One New York Region Named Best Place to Visit This Year

One New York region is being nationally recognized as the best place to visit in 2022.

Travel + Leisure is calling the Finger Lakes one of the best places to travel this year.

The "centrally isolated" geographic positioning of FLX, as it's been dubbed in recent years, means denizens take great pride and intentionally invest in this dispersed assortment of towns and sites full of rich, diverse histories.

The Finger Lakes have so many things to offer for any traveler. There are state parks with blue-green water and the tallest single-drop waterfall in the state for the outdoor enthusiast. There are a number of wineries for the wine connoisseur. There's even a track where NASCAR races every summer for the sports fan.

Deep clear lakes, spectacular gorges, abundant waterfalls and fishing and boating opportunities galore, this region will leave you breathless.

Letchworth State Park

Letchworth State Park is known as the Grand Canyon of the East and one of the most scenically magnificent areas in the eastern U.S. The Genesee River roars through the gorge over three major waterfalls between cliffs, as high as 600 feet in some places. There are 66 miles of hiking trails. Trails are also available for horseback riding, biking, snowmobiling, and cross-country skiing.

Taughannock Falls

The Finger Lakes is home to Taughannock Falls, one of the highest waterfalls in the east, plummeting 215 feet on its way to Cayuga Lake.

Buttermilk Falls

Buttermilk Falls State Park gets its name from the foaming cascade formed by Buttermilk Creek as it flows down the steep valley toward Cayuga Lake.

Watkins Glen State Park

Watkins Glen State Park is the most famous of the Finger Lakes State Parks. The glen's stream drops 400 feet past 200-foot cliffs, generating 19 waterfalls along its way. The gorge path winds over and under waterfalls and through the spray of Cavern Cascade.

Watkins Glen Racing

Road racing came to Watkins Glen in 1948 when a Cornell University law student proposed an amateur road race to be called the "Watkins Glen Grand Prix." Racing continues today with Six Hours of the Glen featuring world-class drivers from June 23 - 26, 2022.

You can feel the wind through your hair when you Drive The Glen.

Find out what it feels like to drive the storied road course while piloting your personal vehicle.

Glen Iris Inn Fountain

Inside Letchworth State Park there's a fountain in front of the Glen Iris Inn. It's been spraying water 365 days a year since 1860. Once the weather turns cold, the water turns to ice, creating a magical ice volcano people travel from miles around to see.

The size of the volcano varies from year to year depending on how low the temperatures get. In 2015, New York experienced an extended deep freeze, creating a volcano that reached 50 feet tall.

First Wine Trails

The Finger Lakes is home to America’s First Wine Trail with a number of award-winning wines. Craft breweries, cideries, and distilleries have been making a name in the last several years too. Get a full list of wineries at FingerLakes.org.

Purple Foot Grape Stomping Festival

The largest grape stomping festival in the Eastern U.S. is in the Finger Lakes. The Purple Foot Festival at Casa Larga Vineyard is an annual celebration of the harvest, dedicated to preserving the Italian heritage that began nearly 50 years ago at Rochester's only estate winery.

Corning Museum of Glass

Nearly half a million people from around the world visit the Corning Museum of Glass every year. It began in 1951 by Corning Glass Works, now called Corning Incorporated, as a gift for the company’s 100th anniversary.

The Corning Museum of Glass is a not-for-profit museum dedicated to exploring a single material: glass.