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Our Lake Placid Guide

Here is a list of our favorite things to do, restaurants to eat at, and sites to see in and around Lake Placid, NY.

Select a category to see our picks:

Our Top Picks:

  • Quick breakfast and excellent latte selection: Big Mountain Deli & Creperie – Find this small deli right on Main Street and enjoy their huge breakfast, lunch, and coffee menu. We especially recommend the long list of unique lattes!
  • Sit-down breakfast, great food: The Cabin Grill – Excellent spot on Main Street for breakfast!
  • Excellent lunch menu: The Cottage – One of our favorite restaurants right on Mirror Lake with a great atmosphere! Salads, soups, sandwiches, drinks! You really can’t go wrong.
  • Best Dessert: Lisa G’s – This restaurant serves up THE best dessert either of us has ever had – the homemade ice cream sandwich. No words can describe how awesome this is (share it, it’s big!). The food is great as well.

Other Favorites:

  • Big Slide Brewery & Public House – On the way into town, this a great spot for a local brew and flatbread pizza or salad.
  • Dancing Bears Restaurant – This is the restaurant at the High Peaks Resort with an eclectic menu.
  • Emma’s Lake Placid Creamery – Craving ice cream? This is your place. Try their unique frozen treats!
  • The Great Adirondack Steak and Seafood – A traditional steak and seafood joint in the middle of Main Street.
  • Jimmy’s Lakeside Restaurant – Intimate, romantic, and casual Italian dining on Mirror Lake.
  • Lisa G’s – This restaurant serves up one of the best desserts we’ve ever had – try the homemade ice cream sandwiches! The food is great as well.
  • Lake Placid Club Boat House – The site of our first Lake Placid dinner. Caroline highly recommends this upscale spot overlooking beautiful Mirror Lake. Josh, however, was quite nervous the night before the proposal and doesn’t have much memory of the evening. 🙂
  • Caffe Rustica – Excellent Italian/Mediterranean, slightly more-upscale restaurant in Lake Placid.
  • Smoke Signals – Modern BBQ restaurant (and the site of our Welcome Reception) with a great atmosphere. We recommend getting a table outside on the deck and trying the incredible chicken wings. Live music throughout the week as well.
  • Taverna – Modern Mediterranean restaurant on Saranac Avenue, just a short walk from the High Peaks Resort. Very good food.
  • The View Restaurant – Lake Placid’s only four-diamond restaurant. Exceptional fine dining.
  • Ausable Chasm – Visit the oldest natural attraction in the United States!
  • Boots and Birdies Mini Golf – Enjoy some mini golf in Lake Placid. Last time we played, Josh won. Just sayin’.
  • Cloudsplitter Gondola Ride at Whiteface Mountain – Enjoy a breathtaking ride up to Little Whiteface for a panoramic view of Lake Placid and the surrounding Adirondack Mountains.
  • Golf at the Whiteface Club and Resort – Wedding guests will receive a special rate on the #4 ranked “Classic Course” and #11 ranked “overall” 18-hole championship course in New York State (Golfweek).
  • High Falls Gorge – Take the most breathtaking 30-minute walk in the Adirondacks – 1 Billion years in the making.
  • Lake Placid Boat Tour – We have arranged for a complimentary 1-hour boat tour of scenic and historic Lake Placid. Space is very limited so please sign up here. The tour will begin at approximately 11:15am on Saturday, September 22.
  • Lake Placid Olympic Center – Home of the: Herb Brooks Arena (where the 1980 Miracle on Ice hockey game was played); original 1932 Rink (where 16-year-old figure skater Sonja Henie won Olympic gold); Lake Placid Olympic Museum.
  • Mirror Lake – Walk (or take a segway) around beautiful Mirror Lake – the site of our engagement! Guests staying at the High Peaks Resort or Lake House have full access to a private beach and complimentary boating equipment including kayaks, rowboats, stand up paddleboards and paddleboats.
  • Olympic Jumping Complex – One of our favorite activities in Lake Placid. Take a chairlift and elevator to the top of the tower and watch first-hand as Olympic hopefuls launch down the ramp and fly over the length of a football field. Take in panoramic views of the Adirondack High Peaks and get a bird’s eye view of what the jumpers see as they start to accelerate towards the end of the ramp. At the base of the jump, see skiers perform flips and turns as they launch into a pool of water.
  • Pirate’s Cove Adventure Mini Golf – Fun mini golf for the whole family!
  • Veterans Memorial Highway – Enjoy a historic 8-mile scenic drive up to the summit of Whiteface Mountain. Park at the top, tour the castles, then continue the “climb” through the tunnel and up an elevator to the true peak of Whiteface Mountain. Have your camera ready!

Thrillist published a fantastic article about Lake Placid and things to do. Don’t take our word for it.

Read the article!

 

Also, check out Travel + Leisure’s list of America’s Best Towns for Fall Colors. Guess what made the list? Oh yeah, did we mention? Lake Placid is #1 on the list!

Read the article!

 

Lake Placid is featured in many articles, but here are a couple of others we particularly like:

DRIVING:

  • 2.5-hour drive from Albany, NY
  • 5-hour drive from New York City and Boston
  • 6-hour drive from Buffalo

FLYING:

The closest airports to Lake Placid, NY are:

TRAIN/BUS:

  • Amtrak rail service available from New York City, Albany, and Montreal with a shuttle ride to Lake Placid from the Westport Station.
  • Adirondack Trailways offers bus service from New York City and bus terminal points north, with drop-off in the center of Lake Placid.

Learn more about travel options.