The Ithaca Experience

Ithaca
Beautiful, Thinking

What makes Ithaca unique? Is it the towering waterfalls, lush ice-age gorges, endless panoramic views? Is it the hiking, the biking, the boating? Is it the beauty of Cayuga Lake, the largest of the Finger Lakes? Perhaps.

But perhaps it's something more. Maybe it's the buzz from Cornell University and Ithaca College. You feel it everywhere—in our museums, our galleries, our many restaurants. You hear it in our theaters, our nightclubs, our festivals. You see it downtown on our pedestrian mall, the Ithaca Commons, where PhDs cross paths with street musicians and families stroll the solar system on an interactive "planet walk." You can't put your finger on it, but there's something special going on here. The bumper stickers say "Ithaca is Gorges," but it's more than that. Ithaca is beautiful and smart and always unexpected. It's intense and laid-back and disdainful of convention. Ithaca is Ithaca. There's a vibe here unlike anywhere else in America. And experiencing it is the only way to discover it.

In Ithaca and nowhere else. . .
What can you do here and nowhere else? Plenty.

Take a hike to Ithaca Falls, Cascadilla Gorge or any of the 100-plus waterfalls and gorges within 10 miles of downtown.

Go wine tasting on the Cayuga Lake Wine Trail, the nation's first wine trail.

Savor a meal at the famous Moosewood Restaurant; or any of the county's fine eateries. We have more restaurants per capita than NYC.

Visit Taughannock Falls State Park to see the tallest waterfall in the Northeast, or swim beneath a waterfall at Buttermilk Falls or Robert Treman State Parks.

Come hungry to the sprawling Ithaca Farmers Market, open on the lakefront every weekend, April-December.

Go boating on Cayuga Lake. You can rent kayaks at Puddledockers, take scenic dinner cruises aboard the MV Columbia or learn about the lake's history and ecology in educational cruises with Tiohero Tours.

Visit Ithaca's Discovery Trail. The trail is a partnership of top attractions: the kid-friendly Sciencenter, the world-famous Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the wild animals of the Cayuga Nature Center, the botanic gardens of Cornell Plantations, the amazing fossil specimens at the Museum of the Earth, the art collections at Cornell's Johnson Museum, the local artifacts at the History Center and the timely cultural events at the Tompkins Public Library.

Stroll the downtown Ithaca Commons, a pedestrian mall that's the heart of the city's vibrant social scene.

What's your favorite Ithaca Experience? Go ahead, tell the world.