Exploring the Area

So much to see and do... be sure to check out the excellent RocWiki People's Guide to Rochester site for all things Rochester!

Get busy – with the kids at Strong Museum… shop and eat on Monroe, Park, Clinton, and South Avenues… volunteer with one of our zillion community groups and agencies... feel proud of your town at the Susan B. Anthony House... cruise the East End on a Friday night… take a dance or yoga class... fill your brain at our terrific libraries...

Find your zone – in Olmsted-designed gardens and parks … in a triathlon…in historic Mt. Hope Cemetery… meditating at the Zen Center…having a drink in a cozy restaurant on Park ... on a bike ride through the Finger Lakes … at the end of a fishing pier, watching the sun set over Lake Ontario.

Overload your senses – at our festivals … in a small, crowded club, or in the majestic Eastman Theater… with big-city fireworks over the skyline on the Fourth of July … at the Rochester Public Market on a Saturday morning … with Degas or Monet at MAG… on a hot-air balloon ride over the Letchworth gorge… at a Red Wings baseball game.


Here's a taste of Rochester fun:

Pro sports
After a record-setting 41 years with the Baltimore Orioles, the Triple A Rochester Red Wings have switched their affiliation to the Minnesota Twins organization. … Local soccer fans turn out in noisy droves to cheer on the Rochester Raging Rhinos. Major League Soccer is eyeing Rochester as a potential expansion team. … Lacrosse enthusiasts have plenty to cheer about: Rochester has two professional teams. The Knighthawks play box lacrosse, an intense, indoor Canadian form of the game, in the Blue Cross Arena from December to April. The Rattlers, our major league lacrosse team, play outdoors from June to August against Boston, Baltimore and others.

For the rest of us, recreational leagues abound for rubgy, lacrosse, soccer (indoor and outdoor), squash, baseball, softball, basketball, hockey and other sports. We have cycling, running and mountain-climbing clubs, too.

Outdoor sports
Rochesterians live outside in the summer and fall. (Some of us even love the long, snowy winters!) Just a sample of things to do, no matter what the weather's like:

Bicycling clubs tackle hills in the Finger Lakes and cruise flat, windy stretches along Lake Ontario. Runners have their pick of races every weekend, and the trails to train on.

Boating is big on Lake Ontario, the Genesee River, the Erie Canal and the Finger Lakes. If you enjoy canoeing and kayaking, you'll find good company here. As for golf, Rochester has a rich tradition on the links. We have some 80 courses in the area and have hosted major PGA events, including the Ryder Cup in '95 and the Championship in 2003. The Wegmans Rochester LPGA is an annual event. Skiers and snowboarders love Rochester winters. For nearby slopes, they go to Brantling Ski and Snowboard Center, Bristol Mountain Winter Resort, Holiday Valley and Swain Ski and Snowboard Center. Ice skaters can practice the Hamill Camel at Manhattan Square Park ice rink downtown, the indoor Genesee Valley Ice Rink at Genesee Valley Park, and a little pond at the edge of Highland Park on South Avenue, next to School No. 12. (You won't freeze your fingers lacing your skates; there's a warming hut.) Rinks in neighboring towns offer open skating, too.

Dining
Rochesterians love to eat out. You won't find Chinatown or Little Italy here, but you'll find plenty of restaurants serving those cuisines all around the area. We have long-established, quality Indian restaurants, as well as Thai, Japanese and pan-Asian. High-end restaurants cater to eclectic tastes. Popular barbecue joints serve up music along with the ribs. Diners abound, as do traditional, family-run bakeries, particularly in the city. And city dwellers have their pick of trendy spots to enjoy a cup of coffee and a good book.

Arts
Rochester has a big-city vibe when it comes to art, music, theater and dance. We give you all the details on the Arts page.

Museums
Rochesterians have a deep curiosity about the history of this region and the culture that has risen out of it. If you visit these museums, you'll see what we mean.

Campbell-Whittlesey House

Charlotte-Genesee Lighthouse and Keeper's Residence Museum

Chili Doll Hospital and Victorian Doll Museum

Visiting the Planetarium at Rochester Museum & Science Center

Ganondagan State Historic Site

Genesee Country Village and Museum

George Eastman House

Granger Homestead and Carriage Museum

High Falls Heritage Area

Jello-O Museum and Gallery

New York Museum of Transportation

Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum

Rochester Museum and Science Center

Stone-Tolan House

Strong Museum

Susan B. Anthony House

Underground Railroad sites

Gardens and Parks
Abundant plant nurseries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries earned Rochester the Flower City nickname. Though the big plant and seed companies have disappeared, they left a city rich in plant life. Frederick Law Olmsted, the renowned landscape architect, designed the major Rochester parks—Genesee Valley, Highland, Maplewood and Seneca. His firm created many smaller spaces as well, including Brown Square, Washington Square and Cobb's Hill Park. With such a rich landscape legacy, Rochesterians treasure their parks and gardens.

Parks
Monroe County's 21 parks contain nearly 12,000 acres of woods, wetlands, waterways and meadows.

Gardens
Warner Castle – features an Alling DeForest sunken garden, 5 Castle Park, corner of Mt. Hope Avenue and Reservoir St.

Maplewood Park and Rose Garden – Lake and Driving Park Avenues

Highland Park – a mature, Olmsted-designed arboretum with more than 6,200 plants, entrances on South Avenue and Goodman Street

Lamberton Conservatory – year-round plant and flower displays, on Reservoir Drive in Highland Park

Ellwanger Garden - a spring garden, open seasonally, 625 Mt Hope Avenue, call 546-7029 x10 for more info

Durand Eastman Park – 63-acre arboretum, Lakeshore Boulevard

George Eastman House – restored gardens, 900 East Ave.

Sonnenberg Garden – 151 Charlotte St., Canandaigua

Special Events
Rochester has a festival (or two or three) every weekend of the summer. A few of our unique offerings, plus some of the most popular festivals:

Lakeside Winter Celebration

Lilac Festival in May

Maplewood Rose Festival in June

Corn Hill Arts Festival in July

Park Ave. Summer Art Fest in August

MAG's Clothesline Festival in September

Naples Grape Festival

High Falls Film Festival

ImageOut

Rochester Jewish Film Festival

Rochester MusicFest

Rochester International Jazz Festival

Oktoberfest in Irondequoit

Lakeside Winter Celebration

Sterling Renaissance Festival

Hill Cumorah Pageant

Monroe County Fair


Amusement parks 
Seabreeze, Six Flags Darien Lake, Roseland Water Park

Race tracks
Batavia Downs, Finger Lakes Race Track, Watkins Glen International

Boat tours
Sam Patch (262-5661), Spirit of Rochester, (865-4930)Canandaigua Lady (394-5365), Colonial Belle, Harbor Town Belle (800-836-8930)

Wineries
New York state is second in the country in wine production. The nearby Finger Lakes region leads the state in the number of wineries, and they produce award-winning chardonnay, Riesling, gewurztraminer and pinot noir wines. Tours of the region have exploded in popularity over the last decade. Many wineries are open all year. If you like combining fall foliage tours with festive crowds, autumn is an exciting time to visit. If you want to linger and learn, with more elbow room at the tasting bar, visit during the winter.

Canandaigua Wine Trail is the newest and closest wine trail in the lakes. Cayuga Wine Trail is the farthest from Rochester, but worth the drive. You might as well visit Ithaca, on the lake's southern end, while you're there. Wineries on tiny Keuka Lake are close together. Stop in Hammondsport for antiques and a bite to eat. Seneca Lake Wine Trail has the most wineries of any of the lakes. Member wineries in the new Finger Lakes Wine Guild produce food-oriented wines from classic European grape varieties—with a Finger Lakes twist.

Erie Canal
The canal is right in our back yard, convenient for a lunchtime stroll or after-work bike ride. But now you can rent a boat for overnight cruises on the Erie Canal. (And you don't need a mule named Sal.) Learn more about the Erie Canal in the Landmark Society's book Erie Canal Legacy or enjoy the Songs of the Erie Canal CD.


Not in Rochester…but close enough!
Everybody loves a road trip. We have some suggestions for easy destinations not far from Rochester:

Letchworth State Park
The Grand Canyon of the East is the deepest canyon east of the Mississippi. The wooded gorge has three major waterfalls as high as 600 feet in some places, and miles of trails offer scenic outlooks. (The Mount Morris Dam, built deep in the gorge in the mid-20th century, protects Rochester from the regular severe floods that used to plague our area.) The historic Glen Iris Inn offers meals and accommodations…or just bring a tent.

Finger Lakes
Downstaters call it "rural chic." You'll see vineyards sloping gently down to pristine lakes in this part of New York. A weekend at a bed and breakfast might include hiking or biking, wine tasting, antique shopping, or picking up homemade bread or fresh produce at a roadside stand. A little bit of Provence in our own back yard.

Seneca Falls
At the Women's Rights National Historical Park, you'll hear the story of the start of the women's rights movement. It all began in this little central New York village. Locals held the first women's rights convention in 1848 in the Wesleyan Chapel, one of four historical properties that make up the park. Rochester's Susan B. Anthony, who joined the effort four years later, became the movement's leading voice for reform.

Ithaca
You could spend a day visiting Cayuga Lake wineries and end it in Ithaca, the funky college town at the southern tip of the lake. Some ideas for a weekend: Tour the campuses of Cornell University and Ithaca College. Hike and swim in area parks. Eat at the world-famous Moosewood Restaurant. Buy local art in a shop on the Commons, a pedestrian mall in the center of town.