The 7 Best Views in Albany, Ranked
Skyline view from the Corning Tower observation deck
Seven vantage points in and around Albany, ranked by how far you can see and how easy it is to get there.
The top four
1. Corning Tower observation deck, 42nd floor. Free, open weekdays, and you can see the Catskills, Adirondacks and Berkshires on a clear day. Nothing else in the city competes. 2. The Helderberg Escarpment at Thacher Park, 15 miles southwest. The Overlook stretches across five states on the right day. Free parking, easy walk. 3. The Livingston Avenue Bridge pedestrian walkway (when open) for Hudson River angles you can’t get anywhere else. 4. Washington Park hill during Tulip Fest, looking down over the flower beds toward the Capitol.
Three through seven
5. The pedestrian bridge from downtown over I-787 to the Corning Preserve, best at sunset with the Hudson glowing. 6. The rooftop bar at The Hyatt Place downtown — order a drink and you’ve bought the view. 7. Prospect Park in Troy, a 15-minute drive across the river, gives you Albany's whole skyline framed by the Hudson. Not ranked: the Empire State Plaza itself is impressive at street level but not really a view — you’re in it, not looking at it.
Before you book
The questions people ask about Washington Park, answered with this month’s numbers.
The Corning Tower observation deck. It's genuinely one of the best free urban views in the Northeast and hardly anyone visiting Albany knows about it.
Corning Preserve on the Albany side is decent but you’re looking east. For actual sunsets over the river, cross to Rensselaer or Prospect Park in Troy and look back west toward Albany.
