Corning is located in the center of the Southern part of New York near the Pennsylvania border. While Corning is not a large city, there is plenty to see and do around the city and surrounding area.

Getting There

Corning is located right off of I 86 along the Chemung River. It is roughly 4.5 hrs. from NYC, 1.5 hrs. from Rochester, 2 hrs. from Syracuse and 4.5 hrs. from Philadelphia.

Corning Museum of Glass

With live demonstrations, centuries of glass art, and make your own glass, Corning Museum of Glass is well worth your time. You can spend a few hours to a couple of days here. Tickets are good for two days. They offer discounts and kids are free. And before you think that bringing your kids to a Museum full of glass is a bad idea, I would like to point out that their displays are well protected and their demonstrations are behind protective glass. If you do have little kids that like to run around and touch everything, the gift shop would be my only concern of places to probably avoid with little ones.

Demonstrations are usually happening throughout the day. They have smaller demonstrations that you can walk up to and view like the example below and they also have auditoriums that you can sit in and watch. They keep their schedule on their website and can inform you of their live demonstrations when you purchase your tickets.

While my family enjoyed the whole museum experience, the favorite for everyone was making our own glass ornaments. They have many different make your own glass to choose from. For the ornaments, we were able to choose out what colors, shape and design we wanted it to look like. We were there during covid, so there was a pedal to pump air instead of blowing into it.

Keep in mind, you need to schedule your time before hand to make sure that you can get a time slot to make what you want. Also, for the ornaments and several other glass objects, the museum requires one day for them to cool before you can take them with you. They do have an option to mail it to you. We choose to see more of the surrounding area and picked them up the following day.

So if you are in the Corning area, I highly suggest taking a visit to the Corning Museum of Glass. My kids are already asking to go back and they don’t suggest that often. Even if you go for a few hours, it will be worth your time.

Watkins Glen State Park

Twenty-seven minutes north of Corning is one of the best state parks in New York. Watkins Glen is a beautiful state park where you can walk along the fairly easy path by 19 waterfalls. There are a large amount of stairs to go up and down but this gorgeous trail is well worth it. Family friendly for all ages that can handle the steps. Located in the small town of Watkins Glen, there is also a renowned race track nearby. The park offers camping, a swimming pool, and playground. While the gorge trail is not open in the winter you can still access the rim trails to see an overview from above. You can find out more information in my post here.

Stony Brook State Park

While this park is a little farther away, being 48 minutes NW of Corning, it is well worth the drive to take a relaxing stroll through the park see the many waterfalls. Located just south of Dansville, Stony Brook has a playground, picnic tables, stream fed pool along with several trails. The Gorge trail is about 1 mile long and offers many scenic spots along the way.

Vehicle entry fee is $9 per vehicle. It is collected from Mid May until October. If you are coming in the winter months or early spring, be sure to check their website to see what trails are currently open.

None of the trails are stroller or wheelchair friendly, but kids who can walk would enjoy the gorge trail with the many waterfalls along the trail. Wear shoes with good grip as a lot of trail can be slippery with the wet rocks.

Stroll the historic downtown of Corning

Take a walk along Market street and check out the many shops and restaurants along with the many glass shops of the many local artists.