New York to Toronto by Car: Hudson Valley, Finger Lakes and Niagara in Five Days

Manhattan → Bear Mountain State Park

By car: George Washington Bridge and Palisades Interstate Parkway, about 1 hour 15 minutes

Cross the George Washington Bridge and take the Palisades Interstate Parkway north along the cliffs above the Hudson to Bear Mountain Circle, where it meets the Bear Mountain Bridge. It is the prettiest way out of the city and has no trucks.

Bear Mountain Inn → Perkins Memorial Tower

By car: Perkins Memorial Drive, then a short walk

Bear Mountain State Park covers over 5,000 acres of the Hudson Highlands. Drive the winding Perkins Memorial Drive to the summit tower for the view down the Hudson; the drive is open from spring to late November. Back at the bottom, the Bear Mountain Inn and the Trailside Museums and Zoo are beside the lake. Allow about 1.5 hours.

Bear Mountain State Park → Storm King Art Center

By car, about 30 minutes, then walking on lawns and paths

Storm King is an open-air museum of about 500 acres, founded in 1960, with one of the largest collections of outdoor contemporary sculpture in the United States set in rolling fields against the Hudson Highlands. Look for Mark di Suvero's giant steel pieces, Andy Goldsworthy's snaking stone wall and Maya Lin's grassy Wavefield. It is closed some weekdays and for the winter, so check the schedule and book a timed ticket. Allow three hours.

Storm King Art Center → Kingston, New York

By car: New York State Thruway, about 1 hour

Drive north on the Thruway to Kingston, which became New York's first capital in 1777 and was burned by the British that October. Walk the old Stockade District and the Rondout waterfront on the Hudson before dinner.

Kingston, New York → Kaaterskill Falls trailhead

By car, about 45 minutes

Drive north and then up through the Kaaterskill Clove, a steep gorge on Route 23A, to the high plateau around Haines Falls. Park at an official lot such as the one on Laurel House Road; parking in the roadside pull-offs on Route 23A is prohibited for much of the year.

Laurel House Road parking → Kaaterskill Falls viewing platform

Gravel path to a viewing platform, about 0.5 km each way

A short, easy path leads to a platform above the two-tiered falls, which drop about 79 metres in total on Spruce Creek. Thomas Cole painted them from 1825, and they became one of the defining images of the Hudson River School and of American landscape painting. Stay on the marked trail and platforms: people have died climbing off-trail here. Allow an hour.

Kaaterskill Falls → Ithaca, New York

By car, about 3.5 to 4 hours

The long leg of the trip, through rolling farmland and small towns to Ithaca, home of Cornell University at the foot of Cayuga Lake. Break it with lunch on the way, and aim to arrive in time for an evening walk.

Downtown Ithaca → Ithaca Falls

Short walk on city streets and a gravel path

Inside the city itself, Fall Creek pours over Ithaca Falls, 46 metres high and 53 metres wide, the last of a chain of waterfalls down the gorge below the Cornell campus. It is a short walk from downtown. About 45 minutes.

Ithaca, New York → Taughannock Falls State Park

By car about 20 minutes, then a flat gravel trail, about 1.2 km each way

Taughannock Falls plunges 66 metres in a single drop, taller than Niagara, between rock walls that rise even higher. Walk the flat Gorge Trail to the foot of the falls, then drive up to the free overlook on the rim for the view down into the gorge. Allow about 1.5 hours.

Taughannock Falls State Park → Watkins Glen, New York

By car, about 45 minutes

Cross the hills between the two lakes to Watkins Glen at the southern end of Seneca Lake, the deepest of the Finger Lakes at about 188 metres. Wineries line both shores if you want to stop on the way, with a designated driver.

Watkins Glen State Park main entrance → Upper entrance

Stone paths, tunnels and hundreds of wet stone steps

The most famous walk in the Finger Lakes follows Glen Creek up a gorge about 120 metres deep, past 19 waterfalls, through rock tunnels and, at one point, behind a waterfall. The stonework paths were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. Walk up and take the seasonal shuttle back, or walk the rim trail down. The Gorge Trail opens in late spring and closes in autumn, and dogs are not allowed on it. Allow two to three hours.

Watkins Glen, New York → Niagara Falls State Park

By car, about 3.5 hours

Leave the lakes behind and head west on interstates past Rochester and Buffalo to the city of Niagara Falls, New York. Park near the state park and go on foot.

Prospect Point → Terrapin Point on Goat Island

Park paths and footbridges

Created in 1885 as the Niagara Reservation, with landscapes by Frederick Law Olmsted, this is the oldest state park in the United States. Walk from Prospect Point, beside the edge of the American Falls, across to Goat Island and on to Terrapin Point, where you stand beside the Horseshoe Falls with Canada across the gorge. About an hour.

Goat Island → Base of the Bridal Veil Falls

Elevator and wooden decks, or a boat

Take the elevator down into the gorge at Cave of the Winds and climb the wooden decks to the Hurricane Deck, a few metres from the Bridal Veil Falls, where you will be soaked. Or board the Maid of the Mist at Prospect Point for the boat ride to the foot of the Horseshoe Falls. Both are seasonal; you are given a poncho. About 1.5 hours.

Niagara Falls, New York → Niagara Falls, Ontario

By car: toll bridge and Canadian border inspection

The Rainbow Bridge, opened in 1941, crosses the gorge just downstream of the American Falls and is closed to trucks. Pay the toll, then stop at the Canadian border booth with passports ready. Waits vary from minutes to an hour or more on summer weekends; the Peace Bridge at Buffalo is the alternative. Check in to your hotel and walk down to see the falls lit up at night.

Niagara Falls, Ontario → Table Rock

Riverside promenade, tunnels and an observation deck

The Horseshoe Falls carries about 90 percent of the Niagara River's flow, and Table Rock puts you right at its brink. Journey Behind the Falls, open year-round, takes you down by elevator to tunnels in the rock behind the falls and a deck at their foot. The Niagara City Cruises boats leave from the Canadian shore in season. Allow two hours.

Table Rock → Queenston Heights

By car: two-lane scenic parkway

Winston Churchill reportedly called the Niagara Parkway the prettiest Sunday afternoon drive in the world. It follows the river north past the Whirlpool Rapids, the Whirlpool Aero Car and the Butterfly Conservatory to Queenston Heights, where Brock's Monument commemorates the British general killed there in the War of 1812.

Queenston Heights → Niagara-on-the-Lake

By car through vineyards, then walking in town

Continue past vineyards and fruit farms to Niagara-on-the-Lake, where the river meets Lake Ontario. It was briefly the first capital of Upper Canada in the 1790s, and its tree-lined Queen Street, the reconstructed Fort George and the Shaw Festival theatres make it one of the prettiest small towns in Ontario. Have lunch and stop at a winery on the way out. Allow three hours.

Niagara-on-the-Lake → Toronto

By car: Queen Elizabeth Way and Gardiner Expressway, about 1 hour 45 minutes without traffic

The Queen Elizabeth Way curves around the western end of Lake Ontario through Hamilton and becomes the Gardiner Expressway as it enters Toronto, with the CN Tower rising ahead. Allow much longer at rush hour. If you are returning the car, drop it off before heading into the city centre, where parking is expensive.