The Finger Lakes
We’ve compiled the best of the best in The Finger Lakes - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
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1. Strong National Museum of Play
Play is taken seriously at the second-largest children's museum in the country, home to the world's largest collection of toys, dolls, and play-related artifacts and to the National Toy Hall of Fame. Within its 282,000-square-foot footprint are interactive exhibits like Reading Adventureland, where you follow a yellow-brick road into a pop-up book of life-size literary creations; Sesame Street (created in collaboration with Sesame Workshop); a pint-size market where kids run the store; and an indoor butterfly garden and aquarium. Also on display are some of dolls and dollhouses of museum founder Margaret Woodbury Strong (1897–1969), who collected some 17,000 dolls throughout her life.
1 Manhattan Sq., Rochester, New York, 14607, USA585-263--2700Sight Details
Rate Includes: $15 -
2. Glenn H. Curtiss Museum
Just outside Hammondsport, this museum honors Curtiss and his early aviation experiments. The Hammondsport native made the first public preannounced flight when he flew his June Bug plane more than 5,000 feet outside the village on July 4, 1908. Exhibits include aircraft, engines, a collection of antique motorcycles, and hands-on models for kids. A restoration shop is open to the public and staff is available to answer questions.
8419 State Rte. 54, Hammondsport, New York, 14840, USA607-569--2160Sight Details
Rate Includes: $12 -
3. Museum of Science and Technology
Walk through replicas of the human heart and brain; crawl, jump, and slide through the five-floor Science Playhouse; and learn about cave formations exploring the Discovery Cave. The MOST, as it's called, is a hands-on science museum built to entertain and educate. It occupies a former armory and includes an IMAX theater.
500 S. Franklin St., Syracuse, New York, 13202, USA315-425--9068Sight Details
Rate Includes: $20, Closed Mon.--Tues., Wed.–Sun. 10–5 -
4. Museum of the Earth
Experience the natural history of New York State through exhibits called "Beneath an Ancient Sea," "Where Dinosaurs Walked," and "A World Carved by Ice." Whale and mastodon skeletons, along with audiovisual theater presentations, help prepare museumgoers for hands-on labs featuring fossils, dinosaurs, and ice. The on-site Paleontological Research Institution runs the museum.
1259 Trumansburg Rd., Ithaca, New York, 14850, USA607-273--6623Sight Details
Rate Includes: $9, Closed Tues.--Wed. in winter, Late May–early Sept. Mon.–Sat. 10–5, Sun. 11–5; early Sept.–late May, Mon. and Thurs.–Sat. 10–5, Sun. 11–5. -
5. National Soaring Museum
Dozens of sailplanes and gliders, dating from the late 19th to the late 20th century, are on display at this museum, part of Harris Hill Park. Movies and exhibits help explain and explore the heritage of gliding. You can even take a sailplane ride ($70; April–November weather permitting; reservations required).
51 Soaring Hill Dr., Elmira, New York, 14903, USA607-734--3128Sight Details
Rate Includes: $7.50, Closed Mon.--Tues. Jan.--Feb., Daily 10–5 -
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6. Open Hand Theater/International Mask & Puppet Museum
A multicultural approach helps children enjoy the fine arts through masks and puppets, ranging from English marionettes to Indonesian shadow puppets. Performances are given at 11 am on some Saturdays from October to April. The theater also has a storytelling series. Browse masks, puppets, and traditional wooden toys in the gift shop.
3649 Erie Blvd. E., Syracuse, New York, 13214, USA315-476--0466Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free, Museum by appointment Fri. 10–4 year-round, and 1st 2 Sat. of month Oct.–Apr. 10–12:30 -
7. Rochester Museum & Science Center
Everyone in the family can play with hands-on exhibits that focus on science and technology and their impact on our daily lives, as well as some nature and local cultural-heritage exhibits. Highlights include Light Here/Light Now, an optics exhibit; the interactive Expedition Earth, which delves into how the region was formed; a Seneca Indian exhibit; and the Strasenburgh Planetarium, which presents astronomy and laser-light shows and large-format films about space and Earth.
657 East Ave., Rochester, New York, 14607, USA585-271--4320Sight Details
Rate Includes: $15, Mon.–Sat. 9–5, Sun. noon–5 -
8. Rosamond Gifford Zoo at Burnet Park
Part of the half-mile loop at this zoo is a treetop boardwalk that allows you to traipse above fields of reindeer and other hoofed animals. You can touch the Asian elephants, which have been bred here for decades. Sand cats, ocelots, meerkats, penguins, red pandas, and Amur tigers reside here, too, along with hundreds of other animals. A reptile house and a free-flight aviary are among the indoor exhibits.
1 Conservation Pl., Syracuse, New York, 13204, USA315-435--8511Sight Details
Rate Includes: $9, Daily 10–4:30 -
9. Sciencenter
A tide-pool touch tank and a two-story kinetic ball sculpture are among the 100-plus exhibits at this hands-on museum catering to youngsters. The Sagan Planetwalk, a to-scale solar-system walking tour around the city, honors scientist Carl Sagan, who taught at Cornell University. Outside there's a wooden playground.
601 1st St., Ithaca, New York, 14850, USA607-272-0600Sight Details
Rate Includes: $8, Closed Mon., Tues.–Sat. 10–5, Sun. noon–5 -
10. Seabreeze Amusement Park
The Jack Rabbit, a wooden roller coaster built in 1920, is the most famous ride at this park on the Lake Ontario shore. Sampling all the water rides, the log flume, the carousel, the bumper cars, and the midway makes for a very full day.
4600 Culver Rd., Rochester, New York, 14622, USA585-323--1900Sight Details
Rate Includes: Ride and slide pass $34.99, Mid-June–early Sept., Sun.–Thurs. noon–10, Fri. and Sat. noon–11; late May–mid-June, call for days and hrs -
11. Seneca Museum of Waterways and Industry
Why did reform movements flourish in the Finger Lakes? Many of the answers are at this museum, where narratives of water power, transportation, industry, and cultural history are interwoven to tell the story of 19th-century Seneca Falls. The museum has interactive exhibits for kids, who are urged to ask questions of tour guides.
89 Fall St., Seneca Falls, New York, 13148, USA315-568--1510Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free, Closed Sun. Jan.--Mar., Closed Sun. (Jan-Mar) -
12. Seneca Park Zoo
Exhibits at this zoo along the Genesee River include Rocky Coasts, providing aboveground and underwater viewing of a polar bear, penguins, and sea lions; A Step Into Africa, a re-creation of Tanzania's Ngorongoro Crater with African elephants and olive baboons; and a cougar exhibit in which you can crawl through a tunnel to see the cats up close. During your day in the wild, you might also spot Bornean orangutans, white rhinos, Arctic wolves, and meerkats, among other beasts.
2222 St. Paul St., Rochester, New York, 14621, USA585-336--7200Sight Details
Rate Includes: $12, Nov.–Mar., daily 10–4; Apr.–Oct., daily 10–5
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