The CIA is a great suggestion. Just in case you decide to do something more casual, this is perhaps my favorite casual greek restaurant, and it is in Tarrytown. We always bring a jar of their salad dressing home. If only I could source their fresh pita!
http://www.lefterisgyro.com/

My wife and I went to the Ommegang Brewery last year. Going back this year and gettng one of their hats! The Greek restaurant in Tarrytown sounds great.

You have received good advice above. Here are my thoughts.

Short weekend - Poughkeepsie base/Hyde Park area. There are several Marriott co hotels, and a relatively new Hampton Inn (or maybe it's a Hilton Garden Inn - all on the same RT9, none more or less convenient than the others. Visit FDR, Vanderbilt, CIA. I would add in a stroll over the walkway over the Hudson at POK. http://walkway.org/ Avoid the middle of the afternoon if you can as it gets crowded (esp parking).

Long weekend -
Fri. Tarrytown hotel
Sat. Kykuit & Storm King in one day. IMO the towns in the lower Hudson aren't really worth a stop to see. Saturday Beacon/Fishkill area. Saturday night you could take in the last show of the season of the HV Shakeaspeare festival at Boscobel - Sat 9/5 is Taming of the Shrew.

https://hvshakespeare.org/db/index.taf. You can get a picnic lunch (BYO or buy from them ahead of time or maybe you can buy there).

Sunday - you could visit the Dia, stop in the villages of Rhinebeck and Hudson on your way north to Albany. You could also visit some of the sights in Albany area. The Erie canal is quite close to the airport and there are miles of walking & bike trails within 10min of the airport. I like to see the locks in action & labor day will be an active weekend, assuming the weather is nice.

If you need hotel and/or restaurant reco's for Fishkill/Beacon/Cold Spring let me know. $ to $$$, BBQ, Mexican, Italian, and steak house are some good options.

Ditto for POK area restaurants - let me know & I'll chime in.

Driving distances. Tarrytown to Storm King is 30min or so. Storm King to Beacon, also about 30min. Beacon to Albany is 90min by highway, 2hrs if you travel via rt 9 without stopping. If you didn't get a chance to visit the walkway on your POK weekend, you could stop by on your way north. Not much else right in POK worth seeing, truly.

3rd weekend.
May not be worth a return visit all the way to the Hudson area. From Cooperstown you could reach Woodstock much faster than Poughkeepsie. If you like live music there are many venues in Woodstock. The Colony cafe is one of them. www.colonycafe.com. Quite a few restaurants in Woodstock as well, but I'm not familiar with them enough to recommend. The village of New Paltz is also nearby. If you like hiking & vistas, there is some nice hiking just west of New Paltz. a) state park (Lake Minneswaska), b) just before LM park is the Shawangunks - very popular rock climbing cliffs with a nice loop trail around the east and west sides, or c) the private reserve/resort of Mohonk Mtn house. You need to pay to even enter the grounds to hike, but the resort is supposed to be quite nice, but also pricey. www.mohonk.com

For your third weekend, depending on what are your interests, you may want to do a stop in quaint and historic New Paltz, home of America's oldest street. You can eat great food at the Village TeaRoom Restaurant & Bake Shop or the Harvest Cafe who both have an exquisite farm-to-table seasonal menu.

If you enjoy the outdoors, a visit to the Mohonk Preserve (somewhat adjacent to the Mohonk Mountain House) is filled with world-class hikes and views.

So much to do... so little time!

Myriam
VisitTheHudsonValley.com