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Ask most travellers what New York State means to them and the conversation will end almost without exception at the island of Manhattan. It is, of course, a reasonable place to start, but for anyone with the time and inclination to look further, there’s a whole world of intrigue once you leave The Big Apple in your rearview mirror.
Beyond the five boroughs lies a state of extraordinary range: six million acres of Adirondack wilderness, a wine region that holds its own against Europe’s finest, a mountain that can be rented in its entirety for a weekend, and islands on the St. Lawrence River where castles still stand as private, if occasionally hauntingly unfinished, monuments to old money.
For those willing to venture past the city limits, New York offers a version of American luxury that feels considerably less rehearsed and much more authentic than anything on offer in Midtown.
Fishing in the Adirondacks
Nature calls
The Adirondacks combines dramatic landscape with high-class fly fishing.
Darren McGee
The Area
The Adirondacks cover more than six million acres of protected wilderness, a park roughly the size of Wales, and one so vast that it contains within it thousands of lakes, hundreds of miles of river and scenery that shifts from gentle hills to ancient mountains within the space of a single valley. Unlike much of the American wilderness sold to travellers as nothing more than a photograph, the Adirondacks remain a working landscape, home to small towns, family camps and a fishing culture that has been handed down for well over a century.
The Experience
The best way in is to combine a stay at The Point, on Saranac Lake, with private guided trout fishing on the Ausable River, a stretch of water regarded by anglers as among the finest dry-fly fishing in the eastern United States. For those not inclined to take the road less travelled, the money-no-object version of the trip begins with a private helicopter transfer from New York City, landing guests within reach of remote ponds and rivers that most visitors never see, let alone fish. From there, expert guides lead the way to backcountry water, with private chef picnics assembled lakeside, and floatplane or boat excursions filling the gaps between casts.
The Stay
The Point at Saranac Lake remains the only Forbes Five-Star property in Upstate New York, a former Rockefeller great camp turned into an intimate lodge of just eleven rooms, where the fishing itself starts to feel like the excuse for a stay that would justify the trip on its own.
Golf on Long Island
Ryder your life
Bethpage Black, host to the Ryder Cup 2025, is a true golfing test.
Darren McGee
The Area
Long Island’s reputation tends to rest on its white-sand beaches and its award-winning wineries, both entirely deserved, but its world-class golf courses deserve equal billing. The island has been a destination for enthusiasts since the early 20th century and, alongside its many private clubs, boasts a viable contender for the best public course in America.
The Experience
Bethpage Black is one of the most legendary public golf courses in the country, and a layout tough enough that Tiger Woods was the only player to finish under par when the US Open first arrived there in 2002. The course returned to the spotlight in 2025 as host of the Ryder Cup, its famously loud and partisan Long Island crowds turning what is already one of the toughest tests in golf into one of its most theatrical. Playing it on a public tee time is as close as most golfers will ever get to walking the same fairways as the professionals under the same pressure.
The Stay
Gurney’s Montauk Resort pairs the golf with world-class oceanfront accommodation at the far tip of the island, delivering the kind of coastal setting that makes the whole trip feel like two holidays layered into one.
Ski in the Catskills
A view to a kill
Plattekill Mountain can be rented in its entirety for total ski-going privacy.
Steve Aaron
The Area
The Catskills roll out in forested ridgelines and mountain towns a little over two hours from Manhattan; close enough for a weekend and remote enough to feel like an entirely different state. Long a retreat for New Yorkers escaping the summer heat, the region has quietly built a reputation among skiers, too, thanks to a scattering of independent, family-run mountains that have resisted the pull of corporate consolidation seen elsewhere.
The Experience
For something altogether more exclusive, Plattekill Mountain can be rented in its entirety, granting a private group exclusive access to the slopes for the day, lift lines and all, with nobody else on the hill. The arrangement extends well beyond winter, since Plattekill operates year-round and opens up hiking, mountain biking and private events once the snow has melted.
The Stay
Urban Cowboy Lodge, a design-led retreat spread across two hundred acres, supplies the rest of the experience: outdoor soaking tubs, an Estonian sauna, chef-driven dining and a setting built for stargazing once the sun goes down.
Foraging and cookery in the Hudson Valley
Walk on the wild side
Wildflower Farms continues the pastoral theme while visiting the Hudson Valley.
Noe DeWitt
The Area
The Hudson Valley has built its reputation on rolling countryside and farm-to-table dining, and it has arguably done more than any other region to define what that phrase now means across America. Its patchwork of small farms and family-run producers sits within an hour or two of New York City, close enough to draw in the state’s best chefs while remaining, in character at least, a world away from it.
The Experience
Private foraging trips, seasonal cookery workshops and immersive farm-to-table dining fill out an itinerary that rewards travellers happy to get their hands dirty before dinner. The centrepiece is the legendary Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Pocantico Hills, a two-Michelin-star destination built around a working farm, where multi-course dinners are created almost entirely from what grows and grazes on the property, and where campus tours and seasonal educational programmes extend the experience well beyond the dining room.
The Stay
Wildflower Farms, part of the Auberge Resorts Collection, extends this pastoral theme into the accommodation itself. For a completely immersive feel, the entire farm can be taken over for the duration of your stay.
A taste of Finger Lakes wine
And Relax
Inns of Aurora Resort & Spa is set across five beautifully restored historic properties.
The Area
New York State’s premier wine region is built around 11 glacially carved lakes and the vineyard-covered hillsides that surround them, a landscape that has become one of the most respected cool-climate wine regions in America, particularly for riesling. It remains much less crowded than its reputation deserves.
The Experience
Exclusive winery tours, private tastings hosted by the winemakers themselves, and access to cellar-only vintages all sit within easy reach for those who ask the right people. For a different vantage point, a private charter or luxury boat rental on Canandaigua Lake offers the chance to see the region from the water rather than the vineyard.
The Stay
Mirbeau Inn & Spa Skaneateles ranks among the most luxurious retreats in the region, while the Inns of Aurora Resort & Spa, five beautifully restored historic properties on the shores of Cayuga Lake, pairs a WELL-certified spa and hydrotherapy pools with farm-to-table dining at 1833 Kitchen & Bar.
Private island life in the Thousand Islands
Boldt hole
The eerie Boldt Castle stands sentry over Alexandria Bay in the Thousand Islands.
Darren McGee
The Area
The Thousand Islands sees more than 1,800 islands scattered across the St Lawrence River – a Gilded Age playground that once drew the Astors and Vanderbilts north from Manhattan and still carries the waterfront estates, historic castles and unhurried grandeur to prove it.
The Experience
Renting a private island estate remains one of New York State’s most exclusive experiences: arrive by helicopter, take a private tour of Boldt Castle, cruise past the waterfront mansions of Millionaires Row aboard a private boat, and finish the day dining on the island itself with a private chef in attendance. Boldt Castle itself is worth the detour on its own merits: built from 1900 by George Boldt, proprietor of New York’s Waldorf-Astoria, as a summer palace for his wife Louise, construction stopped abruptly in 1904 upon her sudden death, and the castle stood untouched for nearly 75 years before restoration began, leaving it one of the more poignant grand follies in American history.
The Stay
Live like royalty at Singer Castle on Dark Island and enjoy a dinner set within one of New York State’s more unusual historic landmarks, built in the same Gilded Age spirit as Boldt Castle but, unlike its neighbour, completed and lived in as intended. The Royal Suite occupies an entire wing of the castle and sleeps up to six guests, with canopy beds, lavishly decorated rooms and period-style bathrooms.
For more information on New York State and to plan your next trip, visit iloveny.com
