Upstate New York
 

We are traveling with another couple in September to upstate and western NY. We will have about 10 days total. We do not want to spend each night in a different hotel. Two nights min in each hotel. Probably starting in NYC airport and can fly out somewhere in the western part of the state. Saratoga or Buffalo? Need itinerary suggestions please.

You mention two extremely diverse places to visit. Saratoga is a charming, historic town in eastern NY State, north of Albany.
Buffalo is a large city in the west on Lake Erie. Not a tourist mecca but is near Niagara Falls. We arrived at our Buffalo hotel, looked around, canceled reservation and drove outside of the city to stay. And we love staying in cities.

A couple of years ago Saratoga was a fun September long weekend. The food tour was great. We also went over to VT for a historic house visit. Last year we went to the garlic festival and a great craft fair. The garlic festival is huge. We also did a Hudson River cruise which was fascinating as well as a visit to Olana, another historic home.

Saratoga is a charming little city close to a lot of open space in the Adirondacks and Hudson Valley. I've written many posts about things to do in the town/area that I can dig up from years past. September is quite busy with fall tourists and hotel prices have jumped up quite a bit in the last few years. There are chain hotels and smaller boutique hotels. You'll want to stay right in town so you can walk to dinner and entertainment.

What are your interests? I can taylor my response for a 2-3 day area itinerary for you.

We went for a long weekend to Saratoga Springs in 2015. Here is my report:

https://www.fodors.com/community/uni...rings-1064852/

The restaurant recs are out of date. Perhaps J62 can give current advice.

If there is a crafts fair in Rhinebeck or New Palz on your way north up the Hudson Valley, that could be fun. Also consider a stop at Storm King Art Center https://stormking.org/ and the Rockefeller estate Kikuit along the way: https://hudsonvalley.org/historic-si...feller-estate/

Has it really been 8 years AJPeabody? I guess I'll have to dig back further.... I can definitely update the Saratoga restaurant list. We haven't been going out as much as pre-covid but have some new places we like. There have been a number of changes over the years....Other info about the area is more timeless. We don't take any of the walking tours like the one dfrostnh mentioned since we live here so I'll defer to others reco's there....

One possible itinerary across upstate NY could be something like this... maybe 3 or 4 locations with 2-3 days at each. The distances between each aren't huge, but not really suitable for day trips between the list below.

a) lower/mid Hudson valley. Many here on fodors have visited there, YK, AJ and others...
b) Saratoga area - I can weigh in.
c) mountains (Adirondacks) - more outdoorsey - hiking, kayaking, or scenic boat tours, etc. If you are here in late September the area around Lake Placid will have great color starting as soon as the last week of Sept.
d) Finger Lakes - others can weigh in...
e) Niagara Falls - I can't give any details on this. Went there once as a kid and haven't been back.... It's a long drive across NY State...

I live in Western NY and, while I probably wouldn't choose Buffalo as a vacation spot, there are a lot of things to do in and around Buffalo and September is a nice time of year. You don't necessarily have to stay in the downtown area but I guess it depends on what you want to do. I don't really understand the question about whether you should go to Saratoga or Buffalo. They are not close to each other. Saratoga is the capital district. Buffalo is in western NY, more than 4 hours west of Saratoga. If your end point is Saratoga, you may be better off just driving back to the NYC airports for your departure. Alternatively, you could fly out of Albany. What is best for you might depend on your final destination. I think we need more information about what you are interested in before recommending itineraries.

Adirondack Park has more public land than Yellowstone Park, which is the second largest national park in the Lower 48! The park contains the largest protected wilderness area east of the Mississippi including the High Peaks Wilderness Area (34 mountains over 4,000 feet) with many fine hiking trails. There are some wilderness areas in the park which have never seen a footprint or axe. There is lots to do in Lake Placid. Ausable Chasm and High Falls Gorge - offer stunning views of river gorges.

For me upstate NY begins above Westchester county. It would include the Hudson River Valley with its walk over the river

https://flic.kr/p/8KzYE5
the Storm King Art Center

https://flic.kr/p/2hKNi3H
The Roosevelt compound

https://flic.kr/p/8KwT8g
the Vanderbilt mansion

https://flic.kr/p/8KwSCa
Olana

https://flic.kr/p/8KA2Xu
on the way to Saratoga or Buffalo. I would not write off Buffalo which offers tours of Frank Lloyd Wright houses and other structures

https://flic.kr/p/2hJnBG1
and a downtown with Art Deco buildings:

https://flic.kr/p/2hJjUGS https://flic.kr/p/2hJjZaj

Things to see in central Upstate New York are the Eastman museum (900 East Avenue Rochester NY) and the Strong Museum of Play which has probably the largest collection of dolls and other toys in the world. In Corning NY, visit the Corning Museum of Glass. There are several good wineries in the Finger Lakes region. The one that I am familiar with is Bully Hill on the hill above Hammondsport. It was founded by a Mr. Taylor but he was not allowed to put even his signature on the labels of his wine. (decided by the NY State Supreme court). He described the wine sold by his brothers as "tank car wine".
Another place I visited several times was the 3.2 mile racecourse at Watkins Glen. My first memory of it was when I was there for the Grand Prix of the US (early 1960's).
If you did not want to fly into Rochester, you could ride Amtrak on either the Lake Shore Limited, the Maple Leaf or one of the Empire Service trains. The Maple Leaf has stops in Syracuse, Rochester, Niagara Falls, NY, Niagara Falls Ontario and ends in Toronto.

My office is in the Electric Tower (last pic).