This is the list we give people in the shop: waterfalls, lakes, overlooks, and what's on Main Street in the center of it all. It's all within about fifteen minutes of town, and none of it takes much planning.
The short version
Tannersville sits at the edge of the northern Catskills, right where Route 23A climbs up from the Hudson Valley into the mountains. It's a small village (Main St., 6006 is us) with a genuinely walkable downtown, and it's the closest real town to some of the most photographed spots in the whole park: Kaaterskill Falls, North-South Lake, the Escarpment Trail.
Waterfalls and lakes
Kaaterskill Falls. The tallest waterfall in New York State, two tiers. From the Laurel House Road lot it is a short walk out to the viewing platform. Getting down to the falls themselves is 180 stone steps, easy on the way down and a real workout coming back up. Full trail write-up →
North-South Lake. The region's main beach and boat-rental spot, with the Escarpment views right above it. Good for a full day, swimming included. Full trail write-up →
Colgate Lake. Quieter, no lifeguard, no facilities, just the lake and the mountains surrounding it. Bring your own everything. Full trail write-up →
Diamond Notch Falls. A small Catskills waterfall on the West Kill, reachable by an easy 1.7-mile family route or a harder 3.9-mile notch crossing. Full trail write-up →
Plattekill Falls. A short, steep walk to a waterfall up Platte Clove. It's a different experience from Kaaterskill rather than a substitute for it, and the lot up there is small, so it fills on a busy day in town the same as everywhere else. Full trail write-up →
Overlooks
Sunset Rock and Boulder Rock both sit along the Escarpment Trail with views west over North-South Lake and the Hudson Valley beyond. Both are moderate hikes up a fraction of a mountain that hand you the view you would expect from climbing the whole thing. Sunset Rock → · Boulder Rock →
Huckleberry Point is an east-facing overlook out of Platte Clove. Less popular than Kaaterskill or North-South Lake, but not a secret: the trailhead lot is consistently full, so go early if you want a spot. Full trail write-up →
In the village itself
You don't have to leave Main Street to fill a day.
Rip Van Winkle, painted on the wall of the Tannersville Antiques Market. He is supposed to have slept twenty years somewhere in these mountains, and the village has never really let it go.
Deja Brew. Coffee, baked goods, and sandwiches, three doors up from us.
Pantry on Main. A great cafe for breakfast and lunch, two doors down. Sandwiches, salads, local beers.
Shandaken Bake. A bakery with a line down the block every morning he's open. One-man show. Worth the wait, but check when he opens before you go, and get there early, because things sell out.
Space Brewpub. An automatic taproom where you swipe your card and pour your own drinks. Good place to catch a game or sit out on the deck. Right across the street from us.
Last Chance. Locals call it Last Chance Cheese, and yes, they sell cheese, but no antiques, despite what the sign says. Fifty years on Main Street, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Rooted. A beautiful flower and gift shop directly behind us.
Bones & Stones. Taxidermy might not be your thing, but it's a genuinely interesting shop to look around.
The Orpheum. A performance space with world class cultural offerings: dance, music, theatre.
Camp Catskill is on Main St. too, at 6006. Hiking gear, footwear, and the kind of local trail knowledge you don't get from looking at a map.
Where to stay
The Mountain Brook Hotel is the one you can walk to from Main Street. A short drive out of the village there are a few genuinely beautiful places to stay, Deer Mountain Inn, Hotel Lilien and Scribner's among them, and Tannersville is the town you come down into from any of them. There's also a real mix of short-term rentals right on and around Main Street.
Book earlier than you think you need to if you're coming in October. Tannersville tops Airbnb's 2026 list of trending fall weekend-trip destinations, measured by how fast searches for a fall stay here are growing rather than by how many people already come.1 We're not surprised. It does mean the good weekends go sooner than they used to.
If you only have a weekend
We've already written the hour-by-hour version of this: 48 Hours in Tannersville: A Weekend Guide to the Northern Catskills. Two days, mapped out, coffee to dinner. Start there if your trip is already booked and you just want the order to do things in.
Before you go
Trailhead parking lots at the popular spots (especially Kaaterskill Falls) fill early on weekends, particularly in fall. Cell service is spotty once you're off Main Street, so download any maps you need before you head out. Stop in and we can talk through which trail fits your day. That's most of what we do.
1. Airbnb, "Fall Beats Summer as the Top Season for Weekend Trips," news.airbnb.com, Aug 18 2026. Ranking based on growth in Airbnb searches (Q2 2026) for Sept 1 to Nov 30, 2026 check-ins vs. the equivalent 2025 window.
