seneca lake new york

[badboy368]

Planning a trip this summer to do a wine tour of seneca lake, and was wondering if anyone could give me some do's and donts for a campground centrally located. will be in a class A pulling a small car trailer. any input would be appreciated

[badboy368]

all good tips, and now something to look into as a place to start. THANK-YOU for your input...:)

[linnemj]

Just a few activity suggestions. Walk up Watkins Glen - it is a beautiful gorge with many water features. If you get any rainy days, check out the Glenn Curtis Museum and Corning Glass Museum. Both are worth a visit!

[DaveG39]

Stayed a couple times at Clute State park in Watkins Glen. Worked well for me to sight see the area.

[nypatnva]

Seneca Lake state Park has large sites that will fit your Rv. Grew up in Geneva. Beautiful lake , wineries close by. We go back each summer to visit family.

[ACZL]

Have always stayed at the KOA. Nice LARGE heated indoor pool. Lots of activities for kids. I agree w/ jp on doing 1 side of lake one day and other side the next. Good % grade heading north on 414 from the KOA down to 14. VERY GOOD Italian rest in town.

[SpeakEasy]

I'd love to give you some advice and help, as this area is literally "in my back yard." But I don't know how to tailor the advice, because I don't know enough about what sorts of things you're looking for. State parks? RV resorts? National forest? Size of your rig? Sorts of activities you're looking to do aside from visiting wineries? Would you like some advice on which wineries to visit and which ones probably aren't worth it? I can offer some opinions on that too, but would like to know what sorts of wines you like.

If you can give some more information I'd be very happy to give some tailored advice and opinions.

-Speak

[Acampingwewillg]

Was just in the Finger Lakes region last summer for a wedding. The Wedding itself was at "Bines Brewery"....beautiful venue. Can't comment on RV sites although I did the hikes at Wadkins Glenn SP and the sites there looked good to me. Had a ball checking out all the wineries and breweries in the area. That Lake, Seneca, is huge. Have Fun!!

[DiskDoctr]

Bully Hill (up top) is a must on your tour. Weekdays are better, IMHO.

Hills Creek is a very nice state park, one of our favorites! Within driving distance for the day to Bully Hill. A big bass lake, too 😉

Watkins Glen is a great (but physically medium effort) hike. Drive to the top, walk DOWN. Very scenic. Parking is a bear 😉

[mdcamping]

As mentioned earlier The KOA at watkins Glen, FHU sites in the back part of the campground are large, newer but more $$. The below pic is the newer back part of the KOA. We wanted to keep our cost down so we stayed up towards the entrance.



Though we didn't stay over night at Clute Park, we did take a drive through the place and checked on a few things. We would stay there also though thought the bathrooms/showers were clean but were in need of updating. Probable not an issue for you but was more for us.

Excellent craft beer in the area, check out the beer trail also! :C

Mike

[K_Charles]

George3037 wrote:
I've camped at Sampson State Park for many years on the east side of the lake. Very nice campground.

X2

[George3037]

I've camped at Sampson State Park for many years on the east side of the lake. Very nice campground.

[DrewE]

WNYBob wrote:
There is a KOA in Watkins Glen as well as the SP. But the SP CG was built long ago and you might have issues finding a good site. NY SP's are electric only in most cases.

I'm not sure what exactly different people mean by a "good site," probably many different things, but in my experience there were plenty of large sites at the Watkins Glen state park...and, of course, a bunch that are not so large. The ReserveAmerica site only lists availability to 30 feet, I believe, but many of those will accommodate much larger rigs in practice, and the access roads aren't too constrained. Most are back-in (or, I suppose, back-out) sites.

campadk.com has information and photos of a tremendous number of New York state park campsites and is a great resource for checking out specific sites. Here's the listing there for Watkin's Glen. I stayed at site 292 a couple years ago and it extends back something like 60 feet from the access road.

Edit: correct link descriptive text to match site name...boo for typos

[jplante4]

There are 3 in Watkins Glen. We've stayed at the KOA and Clute Park. If you do the KOA, try to get a site in the outback. Nicer sites, less noise. The KOA is close to the raceway; be sure to check the racing schedule.

Clute was fine but tight. Walmart next door, within walking distance of downtown. Speaking of downtown, there's a state park there. We haven't stayed there but it gets good reviews 30 amp electric only.

As far as the wineries, there are a lot. You could do the west side of the lake one day and the east side on a second. A visit to the flea market in Penn Yan is worth the trip. I think it's only open on Saturdays.

I second Bob's recommendation. We did both sides in one day and by time we got half way through the tastings were taking their toll. Good thing my brother was driving.

[WNYBob]

There is a KOA in Watkins Glen as well as the SP. But the SP CG was built long ago and you might have issues finding a good site. NY SP's are electric only in most cases.

Another SP is Sampson SP which was an induction military camp during WWII, buy I have no first hand info on that one.

Check online for NYS Wine Tour, you can do a self guided or there are several tour companies (most do the driving, we don't want drunk drivers out there)