840 Best Sights in New York, USA

America's love affair with the car is celebrated in this museum in a former bottling plant in Saratoga Spa State Park. Included are three galleries and an orientation theater. Changing exhibits display classic and racing cars.

The museum, on the grounds of Saratoga Raceway, displays antique horseshoes, high-wheeled sulkies (the two-wheeled vehicles used for harness racing), and horse-related artwork.

The Battle of Saratoga, fought 12 mi southeast of Saratoga Springs at this site in 1777, is recognized as the turning point in the American Revolution. The visitor center at the Route 32 entrance provides historic information and an orientation to the park, which encompasses the battlefield and two sites in the nearby villages of Schuylerville and Victory. Ten stops along a 9½-mi tour road through the battlefield explain the battle and its significance. Reenactments and other living-history programs are scheduled throughout the summer. The road is popular with bicyclists in warm-weather months and, when closed to traffic in winter, with cross-country skiers. The John Neilson House, the only structure standing on the battlefield that was here in the time of the Battle of Saratoga, might have served as headquarters for Benedict Arnold.

Developed for the study and therapeutic use of the mineral springs here, this 2,200-acre park is now listed on the National Historic Register of Historic Places. It is home to the Gideon Putnam Resort and Spa, the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, the Lincoln and Roosevelt baths, the Spa Little Theatre, and eight active springs. Recreational facilities include walking trails, 36 holes of golf, two pools, clay and asphalt tennis courts, picnic facilities, an ice-skating rink, and 12 mi of cross-country skiing trails.

After more than four decades of laughs, SNL continues to push buttons and nurture comedic talents. All "live from New York." Requests for advance tickets (two per applicant) must be submitted during the month of August by email only, sent to  [email protected]; you may ask for a ticket for either the dress rehearsal (8 pm) or the live show (11:30 pm). All recipients are determined by lottery. Standby ticket reservations for up to four people open at 10 am on the Thursday prior and are distributed at 12:01 am on the day of the show; see the NBC ticket website for information. You must be 16 or older to sit in the audience.

A stenciled floor and a huge 1930s dollhouse are among the highlights of this museum, which fills the 1896 Georgian-style Dora Jackson House with its 18th-century furniture, paintings, costumes, toys, and household and military items. The Grems-Doolittle Library has Revolutionary War records, newspapers from the 1800s, and the papers of Charles Steinmetz, an inventor who developed alternate-current motors.

Early televisions and kitchen appliances are part of a vast General Electric archive that traces the city's scientific and cultural history. Interactive children's displays explore science and technology.

Five miles west of Amsterdam is the only site with structures dating from all three stages of the Erie Canal's evolution, including the Schoharie Aqueduct. The earliest parts date from 1817. Exhibits in the visitor center show how the canal developed and include dress-up and coloring activities for children. The site has a small-boat launch and hiking, cross-country skiing, and bike trails.

Philip Schuyler, a Revolutionary War general, was the original owner of this 1763 Georgian mansion. George Washington and Benjamin Franklin were among the notable figures who visited the house. Tours of the national historic landmark (the only way to see the interior) feature original family furnishings, artifacts, and paintings.

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.

Founded by artists in 1928 to exhibit innovative contemporary work, SculptureCenter occupies a former trolley repair shop that was renovated by artist Maya Lin in 2002 and expanded by Andrew Berman Architect in 2014; it's not far from MoMA PS1. Indoor and outdoor exhibition spaces close between shows; see the website for details or call ahead before visiting.

This tiny village 4 mi north of Roslyn is filled with turn-of-the-20th-century homes, most lovingly restored to their original grandeur. Shops and restaurants in the village make it a pleasant destination for an afternoon visit.

At the Sea Cliff Village Museum, displays of documents and photos trace the history of Sea Cliff. A scale model of a village Victorian house is also on exhibit.

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.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, a pioneer of modernist architecture, built this boxlike bronze-and-glass tower in 1958, and it remains a must-visit for architecture buffs. The austere facade belies its wit: I-beams, used to hold buildings up, here are merely attached to the surface, representing the idea of structural support. The Seagram Building's innovative ground-level plaza, extending out to the sidewalk, has since become a common element in urban skyscraper design, but at the time it was built, it was a radical announcement of a new, modern era of American architecture. With its two giant fountains and welcoming steps, the plaza also is a popular lunch spot for Midtown workers. Visit late in the afternoon to avoid crowds.

The Seaway Trail is a 454-mi federally recognized scenic byway along the shores of Lakes Erie and Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. Nine rooms in the Discovery Center present interactive exhibits that explain life along the water. Displays include agriculture, history, culture, lighthouses, architecture, and recreation.

The second house built in Montauk, this 1700s farmhouse holds a collection of early photos and artifacts that depict the era when it was surrounded by pastures, sheep, and cattle. Now enveloped by gorgeous lawns, rose gardens, and hydrangeas, it is the site of daily tours and two well-attended summer crafts fairs in July and August.

The cave was discovered in 1928 on a farm just outside Cobleskill. An hour-long guided tour takes you 85 feet down, via winding stairs, and features fossils, stalagmites and stalactites, natural domes, and a 100-foot-high waterfall. The cavern temperature is usually 50°F, so dress accordingly.

Elaborate woodwork and Victorian furniture decorate the 1855 Queen Anne mansion on Cayuga Street, which is lined with grand homes. A female ghost is said to wander its 23 rooms.

The history and current culture of the Seneca Nation and of the Iroquois Confederacy is explored at this museum on the Allegany Indian Reservation. Displays include a partially reconstructed longhouse, silver and beadwork, baskets, corn-husk items, sculptures, and paintings.

More than 30 wineries make up the Seneca Lake Wine Trail. Some favorites are Fox Run Vineyards in Penn Yan, Glenora Wine Cellars in Dundee, and Lamoreaux Landing Wine Cellars in Lodi.

Other wineries near Geneva that are worth checking out are White Springs Winery, Billsboro Winery, and Ventosa Vineyards. For information, contact the Seneca Lake Wine Trail.

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.

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.

William H. Seward (1801–72), a governor of New York, U.S. senator, and secretary of state under Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson, lived in this distinguished Federal-style home. The Seward family occupied the house (built in 1816–17) until 1951, and virtually every object here—the furnishings, the library, the tableware—was theirs.

Through exhibits and tours, the preservation group details the history of the Shaker movement. The site was home to the first Shaker settlement in the United States; it started in 1776 with about a dozen members and grew to about 350 members at its peak, in the mid-1900s. The 1848 meetinghouse, a clapboard structure with a tin roof, was the third meetinghouse built here. Guided tours ($3; Saturday 11:30 and 1:30) are available June through October.

You can learn about the daily life of the Shakers from one of the largest collections focusing on their culture. The extensive array of clothing and household textiles on exhibit is a highlight. The series of red barns also displays furniture, tools, machinery, and decorative objects from all of the major Shaker communities.

The center, in a log building on the grounds of the Oneida Indian Nation, has exhibits highlighting baskets, beadwork, dolls, and wampum. You may also learn about the role of the Oneida Nation during the American Revolution, when it sided with the rebels rather than with the British.

These open meadows and broken woods shelter kildeers, Northern harrier hawks, several types of flycatchers, a few warblers, woodpeckers, eastern kingbirds, and bluebirds. In spring, listen for the evening mating rituals of American woodcocks. In fall, watch for the occasional peregrine falcon—a few breeding pairs nest in the nearby cliffs. In spring through late summer, visitors can see bobolinks and Eastern meadowlarks nesting.