Geneva is the name of both a town and a city in Ontario County, in the Finger Lakes region of New York. The City of Geneva is surrounded by the Town of Geneva.

Get around

You'll need a car to get around the city, unless you only want to see downtown and the historical district. You can do that by foot.

Buy

• 1 Finger Lakes Gift & Lounge, 60 Seneca St, ☏ +1 315 759-5247. M-Th 8AM-7:30PM, F Sa 8AM-9:30PM, Su 9AM-3PM. Sells a variety of Finger Lakes-originated merchandise. Yeah, there's wine (and beer), but there are also apples and ice cream and gifts—and even coffee. A little bit of everything, all from within 100 miles or so. 
• 2 Stomping Grounds ART :: BOOKS :: GIFTS, 492 Exchange St (Right downtown across from Lynch's Funrature, next to Opus Cafe.), ☏ +1 315 220 0922. 10am-6pm M-Sat. An eclectic locavore shop with antiquarian books and paper, custom framing and printing, and locally inspired / created gifts. 

Eat

There are several types of food available in Geneva:

• Fast food
• Pizza
• Good Food
• Bad Food

Fast Food

Mostly located downtown. Nearly every variety is available, but you'll probably need a car to get there (see "transportation" section). You may eat it if you wish.

Pizza

This could also be listed under the "Good Food" heading. Geneva has some excellent pizza joints.

People will argue over the virtues of Cam's (thin crust) vs. Mark's (thick crust). In my opinion, they're both delicious.

Uncle Joe's is also good, and does a terrific lunch special for about the price of a gallon of gas. They make their cookies in house. If you don't get any pizza while you're in Geneva....well, you've wasted a trip, haven't you?

Good Food

This can be harder to come by. The quality of food is rising in Geneva, but can still often be disappointing from a Continental or Big-City point of view.

For a consistently good meals, try the Madderlake Cafe. The cafe looks humble, but is run by a couple who came east from the wine growing regions of California, where standards and competition are stiffer. The wine there is excellent, as one of the couple is a sommelier (the other is the chef). The food is higher quality than many of the 'fancier' restaurants around.

Bad Food

There's a wide range of this, ranging from greasy spoon diners to the poorly prepared, over priced with ambiance that will demand your firstborn child as payment.

And there's some places inbetween that are just fine, and to the locals, some of these places are classic.

If you want to visit a local hangout, try:

• Cedar Inn (everything fried, and then some)
• The Deluxe (Italian)
• Momberger's Grocery (subs)
• Pinky's Restaurant (old school)

and, for a $2.50 breakfast that can't be beat and enough coffee to make you wizz your tits off

• Water St. Cafe

And while you're there, soak up some real, cheap, ambiance. Upstate New York style, yo.

Drink

Downtown Geneva is littered with local hangouts, some more holey-in-the-wall than others. This is part of the upstate charm.

• A local classic is Parker's, which has expanded into a small empire across the region.

• For something a little more classy and with more character, try the Red Dove Tavern.

• For a nice night out, especially in cooler weather, try the Stonecutter's Lodge the Belhurst Castle. They often have live music and a fire going in the cobblestone fireplace, or one going outside in the firepit. And the wine is okay as well.

Note: all of these places also serve food. The writer does not recommend any of the straight up "bars" in Geneva. Leave that to the townies.

Sleep

The Belhurst Castle sits just south of Geneva perched upon the lakeside....perfect romantic getaway, excellent bar, and functioning wine spiget in the hallway of the second floor of the castle.

Go next

Routes through Geneva

Buffalo ← Canandaigua ←

W  E

→ Jct N S Template:Rtarrow Seneca Falls → Auburn