by Parm Parmar
Last updated: 3:15 PM ET, Fri June 12, 2026
"New York in Bloom" is the I LOVE NY tourism office's spring banner: gardens flowering, trails reopening, and state parks shaking off winter.
On a recent week-long spring fam trip, 15 media and agency reps from the UK, Canada, and Germany set out from New York City to see what the state had on offer this season, covering roughly 500 miles between the Hudson Valley and Buffalo.
The Hudson Valley
The first leg began in the Hudson Valley, a 90-minute drive from NYC, with gardens, presidential history, Gilded Age estates, farm-to-table dining, and a destination resort all reachable in a single touring day.
The first stop was the Harvest Moon Farm & Orchard in North Salem, where the morning included a property tour and a tasting of ciders made on site. The orchard has grown into a weekend destination in its own right, with a pizza bar, apple-picking in season, and an active cider-making operation alongside the working farm. Windfall apples and fruit seconds that don’t make the farm store shelves go into the orchard’s Hardscrabble Cider line: small-batch, estate-pressed, with no added sugars. The lineup includes a crisp Dry to creative takes such as the beet-infused Black Dirt and a Spicy Jalapeño Cucumber.
Innisfree Park (Photo Credit: Parm Parmar)
Nearby, Innisfree Garden is a quieter garden and a must for serious garden travellers: a 185-acre landscape drawing on Chinese and Japanese garden design. From there, the day turned historical with a tour of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Home in Hyde Park, followed by a ten-minute drive to the Gilded Age estate and gardens of the Vanderbilt Mansion. One detail that stuck with the group: in most Gilded Age estates, the wealthy kept one flower garden for cutting and another for show.
The final stop was the Olana State Historic Site, the 250-acre landscape designed by Hudson River School painter Frederic Church. The hilltop house served as Church's home, studio, and working farm, and the property he constructed around it is now one of the most intact, artist-designed environments in the country. A brand-new visitor center welcomes guests at the start of the tour with exhibits, materials, and park advisors.
Mohonk Mountain House, New Paltz, New York (Photo Credit: Parm Parmar)
Overnight was at Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz, a Victorian castle resort, family-owned by the Smileys since 1869 and a National Historic Landmark. It's the kind of destination property that can anchor an entire Hudson Valley trip on its own, with full meal plans, hiking trails, and the lake at the door.
Travel tip: Fly into JFK, rent a car and head north.
Saratoga Springs
The Saratoga region is the easiest cluster to picture as a standalone trip. The whole town runs on a walkable grid, and the spa park, the Gideon Putnam Hotel and Spa, and the History Museum all sit close enough that an advisor can pretty much hand a client the plan and let the property handle the rest.
The afternoon began in Saratoga Spa State Park, a National Historic Landmark known for its classical architecture, mineral springs, and walking trails. The group sampled water at six of the springs — some were refreshing and others were memorably sulfurous.
The Gideon Putnam Hotel and Spa sits on the same campus, a historic property with the Roosevelt Baths and Spa next door. A free morning meant time to explore downtown Saratoga: tree-lined Broadway, boutique shopping, and the Saratoga Springs History Museum at the Canfield Casino, a 19th-century landmark housing more than 16,000 artifacts. In summer, the Saratoga Race Course brings a serious horse-racing crowd to town.
Travel tip: Albany International is the closest airport, roughly 40 minutes south. For Quebec clients, Saratoga is about a five-hour drive from Montreal.
The Finger Lakes and Western New York
The longest stretch of the trip carried the strongest themed experiences: wine country, a world-class glass museum, the most-photographed state park in New York, and a serious architecture finish at the Richardson Hotel in Buffalo.
After the cross-state drive from Saratoga, the group arrived at the Inns of Aurora on Cayuga Lake, a collection of restored historic homes spread across 350 acres above the water. The next morning, Aurora's Creative Director Alex Schloop walked the group through the five inns, and the level of attention across the public spaces and guest rooms registered quickly. Pleasant Rowland, the Wells College alumna and American Girl founder behind the restoration, has been involved at every level. Her own modern art collection anchors many of the rooms, with furniture and palette choices made around the art rather than the other way around. Each inn reads differently as a result. The flagship Aurora Inn carries a formal grandeur; E.B. Morgan House feels bolder and more contemporary.
The next day, we turned to Corning, beginning with a walking tour of the Gaffer District, a downtown built around small businesses, restored streetscapes and the city's broader comeback story. The Corning Museum of Glass, home to the world's most comprehensive collection of glass, anchors the visit: live glassblowing demonstrations run throughout the day, and optional studio classes let visitors try the work themselves.
Mexican art at the Corning Museum of Glass (Photo Credit: Parm Parmar)
A tour and tasting at Vineyard View Winery, a fifth-generation farm above Keuka Lake, was the strongest single wine moment of the trip: small-production, family-run, with views down the lake from the tasting room.
From there, it was on to Letchworth State Park, the "Grand Canyon of the East," where the Genesee River cuts through cliffs as high as 600 feet. Letchworth is also home to the Autism Nature Trail (the ANT), a first-of-its-kind sensory-inclusive path that opens the park up to travellers with a range of abilities. The ANT was brought to life by three local champions known as its "Aunts"— Susan Herrnstein, Gail Serventi, and Loren Penman.
The final overnight was at the Richardson Hotel in Buffalo, a National Historic Landmark set on more than 40 landscaped acres and designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. The building was originally the Buffalo State Asylum, designed by H.H. Richardson in the 1870s.
Travel tip: Buffalo or Rochester are the best airports for this cluster, not JFK. Ontario clients can drive in via the Peace Bridge or Lewiston.
International FAM group participants (Photo Credit: Parm Parmar)
How do travel advisors sell New York to Canadian clients?
One question hovered over the week without being asked aloud: how are advisors supposed to sell New York State to Canadian clients in the current climate? It went unaddressed on the fam itself, but advisors are already having those conversations with hesitant clients every day.
Access is one of the biggest selling points. Canadians can drive across the border from Ontario or Quebec, fly into New York City, Buffalo, Albany, or Rochester, or take cross-border rail or coach service into the state.
Think in clusters rather than full itineraries. Each of the three regions above works as a standalone trip, and a client who hesitates on a full New York State tour might say yes to one cluster, especially one within easy driving distance of the border.
Western New York is the strongest example: a Toronto client can be at the Richardson Hotel in Buffalo in under two hours via the Peace or Lewiston Bridge.
For more information about travelling to New York State, please visit www.iloveny.com.
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