Canandaigua, NY | Finger Lakes Region
Once upon a time I was scrolling Instagram and saw someone The Cleveland Bucket List follows share a gorgeous looking hotel. When I clicked on the hotel’s instagram, I immediately took a screenshot, knowing I wanted to add it to our weekly Hotel Picks Feature sometime in the near future.
Fast forward a few weeks and Drew casually announces we should go somewhere for my birthday in October. He suggests a lake house or somewhere we can drive, and I immediately tell him to look up the hotel I’d found, The Lake House on Canandaigua. Realizing it’s only a 4.5 hour drive from Cleveland, he’s ready to book, until he realizes one of the weekend nights is $600. Now, sometime between me finding the shared hotel and suggesting it to Drew, it’s been voted Travel & Leisure's #2 Resort Hotel in the US and #1 in New York, (along with it’s previous Condé Nast Traveler 2021 Best New Hotels in the World designation). SO we’ve found a gem but we’re gonna have to pay!
However, we decided we could spare a few workdays and come up and hangout while also working remotely, and noticed that the week days were $300/cheaper a night. Let me also mention we’re talking booking 1-2 weeks in advance (we haven’t looked at something next year, yet).
Day 1: Monday -
SO, I digress, we make our reservations and head up for the day on Monday around 6:30am. We make a quick pitstop for Drew to get a few pieces of work done and then we hit the road. The drive was very easy and pretty quick (maybe thats because we’re used to 12 hours every thanksgiving).
When we arrived we found some space in the Library to get some work done, and were able to check-in soon after. We grabbed some lunch to-go from the on site hotel restaurant, Rose Tavern, and enjoyed it outside right before hopping on our 2pm Fall Foliage Boat Tour. The tour lasts 2 hours and is a pontoon boat ride out and around the lake. Our tour guide was a native to the area and provided us with a bunch of fun facts about the lake and the area including:
It’s in the top 2 for most expensive lake front property behind Lake Tahoe
It’s one of the cleanest lakes because there is no industry on the lake
There are 6 Wegman’s associated people (family, CEO’s, etc) with homes on the lake
The lake does not depend on tourism and most people live here year round
We were probably a week too early for the insane color display, but we still got to see some gorgeous colors (and homes).
After our boat tour we accomplished some more work (just want to be honest that the only way we can take weekday trips, and honestly any of our vacations, is by working through them, at least partly), and then got ready to walk to dinner at Nolan’s on The Lake, which we’d found thanks to our love of Yelp and Google reviews. We had such a nice time at Nolan’s - the service was fast and kind and we loved our meals. I had the lobster ravioli which was PACKED with lobster, I felt bad I couldn’t finish it all because it was so fresh and delicious. Drew had one of their specials, a pork chop with apple & cranberry chutney over a sweet potato puree and said it was one of the best he’d had in a long while.
After dinner we decided we wanted to get the s’more kits the front desk provides to use around the on-site fire pits. Such a simple and inexpensive idea for the hotel that provided us with a nice nightcap to the evening.
Day 2: Tuesday -
We booked spa appointments in advance of our trip to make sure we could fit them into our day. We woke up and headed to breakfast as we purchased the room package with breakfast included. The breakfast menu at Rose Tavern is fantastic - we had the steel cut oats and two egg breakfast the first morning, alongside coffee and fresh juice.
After breakfast we headed to check in at the spa for our massages. The spa is immaculately decorated and set up. They provide robes and slippers, tea & infused water, a great lounge space and full showers with all the amenities you’d need (including a Dyson hair dryer!!).
~ insert then we worked to explain any delay in time ~
After wrapping up some work we grabbed bikes from the front desk to bike to town for lunch. We had picked out a local dive bar spot, The Bee Hive Brew Pub, from our google searching, and immediately found a bunch of local regulars at the bar (my kind of place). We had a great lunch and they had an awesome beer selection I was sad to miss out on.
We took our bikes down to the waterfront post lunch and enjoyed a bike along the lake and some time just hanging out in the sun on a bench.
~ insert then we worked to explain any delay in time ~
Around happy hour we ventured down to the lakeside to enjoy some more time outside on the gorgeous day we were awarded and eventually made our way to the bar for cocktails & mocktails. The Library is stocked with games (though they wouldn’t be our first choice - we’d bring uno or bananagrams next time), and we decided to try Scrabble.
We had originally made a reservation for dinner at Rose Tavern, but once we saw the menu we decided we’d rather go back to Nolan’s again! So we headed up there (literally a minute walk through the hotels parking lot) and enjoyed another fabulous dining experience. We capped our night off with a Chocolate Crème brûlée from Rose Tavern (didn’t know my life was missing chocolate Crème brûlée until this moment).
Day 3: Wednesday (departure) -
We started off the morning by finally sleeping in a bit, and then heading down to the Rose Tavern for one last delicious breakfast. After breakfast we spent sometime walking the grounds and enjoying the lake views.
While we could’ve stayed another day just to enjoy the weather, we didn’t feel like we were missing anything by leaving.
Guide:
Where to stay: The Lake House on Canandaigua:
I’m not even providing any other options because if you are going to drive to this lake - stay here!!
It’s pet friendly (up to a certain weight)
It’s definitely a place where you could bring kids (but it is not “family-friendly” they do not have things especially for kids and the on-site dining is a bit on the “fancier” side).
They have a heated pool and hot tub
They have an on-site spa
They have on-site dining & bars
they have a great NA selection, making this a great “baby-moon location”
What to do (on-property): The hotel provides a list of things they have going on daily during your stay including:
Fall Foliage Boat Cruise (additional fee)
Morning Yoga (additional fee)
Cocktail classes (additional fee - vary by stary)
Workout classes (many included at no additional fee)
Garden tours
What do to (off-property):
Grab bikes and bike to town or bike around Kershaw Park
Coming in the winter? head to Bristol Mountain Ski Resort
Explore the Canandaigua Lake Wine Trail
Drink your way around the local breweries
Other Half (original location is in Brooklyn, NY)
Where to eat:
Bee Hive Brew Pub - awesome local beer selection
Nolan's on Canandaigua Lake - we ate here twice during our visit, it’s delicious!
Jose & Willy's at the Lake - get the wings
New York Kitchen - Educational hands-on cooking and craft beverage pairing classes and programs, industry certification courses, and 100% New York State Tasting Room
