Explore the area
The valley
Driving times below are measured by road from 8793 State Route 408, so you can plan a day without guessing.
Under twenty minutes, six ways.
Pedal, walk or ride straight onto the 90-mile Genesee Valley Greenway — a level cinder-and-gravel rail-trail following the old Genesee Valley Canal and Pennsylvania Railroad bed from Rochester down to the Village of Cuba.
The park's south gate, a mile of small-town cafés and outfitters, and the arch bridge that frames the first view of the gorge.
The 107-foot Middle Falls, Inspiration Point overlooks, and the launch field where summer balloons go up at first light.
A free ranger-guided tour takes you 200 feet down inside the dam on an elevator, then along the gorge floor. Book through Recreation.gov; tours run May to October.
Main Street shops, the 1838 Mills Mansion, and the birthplace of Francis Bellamy, who wrote the Pledge of Allegiance.
Maps, exhibits and ranger programs before you commit to a trail — worth the short drive on your first morning.
The big one
The "Grand Canyon of the East" — a 17-mile gorge, three waterfalls, about 50 smaller cascades and 66 miles of trails. Dogs on a six-foot leash are welcome; park hours run 6am to 11pm.
17 mi
of gorge carved by the Genesee River
600 ft
cliffs above the river
107 ft
Middle Falls, the tallest of three
66 mi
of marked trails in the park
Half days and full days, twenty minutes to an hour out.
Adventure Calls Outfitters runs a 5½-mile trip through the heart of the gorge — about 2½ hours on the water, rapids included, from $60 a person, April 4 through October 31.
The park's north end: the G.W. Harvey Swimming Pool for lap swims and free swim, pavilions, a playground and open river terraces.
Balloons Over Letchworth is the only outfit launching from inside the park. Flights run May through October, and watching a public launch costs nothing.
New York's largest living history museum: 600 acres, 68 historic buildings, 20,000 artifacts, costumed interpreters and 14 old trades.
A 454-acre reservoir built in 1858 to feed the Genesee Valley Canal. Six miles of shoreline, a state boat launch, walleye and pike, and steady ice fishing in winter.
If you have a full day
Five places we'd send you to if the weather turns, or if you're staying a week and want more than the gorge.
The George Eastman Museum on photography and film, the Seneca Park Zoo, and a public market in the old city.
Five millennia of glass, live hot-shop demonstrations and a studio where you can blow your own.
Frank Lloyd Wright's Buffalo, lakefront parks and the wings-and-beef-on-kummel skyline.
A two-mile loop past 19 waterfalls and natural bridges in a slot canyon of the Finger Lakes.
Two lakes, 2,000 acres of forest and one of the biggest campgrounds in the state for a long weekend away.
Come back for
Spring
Snowmelt sends the three falls roaring, wildflowers come up along the old canal bed and the trail is quiet before Memorial Day.
Summer
Rafting trips most days, swimming at Highbanks, balloons over the ridge at dawn and a fire ring of your own after dark.
Autumn
The 17-mile gorge turns crimson and amber, farm stands and apple picking line the back roads, and the crowds thin out.
Winter
Cross-country ski or snowshoe the level Greenway, ride designated snowmobile corridors, or ice fish out on Cuba Lake.
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