79 Best Sights in Albany and Central New York, New York

The ¼-mi-long, 98-acre concourse includes modern art and sculpture, the New York State Museum, the State Library, the elliptical performing-arts center, and the New York State Vietnam Memorial. At the center of the plaza is a rectangular reflecting pool. The capitol crowns the plaza's north end. On weekdays in July and August you can take a free hour-long tour, which examines the plaza's history, architecture, monuments, and artworks. Tours start at 11 and 1 at the concourse-level visitor center.

The institute is made up of a museum, an art school, and a performing-arts center. Its Museum of Art occupies two distinctly different buildings. The 1850 Italianate mansion, called Fountain Elms, has rooms of Victorian-era furnishings. The main gallery spaces are in the 1960 Philip Johnson structure, a rather austere building clad in polished granite. The holdings include 18th-, 19th-, and 20th-century American paintings, sculptures, and photographs; 19th- and 20th-century European paintings; Asian prints; and pre-Columbian artifacts. A highlight here is the collection of Hudson River School paintings, which include the four-part "Voyage of Life" series by Thomas Cole as well as works by Asher B. Durand and Frederic Church.

The ball that Babe Ruth hit for his 500th home run and Shoeless Joe Jackson's shoes are among the memorabilia that help to make this shrine to America's favorite pastime so beloved. Plaques bearing the pictures and biographies of major-league notables line the walls in the actual hall of fame. The museum also has multimedia displays, exhibits geared to children, and a research library with photos, documents, and videos. New hall members are inducted during a ceremony held on the grounds of Clark's Sports Center. The event, which may be scheduled for any weekend between June and August, is free.

It took more than 30 years to complete this grand building (1867–99), which incorporates elaborate carvings, interesting architectural elements, and eclectic styles. The 45-minute guided tour highlights the ornate Great Western Staircase (aka the Million Dollar Staircase)—which took 13 years and 600 stone carvers to complete—and, right over it, a 3,000-square-foot skylight that had been covered from World War II until 2002. Amid the carved faces adorning the staircase pillars are several famous visages. You can visit the legislative chambers and, when open, the governor's ceremonial offices. Tours begin at the visitor center on the concourse level of Empire State Plaza.

Bring your own sledgehammers and pry bars or rent them from the gift shop, stake a "claim," and begin your search for quarry. No matter where you prospect, you're not likely to be disappointed. Many open pits are an easy walk to the right or left of the visitor center, where you can see beads, stones, an extensive book section, and other rock-related items. You might venture up the steep hillside in hope of finding a pocket containing hundreds of "diamonds"—really quartz crystals with diamondlike facets. The views of the wooded valley and the Mohawk River are a find in themselves.

From Memorial Day weekend through Columbus Day, a 1950s-era locomotive chugs and whistles from Utica's historic Union Station on day trips into the Adirondack Wilderness via the Adirondack Scenic Railroad.

From April through October, you can tour the city in a land-and-water vehicle. The 75-minute tour starts on dry ground, cruising the streets of Albany to historic sites. The U.S. Coast Guard–certified vessel then plunges into the Hudson River to give you another perspective of the city skyline. Tours start at the Albany Heritage Area Visitors Center and depart in the morning and early afternoon.

The center's museum gallery is a good place for an orientation. Displays trace the city's history and define its neighborhoods; some include cultural artifacts. The center, downtown, has basic visitor information and often serves as a starting point for guided tours.

The 1791 museum, the state's oldest, has annual rotating exhibits and an impressive permanent collection that includes Hudson River School paintings and an Egyptian mummy exhibit. Silver, furniture, and contemporary-art collections cover regional history dating from the 1500s. The building, which combines a modern expansion with the original 18th-century space, is interesting architecturally.

The collection of paintings, largely by American artists, includes works by such well-known painters as Winslow Homer, Gilbert Stuart, Edward Hopper, John Singer Sargent, Mary Cassatt, Childe Hassam, Charles Burchfield, and Thomas Eakins. Twenty-one Homer paintings are lent out regularly to museums around the world.

Two gallery spaces display contemporary and folk pieces by local and regional artists. One- and two-day classes are offered in art, photography, writing, culinary arts, and crafts.

The country's oldest neo-Gothic cathedral, finished in 1852, has an imposing redbrick exterior with tall twin spires. Inside you find a high vaulted ceiling, stained-glass windows, and statues.

At this restored 1816 mill you can take a self-guided tour and watch the 12-foot-round waterwheel power the 1,400-pound millstone.

Kids can learn about Mohican life or bees and pollination through the interactive exhibits here, which cover science, history, and art.

At this museum with hands-on exhibits geared for kids three to ninash in a model diner.

American architect Henry Hobson Richardson, who also developed the state's capitol, designed this 1881 Romanesque revival–style structure. A 49-bell carillon, one of about 200 in the country, was added in 1927.

Italian gardens, ponds, fountains, and statuary punctuate wide lawns at this park in the heart of the city. Fifty cents buys you a ride on a carousel with 28 horses that were carved and painted about a century ago.

The Hudson River Way Pedestrian Bridge leads to this expansive green space along the Hudson River. A 5.3-mi trail, which can be used for biking and hiking, snakes through the preserve. At the north end are a public boat launch and a restaurant on a barge. June through August, the 800-seat amphitheater hosts musicians.

An elevator whisks you up 589 feet to the 42nd-floor observation deck of this building, the tallest structure in the state outside New York City. The views on a clear day include the Berkshire, Catskill, and Adirondack mountains. To get to the deck, you first must present a photo ID at the plaza-level security desk.

The 1849 Gothic Revival cottage, headquarters of the Madison County Historical Society, was designed by noted architect Alexander Jackson Davis. The group runs tours of the cottage, which contains seven rooms decked in period furnishings. Glassware from Canastota Glass and portraits of City of Oneida founder Sands Higinbotham and prominent abolitionist Garrett Smith are among the displays here. The building, which once belonged to Higinbotham's son Niles, includes a research library. Out back is the Hops Barn, where exhibits explain that the region was once the center of hops production for England. The annual summer Hops Festival celebrates this heritage.

Cruise through aviation history via dioramas, models, photos, and interactive displays at the Schenectady County Airport, near the spot where Charles Lindbergh landed in 1928. Take a ride in the simulated-flight reality vehicle, or get an up-close look at dozens of restored aircraft, which are parked all around the 27-acre site and include an F-14A Tomcat. In September, a museum-sponsored air show roars over the city.

Canal-history tours aboard the Lil' Diamond, a 36-passenger motorboat, take you from the docks at the Gems Along the Mohawk retail complex through Lock 18 and back. The tour takes about two hours, and the season runs from May to early October.

The 10 acres on which this museum is set have been dedicated to farming in one way or another since the days of James Fenimore Cooper. Stone structures that were once part of an actual farm now contain permanent and changing exhibits on agriculture, homemaking, and other aspects of farm life. Docents in period costumes mill about a village created with buildings that date from the 18th and 19th centuries and were moved here from several upstate communities. You can also inspect the livestock in the barns, wander through vegetable patches and herb gardens, and play with such historic toys as stilts and hoops and sticks. The museum celebrates a harvest weekend every year around mid-September.

Native, folk, fine, and decorative American art is displayed in a brick neoclassical mansion that dates from the 1930s. Paintings of landscapes and everyday scenes enlighten you on what this country was like in the 19th century. Sculptor John H. I. Browere's (1792–1834) bronze busts were made from life masks, so they truly depict such luminaries as Thomas Jefferson and Dolley and James Madison. Furniture, portraits, other artifacts shed light on James Fenimore Cooper and his family. Traveling exhibits are eclectic: one that explored the history of high-heeled shoes was held concurrently with another that had paintings of America's Western frontier. Photography and modern works by contemporary artists have been showcased, and so have Norman Rockwell illustrations. There's also an ever-changing roster of lectures, specialty tours, and book signings. The café, open during museum hours, serves tasty salads, soups, and other light fare.

Outdoor education programs, ¼- to 2-mi hiking and skiing trails, a wildlife garden, and an exhibit center with animals are at this 400-acre preserve 10 mi southwest of downtown. You can picnic on the grounds.

In 1758, during the French and Indian Wars, the British built a fort here to protect the strategic Oneida Carrying Place—a 1-mi-long area between the Mohawk River and Oneida Lake where boats had to be carried. It was part of the route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. A path here allows you to walk part of the Oneida Carrying Place. The British eventually abandoned the fort, which the American rebels took over at the start of the Revolutionary War. The fort came under attack by British forces, Tories, and their Indian allies for three weeks in August 1777, but the rebels were able to fend off the siege. The structure you see today is a reconstruction of that fort, which suffered a major fire and destructive floods after the Revolution.

The contains galleries large enough for oversize works and innovative installations, a 150-seat presentation room, and multimedia classrooms for lectures and film screenings. The rooftop is the setting for summer concerts.

The General Philip Schuyler House was the general's country home before its destruction by the British in 1777. Schuyler and his soldiers rebuilt it in 29 days. The house includes some original furnishings. It's open from late May through Labor Day, Wednesday through Friday 9:30–4:30; tours are given every half hour.

Enjoy average summer temperatures of 72°F in the deep woods of this state park on Otsego Lake 8 mi north of the village of Cooperstown. In warm months you can swim, hike, and fish. There's a concession stand as well as 80 campsites. In winter you can snowshoe, snow-tube, cross-country ski, and ice fish.

The Durham Reservoir, 20 mi of trails, and a series of ponds make this park a favorite place for such warm-weather activities as picnicking, swimming, fishing, hiking, and biking. In winter, cross-country skiers, snowshoers, and snowmobilers hit the trails, and ice-skaters take to the frozen water. The park is off Route 2 east of Troy.