When to Go
July and August, when it's warm during the day and cool at night, are divine. The leaves begin to turn in September and tend to peak in mid-October. January and February are prime months for skiing and snowshoeing, but I also love early March, when snow is usually plentiful and the temperature is more forgiving. Steer clear of the area in April, the muddy season. May and June are beautiful but may be wet and/or buggy.
Getting There
From Albany's international airport or train station, it's about a three-hour drive to Lake Placid. Amtrak also stops at Westport, just forty miles to the east. Private planes can land at the small local airports in Lake Placid and Plattsburgh. However you choose to travel, it's best to rent a car as well, since taxi service varies from scant to nonexistent.
What to Do: Spring, Summer & Fall
The hiking around Lake Placid is superb. Be sure to pack a copy of Tony Goodwin's essential Guide to Adirondack Trails: High Peaks Region. For daily weather and trail conditions, call the nonprofit Adirondack Mountain Club. 518-523-3518; adk.org.
The region has endless lakes and rivers full of rainbow trout, bass and pike. Explore them with Captain Steve Reynolds, of Reynolds Outfitters, which offers guiding services and one-on-one fishing instruction. From $165 for a half-day. 60 Stevens Rd., Lake Placid; 518-524-0327.
Adventurous souls can learn to rock climb with the guides at Adirondack Rock and River. From $100 per person per day. 518-576-2041; rockandriver.com.
A more cerebral pursuit is attending the Lake Placid Film Festival. This year it will feature sixty films as well as roundtables and master classes. 518-523-3456; lakeplacidfilmfestival.com.
See world-class riders compete at the Lake Placid Horse Show. 518-523-9625; lakeplacidhorseshow.com. Triathletes come to town for the Ironman USA Lake Placid. It's riveting to watch them prove themselves in the 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and 26.2-mile run. ironmanusa.com.
What to Do: Winter
Downhill ski on Whiteface Mountain, which offers 3,430 feet of vertical drop, the most in the eastern United States. Rte. 86, near Wilmington; 518-946-2223; whiteface.com. Through the Olympic Regional Development Authority, which calls Lake Placid "the winter sports capital of the world," you can try such hair-raising activities as bobsledding and luging. 518-523-1655; orda.org.
Rainy Days
Although it's more than an hour's drive from Lake Placid, the Adirondack Museum, in Blue Mountain Lake, is fantastic. 518-352-7311; adirondackmuseum.org.
Where to Stay
The Point has eleven rooms; Weatherwatch is the one to get. It has a dreamy vaulted ceiling, a canopy bed and a big picture window overlooking the lake. Double rooms from $1,250 to $2,500, all-inclusive. Saranac Lake; 518-891-5674; 800-255-3530; fax: 518-891-1152; thepointresort.com.
The Lake Placid Lodge has seventeen rooms and seventeen cabins. Double rooms from $400 to $475, suites from $650 to $900, cabins from $625 to $1,300. Whiteface Inn Rd., Lake Placid; 518-523-2700; 877-523-2700; fax: 518-523-1124; lakeplacidlodge.com.
The above-mentioned hotels don't take children under age thirteen, so Lake Placid's Mirror Lake Inn is the best option for those traveling with little ones. Don't miss the spa, which is great. Double rooms from $235 to $350, suites from $475 to $1,200. 5 Mirror Lake Dr.; 518-523-2544; fax: 518-523-2871; mirrorlakeinn.com.
Where to Eat
If you know where to look, Lake Placid has some wonderful restaurants. Several of the top picks are surprisingly small, so it's best to make reservations well ahead of time. The most enchanting is the Lake Placid Lodge, where you can dine on the porch overlooking the serene lake or in the rustic dining room. (Try the tasting menu.) If it's a brisk night, have cocktails in front of the fire on the porch or in the cozy pub.
Another excellent choice is Lumiere, whose dining room seats just sixteen. Chef Robert Borden prepares such dishes as lump crab cakes with sweet-corn crêpes and harissa crème fraîche, and seared ahi tuna with Asian greens. There are three seatings a night, at five, seven and nine. 153 Main St.; 518-523-9919.
Tucked away on a nearby hillside is the quaint Interlaken Inn, a century-old white clapboard place with a wood-paneled dining room containing about ten tables. It serves roast chicken with porcini and other straightforward and delicious food. 39 Interlaken Ave.; 518-523-3180.
For a quiet dinner, visit the elegant and sedate Averil Conwell Dining Room at the Mirror Lake Inn, which offers dishes like buffalo rib eye with roasted-scallion butter and venison loin with foie gras.
The fun, casual Lake Placid Pub & Brewery has good pub food and makes six kinds of microbrewed beer on the premises every day. (After sampling the English-style Ubu Ale on a trip to Lake Placid some years ago, President Clinton had some sent to the White House.) 15 Mirror Lake Dr.; 518-523-3813.
Where to Shop
Rustic-furniture fans may want to take a detour to browse at two shops on the way to Lake Placid from Albany. In Lake George, leave Route 87 North at Exit 21 to visit Ralph Kylloe Rustic Design Gallery. A noted expert in the field and the author of fifteen books on the subject, Kylloe is a terrific source for twig furniture. Lake Luzerne Rd.; 518-696-4100. About twenty miles south of Lake Placid on Route 73 is George Jaques Rustic Furniture. 518-576-2214. The largest collection of rustic furniture in the country can be found at the Lake Placid Lodge, where many of the furnishings in the public and guest rooms are for sale.
In the town of Lake Placid, don't be put off by the many souvenir shops; there are a few gems in their midst. One of my favorites is the family-owned With Pipe and Book. It sells both fine pipe tobacco and an excellent array of Adirondack-themed books. It also has antique maps and prints of the area. 91 Main St.; 518-523-9096. For local-themed gifts, try the Adirondack Store (52 Broadway, Saranac Lake; 518-891-3745), and the Ray Brook Frog (Rte. 86, Ray Brook; 518-891-3333). Each is a short drive west of town.
What to Read
Great Camps of the Adirondacks, by Harvey H. Kaiser, is the definitive chronicle of the turn-of-the-century camps of the Rockefellers and others. Adirondack Country, by William Chapman White, is a delightful, funny history of the region. For visual inspiration, peruse the gorgeous new Adirondack Wilderness, by Nathan Farb, known to many as the photographer laureate of the Adirondacks.
How to Help Preserve the Park
Want to get involved in protecting the wilderness? Contact the Adirondack Nature Conservancy and Land Trust, which buys parkland from private owners and stewards it for the public. 518-576-2082; nature.org.
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