Lake Placid Travel Guide
I am so excited for today’s post! Lake Placid is our favorite place for a getaway and there’s nothing better than reading in a beautiful place. We travel a decent amount and I want to start sharing that more! I rely a lot on travel guides when we’re going to new places and it’s a really fun way to look back on our trip :)
This trip might be the favorite that we’ve done! I feel like we've kind of done it all at this point. We’ve stayed in a local hotel, an AirBnB and this past weekend we stayed in the Hampton Inn. I have two must haves for a weekend at the lake: a balcony and view of the water. We’ve had access to all in the different places we’ve stayed!
We drove up Friday morning and arrived just before 1 pm. We checked in to the hotel and immediately went in search of lunch from our favorite spot, Smoke Signals. Sadly they weren’t open until 3pm, so we decided to go to our other staple, the causal Pizza place by the water.
I love Mary Ballou designs, so that was next on my list of must stops. Plus a stop at Around the Lake coffee, sitting by the water, and the bookstore. The Bookstore Plus is probably so sick of me, but I love supporting independent bookstores and I really wanted some books that take place in the Adirondacks. We stopped into Goose Watch Winery to pick up our favorite bottles, too.
Then it was back to the hotel to freshen up and then head down for happy hour! The Hampton has complimentary champagne and hors d’ouevres from 4-6pm. It was great to hang out by the fire, gazing at the lake, and we even connected with some other guests! (Hi Vincent and Diane!)
We planned to go back to Smoke Signals for dinner but it was a 2 HOUR WAIT. Now Smoke Signals is a GREAT restaurant, and we’ve always had to deal with a wait time. But never like this! So we decided to try something new and headed to the Lake Placid Pub and Brewery, which is right next to the Hampton. It was great! More casual and a little loud, but great food and service.
After dinner, we changed into comfy (and warm) clothes before heading back to Main Street for ice cream from the Lake Placid Creamery. You have to try the Cookie Doughlicious!
Saturday morning I woke up early to get some reading in before Nick woke up. I tried to read on the balcony all bundled up, but I only lasted about 30 mins before realizing that 46 degrees much be pushing it for outdoor reading. But I finished an ARC I needed to before breakfast and heading out for the day!
Obviously we needed to get more hot drinks for Around the Lake Coffee before heading to the kayak rental. It was mid sixties, but still so fun to be on the lake. After a few hours on the lake, we really needed to warm up and relax! So we both read in the sun on the beach, which we had never visited before! Then we met up with our new friends for happy hour again before going to The Cottage for dinner.
The weekend went by so fast! We stopped for ice cream again on our walk back to the hotel and made a game plan for our final half day on Sunday.
I woke up early again on Sunday to read on the balcony—it was MUCH warmer! And I started to get sad about leaving. After Nick woke up, we got breakfast and packed up. We checked out and then walked around the entirety of Mirror Lake, which the Village of Lake Placid sits on. It’s 2.7 miles around and took us about an hour to walk, since we were taking our time and peaking in at the surrounding houses. We really want to buy property there!
Then we finished up our shopping and FINALLY got to Smoke Signals for lunch! Nick had the pulled pork BBQ tacos and I had the reuben. SO yummy, so worth the wait.
After a final stop at Around the Lake, we stopped by the beach to dip our feet in and head home. We’ll be back in December to go skiing, but it’s SUCH a beautiful place in the summer too. I’m sad it’s already come and gone!
Things to do in Lake Placid:
Herb Brooks Arena
Lake Placid Olympic Museum
Hiking—46 Peaks
Restaurants—Smoke SIgnals, Pizza Place, The Cottage, Dancing Bears
Goose Watch Winery—Wine Tasting
Saratoga Olive Oil—Olive Oil Tasting, our favorite thing to do!
Shopping
Whiteface
Kayak/Paddle Board/Boat rentals
Click on the photo directly to see pictures from our weekend :)
