Saratoga Springs, NY?

[Desnik]

It's only about a 2 hour drive from us and we have never been there. We are going to take a drive there tomorrow just to spend the day. It will be DH, myself and our 2 kids ages 12 and 7. Anything in particular we should see/do with the kids? Any good family friendly places for lunch/dinner? Any historical things we shouldn't miss? What about shopping? Any cute shops?

Thanks!

 

[DVC-Don]

Take a walk along Broadway. It's a throw back to the days when downtowns were the center of shopping. Stop at the horse track on Union Ave and put some bets down on the horse races. Across the street from the track is the National Museum of Racing. Then there is the state park, access from US 9 or NY 50.

http://www.racingmuseum.org/visitor-information/index.asp

http://www.nyra.com/index_saratoga.html

http://www.saratoga.org/

 

[dejr_8]

For sure go to the track! It is a blast.

Even if you don't bet, do some people watching.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

You'll be visiting Saratoga at the very height of the racing season!!! So jealous!

Tomorrow the highlights of the day will be the Adirondack Stakes (2-year old fillies going 6.5 furlongs) and the Sword Dancer Invitational (older horses going 1.5 miles on turf).

I know a lot of people might not think of going to the horse track as being "family fun", but I always loved doing it as a kid.

 

[adkkev]

Lots of shops downtown ... it'll be busy because the track is going full swing now.
Kid-friendly places to eat ... head out Rt 50 North out of town, cross the Northway and you'll find a bunch of places ... TGIFridays, 99Restaurant, Friendly's, Panera Bread, etc. And Wilton Mall.
There's an Arts section of town that you can wander through ...
and you can picnic in the state park (south on Rt 50 or Rt 9 out of town), see the 'springs', even fill up some water jugs with Saratoga spring water.

A visit to the track is fun ... definitely a people-watching place! Can get pretty toasty if you don't snag a spot in the shade on a sunny day ... or pay to sit in the grandstand. Or make a day of it and have breakfast at the track, take a 'backstage' tour of the track too.

 

[mtemm]

if you can get there early, go to the track for breakfast! it is so much fun to watch the horses warming up. the jockeys are very friendly, you can eat there or bring in some muffins or whatever and spend time checking out the track all for FREE. we used to live there, but I never did make it to an actual race (I had a 2-3 year old and infant twins, it just wasn't going to happen! lol), but we did breakfast there a lot.

there are a lot of good restaurants, but our favorite thing to do was to go to the putnam market and get stuff for a picnic and eat at congress park. putnam market has great sandwiches, etc. http://www.putnammarket.com/

have a great time! we haven't been back for a couple of years and would love to fit a day trip in before the track closes.

 

[dejr_8]

You'll be visiting Saratoga at the very height of the racing season!!! So jealous!

Tomorrow the highlights of the day will be the Adirondack Stakes (2-year old fillies going 6.5 furlongs) and the Sword Dancer Invitational (older horses going 1.5 miles on turf).

I know a lot of people might not think of going to the horse track as being "family fun", but I always loved doing it as a kid.

And you can't explain it to people. It it like just one big community picnic that takes place at a race track. We haven't been to Saratoga since we moved to NC in 2004. We miss it.

 

[luvmy3]

You'll be visiting Saratoga at the very height of the racing season!!! So jealous!

Tomorrow the highlights of the day will be the Adirondack Stakes (2-year old fillies going 6.5 furlongs) and the Sword Dancer Invitational (older horses going 1.5 miles on turf).

I know a lot of people might not think of going to the horse track as being "family fun", but I always loved doing it as a kid.

My Grandfather took me when I was a kid, its one of the few things he did with the grandkids and the fondest memories I have of him.

 

[Desnik]

Wow thank you all so much! It seems like so much fun and it is so crazy that we have never been there before when it is so close! I have also been researching online and there is so much to do and everything looks like so much fun for our family! I am so excited and can't wait to go! I really hope we can get out of the house early enough because having breakfast at the track sounds like such a great idea!!

Thank you all again!

Any other advice is welcome!