Our first stop in New York state was Rochester, a city that’s halfway between Buffalo and Syracuse in upstate New York and just south of Lake Ontario.
We stayed there five nights, sort of by default because we finished our time in Michigan at the end of July and had a few days to kill before we moved on to the Finger Lakes region of New York where we’d booked an Airbnb a year beforehand.
Shae and I had limited time to do stuff there as two of those five days were work days, but we found some fun and interesting things to do both in Rochester and on our way in and out of the city.
Here’s a roundup of what we did in Rochester.
Where We Stayed In Rochester
We stayed all five nights at the Hyatt Regency Rochester which was great value as it only cost us 5,000-6,500 World of Hyatt points per night (if you stay when award pricing is off-peak, it’s only 3,500 points per night). The hotel is getting dated and I wasn’t a fan of various aspects of our suite, but it was hard to beat the value of it and its great location downtown. Check out my full review of the hotel here.
What We Did In Rochester
Edgewater Park In Cleveland, OH
This obviously isn’t in Rochester, but on our drive there we stopped at Edgewater Park in Cleveland to have lunch with some friends. It was a beautiful day out and it was nice getting to catch up with them, even though it was only for an hour or two.
Niagara Falls State Park
OK, so this isn’t in Rochester either, but our drive from on from Cleveland to Rochester took us through Buffalo and so we took a quick diversion northwards to Niagara Falls State Park. Shae and I had been to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls with my parents when they came to visit from the UK back in 2016, but we’d not been to the US side of the falls before.
To get the full Niagara Falls experience, we’d recommend visiting the Canadian side as you get much better views of Horseshoe Falls. Seeing as we’d visited that side before and that it would be an even longer diversion to cross the border, we figured we’d settle for the New York side and it was still very nice. While the Canadian side feels somewhat resort-y and kitschy, the US side felt more like a state park which shouldn’t be too surprising seeing as it is actually a state park!
It’s pet-friendly too, so Truffles got to join us and see Niagara Falls for the first time as we’d left her behind for that Canada trip in 2016. As you can tell, she was pretty excited!
High Falls
Niagara Falls wasn’t the only set of waterfalls we visited during that period. The Genesee River flows through Rochester and on the north side of the city there’s an overlook where you can get a good view of High Falls.
Susan B Anthony Museum & House
Susan B Anthony – the women’s rights campaigner who played a key role in the suffrage movement in the US – spent much of her life in Rochester. You can visit her home and learn more about her life and legacy – read more about our visit here.
Mt Hope Cemetery
Many famous people are buried in Mt Hope Cemetery including Susan B Anthony, Frederick Douglass, John Bausch and Henry Lomb (of Bausch & Lomb), George Baldwin Selden (inventor of the gasoline automobile) and many more.
Letchworth State Park
We’d had Letchworth State Park on our list of potential places to visit while in New York state, but hadn’t incorporated it in any of our plans. A few days before leaving Rochester, a reader emailed us to recommend the park as it wasn’t going to be too far from the Finger Lakes where we’d be staying next.
We weren’t sure how much spare time we’d have in the Finger Lakes, so on our way from Rochester to the Finger Lakes we decided to swing by Letchworth State Park to check it out. The park – as with much of upstate New York – has some stunning scenery and was another opportunity to check out some waterfalls. It was the perfect place to stop on our way to Lodi, so thanks Peter for the email reminding us about Letchworth State Park!
Where We Ate & Drank In Rochester
Swiftwater Brewing Co
After visiting the Susan B Anthony Museum & House, we stopped by the hotel to pick up Truffles on our way to visit High Falls. After that, we drove on to Swiftwater Brewing Co for a quick drink as they have a pet-friendly patio. I started off with their hefeweizen, while Shae had a glass of wine.
There were a few other beers on their menu I was interested in trying, so I followed that up with a beer flight. The beer I was most interested in trying is the weird-looking one below (second from the left) which was their Fruit Float, described as pineapple upside down cake with cherry coconut. The sediment on top of the drink was the coconut in the drink and it was much tastier than it first appeared.
Naan-Tastic
Shae and I love Indian food, so when we saw that there was a restaurant in town called Naan-Tastic, we knew we couldn’t resist and ordered dinner from there one night.
They have create-your-own bowls as an option, so we both got those. Both of us ordered a chicken tikka bowl with their Slammin’ Masala sauce, but we chose different bases and toppings. The bowls were absolutely delicious and incredibly flavorful, while the butter naan we shared was excellent too – they truly are naan-tastic.
Wings Over Rochester
Shae went to the movie theater one night with a friend who lived nearby, so that night I treated myself to spicy teriyaki and hot garlic chicken tenders from Wings Over Rochester. The six tenders were much larger than I was expecting, so it was more food than I’d anticipated but they were very good nonetheless.
What We Missed In Rochester
There are several other things to do in Rochester and the surrounding area that we didn’t have a chance to visit:
- The Strong National Museum of Play
- East Avenue – has mansions
- Highland Park
- The Little Café
- Clara Barton House American Red Cross # 1 (this is about an hour south in Dansville)
- Jell-O Museum in Leroy
- Rhino’s Pizzeria in Webster – has dill pickle pizza
going to Rochester next week on the way to Lake Placid…
Have fun!