What's Overrated in Albany: An Honest Local Take
Empire State Plaza reflecting pool in Albany
Five things guidebooks push that you can safely skip, plus what to do with the 4 hours you’ll save.
Skip or scale back
The Empire State Plaza art collection tour is often oversold. The modernist sculpture along the concourse is worth 20 minutes, not the 90-minute guided walk. Just wander it yourself. Second, the New York State Museum's carousel: charming for kids under 8, a five-minute detour for anyone else, despite being listed as a top attraction. Third, USS Slater tours in peak summer heat; the destroyer escort is genuinely interesting historically, but the metal decks turn brutal in July and August. Go in May or September instead.
Fourth, the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception unless you’re specifically interested in Gothic Revival architecture. It's beautiful but there's not much interpretive material and you’ll be done in 15 minutes. Fifth, the Corning Preserve riverfront in winter. Locals love it May through October; from November to April it's a windy strip of concrete along a highway.
What to do instead
Spend that time in Washington Park, especially in May during Tulip Fest week when 140,000 tulips actually bloom. Take the free Capitol tour, which is the best architecture in the city and genuinely surprising with its stone carvings and grand staircases. Walk Lark Street between State and Madison for the best concentration of independent shops and cafes. Ride the CDTA Red Line to Schenectady's Stockade district, one of the oldest surviving neighborhoods in the country. Any of these beats the tourist-office greatest hits.
Before you book
The questions people ask about Washington Park, answered with this month’s numbers.
Yes, and it's free. This one is not overrated. Weekday only, and the view stretches to the Catskills on clear days.
No. Walk it, photograph the reflecting pool and the Egg, ride to the observation deck. Just don’t book the 90-minute art tour unless you’re an architecture nerd.
