If you’re visiting from out of town, Ithaca has tons of restaurants, shops, art galleries, museums, and parks to visit. Here are some of our favorites, in no particular order:
Restaurants:
- Agava – Delicious southwest inspired cuisine, and gluten free / vegetarian / vegan friendly. http://www.agavarestaurant.com/
- Moosewood – The classic Ithaca restaurant. Extremely friendly to vegetarians. http://www.moosewoodcooks.com/restaurant/
- Just a Taste – Tapas style dining, which gives you a chance to try several of their yummy dishes. http://www.just-a-taste.com/
- Maxie’s – Seafood and southern; they have a delicious gumbo, great sweet potato fries, and a good raw oyster bar. Not the best vegetarian option in town. http://maxies.com/index2.html
- Viva Taqueria – It’s not authentic Mexican, but it’s delicious anyhow. Jim and Victoria had their first official date here! http://www.vivataqueria.com/
- Taste of Thai Express – great Thai food; vegetarian and vegan friendly. http://www.tasteofthaiexpress.com/
- Ithaca Bakery / Collegetown Bagels – Great for a good, quick breakfast or lunch. The Ithaca Bakery location also has a hot bar with various non-bagel food options. http://ithacabakery.com/
- Wegmans (open 24-7) – yes, it’s technically a grocery store (best grocery store ever!). But they have a lot of prepared food, a good sushi bar, and Wings of Life salads; perfect if you want a quick meal or to grab food before heading out to one of the parks.
Shopping:
- Ithaca Farmer’s Market – Saturday (9am – 3pm) and Sunday (10am – 2pm), they’ll have all sorts of local arts & crafts and food (we usually go for Macro Mamma’s and the wood-fired pizza oven). http://www.ithacamarket.com/
Museums:
- Sciencenter – interactive science based exhibits for all ages, including an outdoor 18-hole mini-golf course (which will have science-based obstacles by July). http://www.sciencenter.org/
- Johnson Art Museum (free) – Fabulous views of Ithaca as well as several art collections. On the west edge of Cornell University campus. You can walk down the path there into the gorge and across the suspension bridge over Fall Creek. http://museum.cornell.edu/
- Museum of the Earth – Run by the Paleontological Research Institution, this has a variety of exhibits on natural history, including some very impressive in fossils and skeletons. http://www.priweb.org/
Parks: All of them. They’re all pretty. Or you can just wander around downtown and the Cornell campus. (*After you pay for entry at one state park, it gets you in to all of them for that day)
- Taughannock State Park ($7 per car*) – If you want a nice and easy hike, this is your best choice – there’s a relatively flat 1 mile trail which follows the gorge from near Cayuga Lake up to the tallest waterfall on this side of the Rocky Mountains. There are also more challenging trails around the rim, and a section of the park along Cayuga Lake with swimming.
- Buttermilk State Park ($7 per car*) – Very pretty hikes, with a lot more stairs and more challenging trails. There’s a large pool for swimming in part of the stream.
- Treman State Park – ($7 per car*) – Very pretty hikes, with a lot more stairs and more challenging trails. If you drive to Upper Treman you can see the Old Mill and hike a modest number of stairs to see the main waterfall. There’s a large pool for swimming in part of the stream.
- Stewart Park (free) – On the south end of Cayuga Lake; lots of playground equipment for kids.
- Cornell Plantations (free, but parking on campus may cost money). Ground are open dawn-dusk, and there are several paths (mostly easy walks with lots of benches) with all sorts of trees and flowers. http://www.cornellplantations.org/visitor-info