Itinéraire · Finger Lakes
A Finger Lakes Weekend: Two Days Around Keuka
The most common mistake visitors make with a Finger Lakes weekend is trying to see three lakes in two days. There are eleven of them and they are long. Pick one, base yourself near it, and use the second day for whatever sits within twenty minutes. You will see less and remember more.
We live at the middle of this, on the hills above Keuka, so this is the weekend we would build. It assumes you arrive Friday evening and leave Sunday afternoon.
Where should you base yourself?
Hammondsport, at the southern tip of Keuka Lake, is the natural base for a weekend on this lake. It is a small village with places to eat, a walkable square and the waterfront a few blocks away. Corning is twenty minutes south and has more rooms if the village is full.
Keuka is the quieter choice compared with Seneca, which is bigger and busier. If this is your first Finger Lakes weekend and you want the version where you sit down rather than queue, Keuka is the one. Our guide to Keuka Lake wineries explains how the lake is laid out.
What does Saturday look like?
Spend Saturday on one arm of Keuka Lake. Start at Keuka Lake State Park in the morning while the water is flat, have lunch in Hammondsport, then take the west side road for two or three seated tastings in the afternoon. Keep the driving on one side of the lake.
The reason to stay on one arm is the bluff. Keuka is the only Finger Lake shaped like a Y, and the high ground in the middle makes crossing between the arms slower than the map suggests. Keuka Lake State Park sits on that bluff and costs eight dollars per car, which is the cheapest hour of the weekend.
- Morning: the state park, before the lot fills.
- Midday: lunch on the village square in Hammondsport.
- Afternoon: two or three tastings up the west side road.
- Evening: back to the water for the last of the light.
What does Sunday look like?
Use Sunday for what sits within twenty minutes of the lake. Watkins Glen has a gorge with nineteen waterfalls in a single mile. Corning has the Corning Museum of Glass and a walkable historic downtown. Either fills a morning and leaves the afternoon free for the drive home.
Pick by weather. If the sky is clear, go east to Watkins Glen and walk the gorge. If it is raining, go south to Corning and spend the morning indoors. Both are roughly twenty minutes from us and neither needs a full day.
Then come back up to the lake for one last tasting before you drive. Sunday afternoons are the quietest hours of the week in most tasting rooms, and it is the best time to have a real conversation with whoever is pouring.
How to make the weekend work
- One lake. Two arms is already ambitious for two days.
- Three tastings a day at most, with a real lunch in the middle.
- Book the Saturday tastings ahead. Summer weekends fill.
- A designated driver, or a booked tour.
- Check the Watkins Glen race calendar before booking a room.
When is the best weekend to come?
September and early October. The lake is still warm, harvest is running in the vineyards, the hillsides begin to turn and the summer crowds have gone. July and August are the busiest months. The Watkins Glen gorge trail is open from May through mid-October, which sets the outer edge of the season.
Our guide to the best time to visit the Finger Lakes runs through the year properly, and the fall foliage and harvest guide covers the autumn if that is the weekend you are choosing.
Where do we fit into the weekend?
We are Céline and Sébastien LeSeurre, French winemakers on the western hills above Keuka, just outside Hammondsport. Sébastien is the sixth generation of a winemaking family from Champagne; Céline grew up in a family vineyard in the foothills of the Pyrenees. We came here in 2012. French roots, Finger Lakes soul.
A weekend here works when you give it fewer things to do. The lake is not going anywhere while you finish your glass.
A seated tasting takes about forty-five minutes. Dogs are welcome, inside and on the terrace, and children have a tasting of their own so the whole table sits together.
Book one afternoon of the weekend with us.
Common questions about a Finger Lakes weekend
Is two days enough for the Finger Lakes?
Two days is enough for one lake done properly. Trying to cover several lakes in a weekend means a lot of driving and very little sitting down. Base yourself on one lake and use day two for what is within twenty minutes.
Where should you stay for a Keuka Lake weekend?
Hammondsport at the southern tip of the lake is the natural base, with places to eat and a walkable village square. Corning is about twenty minutes south and has more rooms available.
How many wineries can you visit in a weekend?
Five or six across two days is a comfortable pace, with three on the fuller day. Seated tastings run forty-five minutes to an hour and a half, and the driving between them takes longer than people plan for.
What is there to do besides wine in the Finger Lakes?
Watkins Glen State Park has a one-mile gorge trail past nineteen waterfalls, open from May through mid-October. Corning has the Corning Museum of Glass and the Rockwell. Keuka Lake State Park has swimming, camping and boat launches.
Written by
The Domaine LeSeurre Team
Céline & Sébastien LeSeurre and the team at Domaine LeSeurre — a family winery on Keuka Lake, in Hammondsport, New York. French roots, Finger Lakes soul.
