I would love to visit NY in the fall and go wine tasting, apple picking, and visit country shops. Any suggestions for all or some? Thanks.

Canandaigua is nice.Theatre and wine tasting. Do a search on yahoo.
1000 islands is also nice.

The Finger Lakes Region is amazing, especially in the Fall. There are many excellent wineries, plenty of nice places to stay - some lakefront, great restaurants and nice country shops throughout the Region. Hammondsport at the south end of Keuka Lake is a quaint, pretty village. Watkins Glen has lots to do including the beautiful State Park right in town. (One of the prettiest NY state parks in my opinion). Some of my favorite wineries are near Lodi on the east side of Seneca Lake, but there are so many good ones, it's hard to say which is the best. Keuka Lake has many amazing ones too! We've spent a lot of time out there and drink lots of Finger Lakes wine so if you have any questions, I'll be happy to help.

OK, I don't want to derail this too much, but after a certain squabble about whether you can include parts of "upstate New York" within the area called "New England" (ans: resoundingly no), I'd like to open the question about what constitutes "Upstate" NY. It seems to me New Yorkers (from the city) only seem to be referring to the area between Westchester and Albany, but when I lived in Rochester, I heard people refer to their own city as being in "upstate," while others seemed to be referring to the area north of Albany up to Plattsburgh, including the 1000 Islands.

I usually call the area west of, oh, say Syracuse, "Western New York" but I'm wondering how Fodorites see it.

And yes, the Finger Lakes region really is nice, including Canandaigua. Our 8 hr. honeymoon was spent at Letchworth State Park. Check this website: http://www.nywine.com/index.asp

Soccer
I am a former WNY'er. I lived in Amherst,NY. about20 miles outside of Buffalo area. We always get referred to "Oh ..you are in upstate nY area!". Western Ny region is from Buffalo to albany I believe or at least Syracuse.....to Lake Placid and catskills....We are always called WNy orkers........upstate..BUT yet..we arent truly really wayyyyy upstate as Lake placid!LOL..
just had to let you or anyone else know!!!
Finger lakes are beautiful too by the way,, I live in Mass. now , and lived in NY all 30 something years!

I don't know what direction you're coming from, but we stop every fall, at least once or twice [on the way to Amherst to visit daughter in college/grad. school at UB] at one or two apple orchards on Rt. 20, west of Rt. 81. There are also a couple cute shops. One craft type store also sold apples, and is a fun place to browse through.

I can't advise on wineries, since we usually save that for either Long Island or Canada [above Niagara on the Lake]

If you can get there, Letchworth Park is a beautiful, tranquil place to visit. Seneca Falls is a really cute town, and Skaneateles is also very charming.

I live in Syracuse NY.
I at times will say I'm from upstate Ny but it is really central NY.
Some people I talk to think anything other than NYC is upstate. SOmetimes it's just easier to just say upstate I think.

Lafayette area has some of the best apple picking and fun orchards!!
Skaneateles is beautiful in the fall and has nice litle shops.
You can't go wrong in the finger lake area and up North for the leaves.

My relatives, who live just north of Watkins Glen, which they just call Watkins, consider themselves as being from the 'Southern Tier' upstate is usually around the Hudson valley area. I grew up on Long Island so everything past NYC was upstate.

As for an answer to the question the FInger Lakes have it all.

In my view (grew up in NJ), pretty much anything in NY state that is not New York City is "upstate." So that includes Albany, Syracuse, Ithaca, Buffalo, Rochester, etc.

Yes, the squabble or one of them, happened when I made my trip report, calling Rhinebeck, and the Hudson Valley region, UPSTATE
Which, like jay and others, means anything UP(north) of NYC.
So, along those lines, I will still recommend, that area. It is not quite 2 hours north of Manhattan, many wineries - Cascade in Amenia, Millbrook in Millbrook and Clinton in Clinton!
Apple picking all over Rhinebeck and Red Hook, our favorite is Greig Farms, on Rt 9 past Red Hook for apple and pumpkin picking.
All over the area are places to shop, small town shopping, plenty of antiquing. If you want to go as far north as Hudson, you will find a town made up almost entirely of Antique shops. And a few nice places to eat.
That is all I can think of now because I have to think of something to make for dinner

The Glenora winery has a nice inn.They have a web site. I've never actually stayed there. It's pretty new. Fall will be busy - book now before the leaf peepers. Probably would only stay a couple of nights and then switch to someplace else.

Okay... I'll bite on this one and am sure to have folks disagree but here goes:

Buffalo and points west towards Ohio = Western NY / Niagara Frontier

Rochester heading east through Utica and also south to the edge of the Finger Lakes area and north to about Watertown and Oswego = Central NY

Finger Lakes = Finger Lakes

Heading past the Finger lakes going west towards Elmira, Jamestown etc = Southern Tier

Adirondacks area and anything much north of Albany = Northern NY

Albany, Troy and Schenectady areas = Capitol Region

South of Albany to just North of Westchester = Hudson Valley

Westchester to NYC = Downstate to everyone north of Westchester and Upstate to folks in NYC Metro area

Oddly enough I don't think there's any area really referred to as Southern NY.

Many folks in Central NY refer to the area as Upstate and the current State University Medical Center in Syracuse was in fact officially known as Upstate Medical center for many years.

I think you are pretty much on target there Owen.
By the way... many of us in Syracuse still call University Hospital... Upstate.
Cental NY is a great Place... we have the great New York State Fair here !

Laura02fan -- Would definitely stay around the Finger Lakes area -- most concentrated area regarding wineries, and other things to do. There are a TON of state parks (Ithaca, Watkins are the best), and all are within minutes drives of wineries. Here's another web-site for you: www.uncorkny.com. I'm from the area, and agree with sharondi - its a great place to be (and in a pretty central location no matter where you come from (Philly, NYC, Boston, etc). Have fun and let us know how it goes!

Many of the "central New York Towns have apple festivals...Cortland for example, Staying in the Syracuse Area would allow you to access Farmers market on a Saturday morning, and then the Cortland Apple Festival... Skaneateles (Sherwood Inn) is a nice place to rest your head.

Cayuga lake is nice. They have wine tastings and the town of Ithaca has some cultural life.

One correction to Owen's post - Rochester is considered part of western NY, not central.

That being said, there are many very scenic spots in the Finger Lakes region for fall foliage, winery tours, and country shops.

Thanks to everybody!!! I have had a great time researching the area, using all of the great tips u have shared with me.
Can't wait to visit!!!

Check out the Gemesee Country Museum. It's fabulous. Look at their web site.

I live in Syracuse and have relatives in Cortland. Never heard of the Cortland Apple festival but the LaFayette festival is a favorite of mine. It's great !!!!