I will be traveling to albany on business next month and wondered if there were any points of interest I should take in while in your area of the country. I am not at all familiar with albany...I have the opportunity to extend my stay a couple of days if there is something I really should see...

any suggestions?

thanks, wenj

wenji:

Albany is a pretty big city. I can not recommend any points of interest in Albany, I am not familiar with Albany proper. I will say that Albany is the gateway to the Adirondac region of New yORK which is a wonderful rustic area of New York State. How lond will you have in Albany?
JOHN

Albany is the capital of New York and they have a number of museums. Try the following websites:
www.albany.org
www.albanyny.org
albany.about.com

we will only have a couple of days...the 13th and 14th of march before we need to return home...

If I had 2 days free in Albany, I would use them to get out of Albany. I'd head east to the Berkshires of western Mass. The mountains will be beautifully snow-covered, the weather will be starting to moderate, and there are great restaurants and small towns to visit.

wenji:

Where are you comming from? Alf makes a good rec. , povided that you are not comming from Colorado or places where scenery will not be a priority!
John

There's a good State History Museum and if it's open, the "egg" is a unique structure of interest to architecture buffs. Albany is actaully a relatively small city but the area offers some of the amenties of a larger city due to the overall population of the Capitol Region (Albany, Schenectady, Renssalaer, T roy etc.

There are some nicely restored old rowhouses and a few good restaurants and cafes on Lark Street downtown but it's one of the few examples anywhere of a gentrification project that stalled and then slipped backwards. The 20 something career folks in state government who populated that area during its revival have largely moved to the suburbs.

Best bet without going too far would be to drive up to Saratoga Springs for a day, browse some antique stores, have a good meal and drive/walk around to view some of the beautifully restore Victorian era houses. Or..... head a bit further south in the Hudson Valley and see some of the restored estates Rockefeller estate, artist Fredric Chruch's place, Vanderbilt Mansion etc).

Albany, like many upstate NY cities, is a great place to live but has limited attractions for the sight seeing traveler.

wish I had a couple of weeks, rather than days! oh, and I'm coming from the flat land (gulf coast area) of texas...so snow capped mountains, victorian homes...all sound wonderous to me!

thank you for the suggestions...please keep them coming!

Albany is an ok city, but you won't want to spend much time there. The Berkshires are an hour away, Stockbridge might be a good place to start. Saratoga, an hour north is a pretty city too. I don't know if you have two full days, but if you want to see the best scenery the area has to offer, mountains and quaintness, make the drive to Woodstock Vermont. Its three hours, but this is New England how most people picture it. Just remember though, this area gets a ton of snow in the winter. Driving isn't always the easiest.

Don't know if you're into skiing or snowboarding (or trying it for the first time). There are several great ski areas nearby. My favorite is Windham. Hope you have great time!

okay...looks as though everyone thinks it would best to get out of albany for the couple of extra days...actually taking into account my very early flight back home; I only have a day and a half...decisions...decisions!

Well you don't have much time. You say we, are there any baseball fans in the group? The Baseball Hall of Fame fairly is close by and Cooperstown is a quaint town. They also have a Brewery there that specializes in Belgian style Beer, Brewery Oomegang. Mmmm mmmm mmm.