RocWiki Tourists Guide

Rochester, NY is a family-friendly and affordable destination, located on Lake Ontario, and the famous Erie Canal. It is approximately 90 minutes from the Canadian border (by car) and 45 minutes from the Finger Lakes (by car).

VisitRochester (the official tourism promotion agency) reports that an estimated 1.5 million people visit our region each year. Rochester is accessible by bus, car, train and plane. The Greater Rochester International Airport serves more than 2.7 million passengers annually and was named the 12th most affordable airport in the U.S. by cheapflights.com.

The Greater Rochester Area is home to more than 100 family friendly attractions, including amusement parks, interactive museums, a zoo, 1,200 acres of parkland, sporting venues, and many more. There are also many professional sports teams that play regular seasons in Rochester, including the Rochester Red Wings (baseball), Rochester Rhinos (Soccer), Rochester Americans (hockey), Rochester Knighthawks (indoor lacrosse), Rochester RazorSharks (basketball), Rochester Lancers (indoor soccer), Western NY Flash (Women's Soccer), and Rochester Rattlers (outdoor lacrosse).

This page is a guide for people visiting Rochester. It will show you the highlights of the city through the eyes of our contributors, who love and know this city like the back of their hands.

A good place to start is VisitRochester. Or see our suggested Wikicrumbs Tour.

For places to visit with kids and families, use Rochester's KidsOutAndAbout.com. KidsOutAndAbout.com has a daily calendar with dozens of events and activities. Also watch the 3-minute music video Build Myself in Rochester, NY for over 60 beautiful places to visit in Rochester and the surrounding area.

• Artisan Works, a gallery and workspace for many local artists, shares a winding maze of space networked together under (or not under) one roof. Working artists that lease studio space here become part of the visitor experience.
  

• George Eastman Museum - Once the home of George Eastman (founder of Eastman Kodak Company), the house expanded into an adjoining a museum for photography, a classic movie theater and a world-renowned center for film preservation.
  

• Sam Patch Tour Boat - Scenic tours of the Erie Canal. The Sam Patch is located on Schoen Place in Pittsford.
  

• Memorial Art Gallery is a great gallery for a city Rochester's size.
  

• Mount Hope Cemetery - The first Victorian cemetery in the country, formerly located south of the city, retains its original park-like atmosphere.
  

• New York Wine and Culinary Center, a gourmand's delight and gateway for New York agriculture, food and wine, offers a place to taste wines and beer from all over New York. You can compare chardonnays from Long Island and the Finger Lakes, while learning and enjoying what makes each different.
  

• Public Market - On big mornings like Sundays, Thursdays, and especially Saturdays, people come from all over Monroe County and the region to hawk and sell or to buy produce, groceries, plants, and wares, or to sit and relax, gather for coffee, or watch the bustle.
  

• Rochester Museum & Science Center, on a campus of several sprawling buildings, combines interactive displays about science and the history of Rochester. The Strasenburgh Planetarium is on the same site.
  

• Strong National Museum of Play, formerly just the Strong Museum and focused at children, has grown even more awesome. Founded on the toy collection of Margaret Woodbury Strong, but now targeted to adults as well as children, the museum features interactive galleries, playscapes, and even a small butterfly zoo shaped like a butterfly.
  

• Susan B. Anthony House - Currently undergoing restoration, this home of the famous suffragette Susan B. Anthony, is a mecca for women's suffrage. You can stand in the very room where the meetings were held and in the room where she was arrested for voting.
  

• Cobblestone Building Tour - Before the Civil War, settlers in the Rochester area used glacial and lake-washed cobblestones to build houses, schools, factories, stores and more, with an artistic flare. Many still exist today and provide a glimpse into an era long gone.

• Events Board
  

• Festivals
  

• Charity Events
  

• Current Events
  

• Regular Events
  

• City of Rochester Events calendar

Compared to dedicated sites, a wiki sometimes makes a poor format for gathering, organizing, and presenting geography and guides. Here are worthy alternatives:

• Rochester is just one place at 43 Places, a collaborative travel guide. It organizes places and reviews in a socially-networked bulletin board. To solicit helpful comments and sometimes fanciful wishes, onto one page it organizes places you have visited along with places others wish to visit.
  

• Tribe leverages social capital and networking for publishing listings and reviews. It splits upstate New York into distinct metros with Rochester having a distinct domain.
  

• ThisIsROC.com is a mobile-friendly guide to Rochester. The site offers a unique way to get around Rochester when you're visiting or just out and about and need some information on the go.

• New York Times
  

• USA Today
  

• Footprint Press has published 14 guidebooks on the area, covering hiking trails, bicycling trails, waterways to paddle, waterfalls to explore, driving tours to view historic cobblestone buildings, and more.

• Indoor Activities
  

• Outdoor Activities
  

• Places to Stay
  

• Restaurants
  

• Shopping