Start from 41 curated places around Catskills, NY, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
Phoenicia Diner
A retrofitted 1950s chrome diner on Route 28 that does the classics correctly and with a sourcing conscience — corned beef cured in-house, fries blanched and crisped properly, beer-battered onion rings that regulars plan their weekends around. The menu skews New American comfort without fussiness, and the pancakes are the specific thing everyone tells you to order first. Expect a wait on weekend mornings; the line moves.
Peekamoose Restaurant & Tap Room
A 200-year-old farmhouse in Big Indian that has become a serious dining destination — farm-to-table in the real sense, with a menu that changes based on what local farms bring in each week. The cocktails are careful, the nightly bonfire runs until late, and there is an indoor treehouse playroom that makes it genuinely good for families with kids. One of the rare places in the mountains that feels like a full restaurant rather than a ski-town tavern.
Trails & outdoors
Kaaterskill Falls from Laurel House Road
The most-traveled approach to New York's tallest waterfall — a 1.8-mile out-and-back through hemlock and hardwood forest with 393 feet of gain that tops out at the base of the lower tier. Short enough that most people come back energized rather than spent, which is why it rarely feels underwhelming.
Inspiration Point to Kaaterskill Falls Loop
A 4.3-mile loop from the North-South Lake area that earns its mileage — Inspiration Point delivers a genuine Hudson Valley panorama from the Catskill escarpment, and the descent to Kaaterskill Falls offers a top-down view of the upper tier before connecting back. This is the route locals recommend when someone says the Laurel House approach felt too short.
Things to do
Rail Explorers: Catskills Division
Pedal-powered railbikes run along the historic Ulster & Delaware tracks right beside the Esopus Creek, departing from the old Phoenicia station shared with the Empire State Railway Museum. The 'River Run' is an 8-mile round trip of roughly two hours through creekside woods, and every bike has an electric assist, so the pedaling stays easy and the route suits mixed-ability groups and kids. Reviewers consistently single out the guides and the scenery.
Hunter Mountain
The Catskills' most vertically challenging ski area at 3,200 feet summit elevation with 1,600 feet of vertical drop and 100% snowmaking coverage. In summer it runs a scenic skyride to the summit, mountain biking, and major festival weekends that draw serious crowds. The ski terrain ranges from genuinely steep expert runs to reliable beginner zones that work well for families.
Landmarks & sights
Kaaterskill Falls
New York's tallest two-tiered waterfall drops 260 feet in a narrow gorge off Laurel House Road, and the walk in through the hemlock ravine is almost as good as the falls themselves. The upper tier is accessible with a moderate hike, but the lower pool view from the base trail stops most people in their tracks. Come on a weekday if you can — the main parking lot fills by 9am on summer weekends.
Pratt Rock Park
A short uphill trail through Prattsville leads to a cliff face carved with bas-relief portraits and symbols — essentially one man's self-commissioned monument, chiseled over two decades to commemorate tannery magnate Zadock Pratt. It is genuinely strange and thoroughly fascinating: a hemlock tree stump, a horse, a hand, a coffin, all cut into the rock face. Pair it with the small Zadock Pratt Museum on Main Street if you want the backstory.