What are your recommendations for things to do, sites to see, places to eat in the Hudson River Valley?

First, I assume you will have a car.

Second - when will you be there? And how much time will you have?

Who/how many are you (a senior couple? a family with 3 kids?)

What are your interests?

There are a whole plethora of options but without knowing more it's hard to give advice.

If I can piggy-back on Grassshoper's post, please also suggest good campgrounds in the Hudson Valley from which to explore these things to do/places to see/eat. Or, if this is bad form on my part, please disregard this post.

RLY. repost under a new title and I'll reply there.

The Hudson Valley covers a broad area, and there is so much to see, it would take weeks to cover it all. So, give us some guidelines....not only those mentioned by nytraveler, but all some idea of which part of the Hudson Valley!

3 day weekend after next, Mom and adult daughter, picked this as a place to "meander" between business meetings in Boston and meetings in Philadelphia. We have a rental car. Have spent no real time in this area so although I've done my share of googling, and know there are mansions and lighthouses and wineries (all of which are interesting to me) we have no preconceived notions.

We're from San Francisco.

We take day trips into the Hudson Valley, mostly for the mansions/gardens. Once a year we go further north, near Olana, for sour cherry picking. We always stop in Rhinebeck to eat, even though we get to be so hungry we don't really mind what we eat. There are plenty of choices, they even have a small movie theater that shows foreign movies, in case you would like to enjoy a siesta following dinner. You will also find antique stores.

I would suggest starting with hudsonvalley.org for a more comprehensive look at the mansions. Pick the ones you want to visit (need reservations for some), place dots on a local map and decide where you will spend the night. Again, Rhinebeck is a good location for that. I would propably do no more than 2 mansions a day. Enjoy!

Thank you, Milena

I would say the Hudson River Valley is not all that convenient b/w Boston and Phil. If you want to head in that area, in the lower Hudson Valley, the Culinary Institute in Hyde Park, NY has a restaurant. Kykuit, the Rockefeller Estate makes for a lovely visit and they have a very well regarded restaurant too (Stone Barns).