I stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn while in Ithaca, NY this fall. The hotel was a good example of the best in chain hotels. Friendly, accommodating staff, no intrusive behavior. A Starbucks & a nice Irish pub on the ground floor.

The real reason to be in Ithaca is for its incredible gorges & waterfalls. Autumn is perfect! Lots to do with apple festivals & picking at the Cornell Orchard farm. The town has a number of really good restaurants -one in particular is Just a Taste, which is a tapas place that serves small dishes of many different foods as well as flights of wine, some very good wine choices.

Ithaca is a busy, forward thinking, high energy town. The energy comes from a beautiful blend of locals & the two college (Ithaca College & Cornell) communities. This is a town with bicyclers & runners out everywhere. There re a number of good shops for bicyclists, runners & triathletes. Cayuga lake is a gem in the middle of it all. The Boatyard restaurant perches perfectly on a bit of land jutting into the lake. The food is good & the atmosphere is laid-back upscale. The prices are moderate in both restaurants mentioned. There are many good restaurants, Indian, Spanish, Thai, Korean, Mexican, Italian, French, Bistro grill as well as two co-ops with organic & fresh local food for picking up picnic supplies.

I returned to Ithaca for a CE conference... what a great place to be a college kid ( or pretend you're still one)! Lots of great places to eat, old fashioned pubs, beautiful college campus... the leaves were just starting to turn and there was a crisp bite to the air - I loved it!

camped with my 2 little boys for the first time. despite cold rainy weather in august, we enjoyed waterfalls, parks and playgrounds. great hiking which they fared very well with. nice getting back to basics, leaving technology behind.

This felt a surprisingly low-key & rather uncared-for little town, at least in the central section. I didn't recognise it from reviews I'd seen, as I certainly wouldn't call it charming..
However, it was handy enough for a couple of days on the local wine-trail & for Watkins Glen, which was worth the trip.