How to spend a cozy fall weekend upstate in Troy, NY

When my partner and I were planning our trip to the Little Falls Cheese Festival in Little Falls NY, we decided to make a moderately inexpensive upstate NY weekend getaway of it. There were few to no Airbnbs, hotels, or bed and breakfasts of interest around Little Falls, so we settled on a little stint exploring Troy, NY, a larger upstate NY college town (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) located a little over 3 hours drive from NYC. The theory? College towns have a bit more going on than smaller, non-college towns.

As expected, the time in Troy was the more eventful part of the rainy weekend weekend upstate NY.

Where to stay in Troy

There’s a lot of charm in a well-loved and cared for bed and breakfast, especially upstate NY. As long as hotels or Airbnbs aren’t significantly cheaper, I opt for bed and breakfasts for the communal charm, cozy old restored house and surroundings. I’m convinced that the best bed and breakfast in Troy that invokes that classic cozy feel is the Gardner Farm Inn.

The Gardner Farm Inn has tons of personality. The owner, John, is warm, friendly, and open. Both my partner and I (but especially my partner) spent a lot of our time in the bed and breakfast chatting openly with John, exchanging pieces of our lives. Breakfast was delicious and the house was clean and well-cared for. It didn’t hurt that John has two majestic greyhound oafs lying around the B&B, readily rolling over for belly rubs. The Gardner Farm Inn takes the communal closeness aspect of bed-and-breakfasts to heart.

Rates start around $165 night. My full review on the bed and breakfast can be found here.

What to eat in Troy

John, the owner of The Gardner Farm Inn, suggested:

• Nighthawks
• The Ruck (American bar)
• Lucas Confectionary (wine bar)
• Brown’s Brewing Company’s Troy Taproom and Brewery
• Tara Kitchen (Moroccan)
• Dinosaur Bar-B-Que

We ate dinner at The Ruck, but I forgot to take pictures. For a college town Saturday night, it was dead. I blamed it on the holiday weekend and RPI being a STEM school. John said the same thing back at the B&B when we asked where everyone was. Vindicated!

We also ate brunch on Sunday morning at Nighthawks. Highly recommended for one of the best farm-to-table meals I’ve eaten lately. They have wonderful vegetarian options.

I had to have something sweet before heading back to NYC. We wandered over to Birch Baked Gluten Free in the downtown area, but their display case was sparse. What we dismissed as hushpuppies were actually delicious apple cider donuts, and we didn’t realize until we had left.

We continued on to the final destination: The Dutch Udder Craft Ice Cream. They make a mean vanilla ice cream. A scoop of ice cream is the perfect end to a weekend.

Things to do in Troy

If you’re coming from any big city, there is not plenty to do in Troy NY. But that’s part of the charm of leaving the city and going anywhere smaller!

John, the B&B owner, said there’s a massive farmer’s market downtown every Saturday. It was at the same time as Cheese Fest though, so we missed it.

Chowderfest was Sunday. It was a bigger deal than I thought it was: The city of Troy closed down a couple of streets for the festivities, vendors set up tents, and bands tuned on a few stages preparing for go time.

If you’re spending a fall weekend in Troy, set aside a little outside time and head to Peebles Island State Park. The trail map makes the island look bigger than it is, but a short 2-mile hike takes you around the perimeter of the small island. If you’re craving more nature, Cohoes Falls is a six-minute drive away.

I love woolly bears. My cinephile partner, who went to film school, took video. He told me he tried to make it stable enough that I could rotoscope it. I had no idea what that was, so he explained that I could use my iPad to trace and animate it. Maybe I will! It's comforting to be loved in these small, thoughtful ways.