Rhinebeck

By plane

• Stewart International Airport, 1180 First St, New Windsor, +1 845 564-2100.
• Albany International Airport, 737 Albany-Shaker Rd, Albany.

By train

Amtrak runs daily services between New York City's Penn Station and several cities: Adirondack from Montreal, Empire Service from Buffalo via Rochester, Ethan Allen Express from Rutland, Lake Shore Limited from Chicago and the Maple Leaf from Toronto. All trains runs once daily, except Empire Service which has up to ten departures per day. Trains call at is located on 455 Rhinecliff Rd, which is about 2.1 miles from downtown Rhinebeck.

By car

US Route 9 is the main north-south road in the area. The major east-west route is called Market St. in downtown Rhinebeck. It is East Market St./State Route 308 east of Route 9 (Mill St./Montgomery St.) and West Market St./State Route 85 west of Route 9. West Market St. becomes Rhinecliff Rd. and enables access to the Amtrak station in Rhinecliff.

Downtown Rhinebeck is easily walkable for people with an average level of fitness, but if you need to get to or from the Rhinecliff train station, you will need a car or taxi or at least a bicycle, unless you want to walk 2 miles on roads without sidewalks.

• Wilderstein

  address: 330 Morton Rd
  Stunning Queen Anne-style mansion set on park-like grounds designed by Calvert Vaux. Open May though October, Th-Su noon-4PM (last tour at 3:30PM). Call for special holiday events: Halloween Party, Victorian holiday tours, Yuletide high tea. The mansion is several miles outside town.

• Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome

  phone: +1 845 752-3200
  address: 9 Norton Road
  A "living" aviation museum (airworthy vintage aircraft) covering the 1903 through 1939 era of vintage aviation (including aviation engines and operable period ground vehicles), May through October, 10AM-5PM. Airshows, June through October, weekends at 2PM. For $75, take a biplane ride over the Hudson River; Sa-Su, June through October.

• Upstate Films

  address: 6415 Montgomery St
  A non-profit member-supported arts organization, primarily serving as an independent cinema. Their Arts In Education program "uses nonfiction film as an integral part of a critical thinking approach to history and literature at the high school level," according to their Web site.

• Artigiani Del Gelato

  address: 41 E. Market St.
  Excellent, creative gelato. If they have the wasabi flavor when you go, get a sample — seriously. Even if you think you wouldn't like it. The lemon cookie flavor is wonderfully lemony, and the lemon-basil flavor is refreshing.

• China Rose

  phone: +1 845 876-7442
  address: 100 Shatzell Ave
  Chinese fusion with views of the Hudson River. W-M 5PM-10PM, closed Tu. Entrées $11-$25. Adjacent to the Rhinecliff Amtrak station.

• Gigi Trattoria

  phone: +1 845 876-1007
  address: 6422 Montgomery St.
  You can have an expensive meal at this restaurant, but you don't have to. The "skizza"s are great: The crust is crunchy through-and-through without being cracker-like, and they use fresh, high-quality ingredients. Two people with normal appetites can easily split a soup or salad (they offer "half bowls" of soup that are a full bowl to almost anyone else) and two pizzas and be full and satisfied. Good service, too. Gluten-free pizza is also available.

Splurge

• Beekman Arms and Delamater Inn

  phone: +1 845 876-7077
  address: 6387 Mill St
  Beekman Arms may be America's oldest continually operating inn, established in 1766. The Delamater Inn, designed by Alexander Jackson Davis, is in the American Carpenter Gothic style.

• Olde Rhinebeck Inn

  phone: +1 845 871-1745
  address: 340 Wurtemburg Rd

• Kingston, on the other side of the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge, has a much larger and in some cases considerably different selection of historic buildings than Rhinebeck.
• In addition to visiting other places in the Hudson Valley, consider going to the Catskills for some good hiking.