Follow the Erie Canal

Explore Underground Caverns, Go Biking & Kayaking, and Tour scenic Canal towns

A visit to the Central New York Region gives you an opportunity to see the historic Erie Canal and explore its canal towns, where you'll find great restaurants, cultural events, and fun things to do. Biking, hiking, kayaking, and paddling along the Erie Canal are all the rage during the Summer months, and the Canalway Challenge has become a recreational favorite for both locals and visitors alike.

The Erie Canal is one of the crowning American technological achievements of the 19th Century, and can be appreciated any time of year. You can tour the interactive Erie Canal Museum, housed in the only remaining weighlock building in Syracuse, and travel 40 mintes north to the City of Oswego where you'll find 400 years of Great lakes maritime heritage at the H. Lee White Maritime Museum. During the Summer months, you can visit the Museum, check out an original WWII LT-5 tugboat, and take daily boat tours (Mon-Sat) to the historic Oswego lighthouse in the Port City's outer harbor.

Only 2 1/2 hours from NYC and 45 minutes from Albany, you can venture underground to experience the awesome subterranian rivers and caves at Howe Caverns. Open year-round at a comforatable 55 degrees Farenheit, guided walking & boat tours explain the history and geology of this amazing natural formation.

To find additional attractions, visit the Erie Canal Page. Once called the '8th Wonder of the World,' the Erie Canal forever changed the course of America's infrastructure and travel by opening up new trade routes over a new 363 mile waterway between Buffalo & the Great Lakes in the West to Albany & NYC in the East .. and after nearly 200 years, its fascinating legacy still flows through local locks, rivers, lakes, and communities.