Weekend Getaways from NYC: Mountain Regions Within Four Hours

The Berkshires, in western Massachusetts, are about 2.5 to 3 hours from New York City, most directly by the Taconic State Parkway. The summer arts calendar of Tanglewood, MASS MoCA and Jacob's Pillow shapes the lodging as much as the hills do, and inns near Lenox and Stockbridge book heavily in July and August. Fall foliage in mid-October is the other busy season.

Southern Vermont, around Manchester and Brattleboro, is about 3.5 hours away. Its Green Mountains lodging is older and more traditional than the Catskills', with more New England inns, such as The Equinox, a hotel since 1769, and fewer recent boutique conversions.

The southern Adirondacks, around Lake George, are about 3.5 hours from the city. Lake Placid and the High Peaks, where most Adirondack visitors go, are about 5 hours. The Adirondack Park covers about 6 million acres, roughly the size of Vermont, so the base town matters: Lake Placid has resorts and Olympic venues, while Saranac Lake and Bolton Landing on Lake George suit different trips.

Stowe and the Mad River Valley in northern Vermont are about 5 to 5.5 hours from New York. Like Lake Placid, they suit a long weekend or a week, booked two to three months ahead for ski season or foliage.

The closer a region is to New York City, the more its prices follow city demand. In the Catskills, many boutique inns are in the $$$ band and fill weeks to months ahead on summer and foliage weekends.

The Adirondacks have more family-run inns and lakeside camps in the $ and $$ bands, though Lake Placid's resorts are $$$ and $$$$. The Berkshires sit between the two: prices rise in summer and foliage season, and winter and spring are easier to book.

Each region has its own rhythm. The Catskills and the Hudson Valley are busiest in summer and during fall foliage, from mid-September to mid-October, with a smaller ski season from December through March. The Berkshires are busiest in summer for the arts calendar and again in October, and quieter in winter and spring. The Adirondacks have a long winter season, centered on Lake Placid's Olympic venues and Whiteface, and Vermont's Green Mountains are busiest in ski season and foliage.

Late April through Memorial Day and the weeks from mid-October to Thanksgiving are shoulder seasons in all four regions, with more open rooms and lower rates, though some smaller inns close for part of those months.