Mrs. Peabody and I are going to Saratoga Springs for a long weekend this July. No horse racing then, but we have tickets for ballet and opera. There are few posts here about the area, and they are old. The Destinations tab is years out of date. If anyone here has any tips about restaurants, shops, things to do, I would appreciate hearing them.

Thanks!

AJ

I can give you current information - what are your specific interests for things to do, either in-town or nearby.

I can rattle off any number of things if you point me in a direction.

No big changes in restaurants in the last 12mo or so. One or two have closed, but nothing of note has opened. Particular tastes?

If you are interested in history, check out the National Park there

www.nps.gov/sara/


If you are driving up from the south, you might try to get a reservation at the CIA for lunch. Maybe stop at FDR home in Hyde Park too.

If you wanted to go without driving your own vehicle, the Amtrak Adirondack leaves NYP a little after 8AM and gets to Saratoga Springs about noon. There are 3 good hotels within half a mile of the train station and several more within a mile.
The Ethan Allen Express and the southbound Adirondack are afternoon trains to get back home.

I'm assuming you already have a hotel booked. If not, here's some info.

The most convenient hotels for downtown Saratoga are the Hampton Inn, Hilton, the more boutique, Saratoga Arms, and the luxury suite hotel Pavillion Grand. All are basically right in town . There are also numerous B&B's in town. One that is very convenient is Circular Manor.

The Embassy suites is brand new (<1mo) and is also close to downtown, and ~1/2 mi closer to SPAC than the others - I'd say it's a 15min walk.

Closest to SPAC is Hilton Garden Inn - easy 10min walk to SPAC. But it's a longer walk into town so pick your poison. Traffic in & out of events can be a pain, so I always walk or bike. There may also be a shuttle to/from town, but I'd have to look up details if that is of interest. Personally I think the downtown hotel location is preferred.

The train station is 1.5mi outside town, so I'm not quite sure what hotel's tomfuller is referring to that are 1/2 mi from Amtrak.

I will return with restaurant and activity info - I have a list of ~40 restaurants listing my most/least favorite I need to update with my latest 2c.

Basics: Driving up from the south. We have a room at the Saratoga Arms. The restaurants that caught my eye on the internet are, so far, 13 Church, Sperry's, Old Bryan Inn, Mio Posto, and Maestro's. We will arrive on a Thursday, leave Sunday. We have tickets at SPAC for Friday night and Saturday afternoon. I expect to visit the farmer's market Saturday am. Obviously, we won't visit every restaurant, probably a special meal Saturday night, something simple that will let us get to the theater Friday evening (picnic?), lunches (probably light), and who knows Thursday pm. Hotel includes breakfast. We plan to walk and shop and taste and so on. I assume no horses out of season.

Thanks for any information that may help us.

No horses out of season but the practice track will be open & very busy and it's a fun place to visit early in the morning to watch the thoroughbreds train. ~7am to 11am is when they run. You an drive right into the practice track area at the corner of East & Union, or bike over there from town - I don't recall if if Arms has loaner bikes. If you are driving, consider bringing bikes.

Saratoga Arms - excellent choice. Breakfast is included. Chef will make you just about anything you want. She's great.

Restaurants on your list.
15 Church - great choice. Expensive to very expensive, but excellent food & wine list. They have a new patio opening up any day now, so that will greatly increase their capacity. Reservation required.

Sperry's - also excellent - one of the top in town.

Old Bryan Inn - avoidable. Food is ok, but nothing unique or remarkable.

Mio Posto. Never been there, and I know nothing about it.

Maestro's has been hit or miss for me. Sometimes good to very good, sometimes merely so-so. Fun place to go for a drink on the patio though.

For picnic, easiest will be to get sandwiches & salads to-go from some place like Putnam Market, or even from the supermarket (mini Price Chopper) that is 2min walk from your hotel. Plenty of places in town for lunch, ranging from sandwich shop to diners to burger joints/brew pubs. I think picnic in Spa park pre theater is ideal - you can drive in to Spa park earlier than traffic rush.

Farmers market is Saturdays 9-1. Not a lot of grab & go food, but always fun to browse & sample even if you aren't buying.

AJ, if you want, pm me at j62ny at yahoo and I'll send you my full restaurant list which includes breakfast, coffee shops, bars, etc, and I can also get into a lot more detail about shopping, or other activities than I'd post here on fodors.

I can also give you pointers on other leisure or fitness activities for you and/or Mrs P.

Thanks, J62. Got your restaurant email. Very useful.

I like Hattie's. In fact, is make the trip just to go there.

Happy to help AJ.

Now for activities.

There are the usual places - let's start with museums - there are several small museums in town.

- Horse Racing Hall of fame, near the track. Interesting if you are a thoroughbred racing fan
- Auto museum, near SPAC
- Nat'l Museum of Dance - south side of town
- NY Military Museum

http://www.saratogadowntown.com/sara...ny-museums.asp

If you are an avid fan of any of these topics, then you may find them intersting for a short vist. If not, that's ok.

There are also the Yaddo artists community (www.yaddo.org). The gardens are interesting, but I don't think the mansion is open to the public. It was for a short while last summer, but not sure about now. It is right next to I-87 Exit 14.

There are about 15 mineral springs around town, each with a different mineral content. Several in Congress park, another several by the Farmers Market, and others in Spa Park. www.saratoga.com/waters-of-saratoga/ As you are strolling around town it can be fun to seek out and sample the various waters.

You will notice around town ballet slipper sculptures (En Pointe). These were put up 2 yrs ago - I've counted 27 or 28 in total. Most are in their original locations, but some have moved. When they first went up I made it a point to search them all out. If you look, you'll come across about 10 or so in town without searching too much. I have a map if you want the treasure hunt. www.dancemuseum.org/enpointe.html

There are also horse sculptures that date from 2002. These are now more widely scattered. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sarato...63811313658239 I'm happy to say that my favorite, the icecream cone horse has been repaired and is not back in place at the Stewarts just 1/2 block to the left of your hotel.

Speaking of walking. My favorite place to walk is around Spa park. You can park near the baths then walk through the woods to the area that has several springs, and is where there used to be CO2 bottling plants ages ago. The Roosevelt baths are also open to the public - you can take a hot mineral bath for about $30 for an hour. The rooms will take you back to a different era, and no need for a fancy spa treatment.

I'll come back with shopping tips - several shops have either opened up or moved in the last year or so. Your hotel is located adjacent to & directly across the street from several shops. Numerous women's clothing stores. A great home/gallery shop is Silverwood - they just moved to Broadway. www.silverwoodgalleries.com. The owner, Charlene is wonderful.

I'll come back with more shopping ideas...

Thanks, J62. Used your helpful lists. Posted a trip report.

AJ