New York Travel

No state in America can claim the degree of contrasts that you find in New York. There’s New York City, of course, which pulses with both density and intensity. Then there’s the rest of the Empire State (mostly referred to as “upstate” by folks in the Big Apple), which dwarfs the city in size and sprawls with beautiful countryside, small towns, mountains and wonders such as Niagara Falls. When you visit New York, you can be hailing a cab on Fifth Avenue in the morning, and be at a pastoral winery in Hudson River Valley or stepping onto the sand in the Hamptons by lunch. New York travel options are filled with bucket-list destinations, from the Broadway theatres in Times Square to visiting the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown or skating on Olympic ice in Lake Placid. Read on in this New York travel guide to chart your course through the Empire State:

Things Not to Miss in New York

• Times Square

• The 9/11 Memorial

• Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty

• The Catskills

• Lake Placid in the Adirondack Mountains

• The Finger Lakes

• Hyde Park, home of FDR, in the Hudson Valley

• The North Fork of Long Island

When to Go to New York

The peak times to travel to New York are the late spring and fall: In the spring, the mountains are awash in vibrant colors of budding flowers, while the classic “Autumn in New York” brings a mosaic of leaves in reds, oranges and gold. New York City can be stifling hot in the summer—but ideal for upstate New York travel options such as hiking, camping and canoeing in the Catskills, Adirondacks or the Finger Lakes.Then, things start to get interesting. An attendant leads you through a black-lit hallway, which tunnels through a glass-enclosed chamber full of glowing tropical plants. In the locker rooms, you shower and anoint yourself with various cedar-scented tinctures. You don your swimsuit, slip on your kimono robe, and descend into the abyss.

In the basement level of this 1930s factory building, you'll find Bathhouse — one of the most interesting entries into the New York City wellness scene in recent years. "I think what we're doing is resonating with people," co-founder Jason Goodman told Travel + Leisure during a recent tour. "People are sick of the frou-frou, fake relaxation theater stuff." Instead, he hopes to offer people an experience that's equal parts restorative and convivial.Goodman and co-founder Travis Talmadge enlisted Jennifer Carpenter of Verona Carpenter Architects to collaborate on the plan for the 6,500-square-foot space, and preserving the history of the building was a priority. A former soda production plant, previously occupied by the Brooklyn Bottling Company and Dr. Brown’s Soda, the building's vaulted ceilings and brickwork remained in excellent condition. Even the old 100-foot smokestack remains, finding new life as the centerpiece of the semi-secret ritual room in the women's locker area.What first draws your eye upon entering the main area is a massive mural on the back wall, created by Brooklyn-based artist Amit Greenberg. Conjuring a scene from the thermae of ancient Rome, it depicts bathers presiding over three thermal pools: 104°F for a hot soak, 52°F for cold plunges, and 94°F for a thermally neutral experience (around the same temperature as your skin). Two heated hammam stones are available for a break between soaks.

Unlike other spas of a similar quality, there's no pressure to keep your voice down — this is is a place where you can have a little fun. When I visited, just a few weeks after opening, Bathhouse was comfortably busy, the buzz of conversation taking the place of windchime-and-panpipe "spa music."