Sterling is a rural town in the Finger Lakes region of New York. The village of Fair Haven is the primary population center.

Get in

By road, Fairhaven is on NY state highway 104A, a branch of the 104 highway from Rochester to Oswego. From Syracuse, take NY 481 to Fulton, then NY 3 to its western terminus.

Air and rail connections are available at Syracuse.

Do

• Sterling Renaissance Festival, 15385 Farden Rd (Rt 104A E past Sterling hamlet, follow brown signs), ☏ +1 315 947-6905. Jul–mid-Aug Sa Su 10AM-7PM. For seven weekends every summer, the village of Warwickshire emerges from 16th-century England to appear in rural Cayuga County. Within you'll find all manner of traditional games, foods, rides, arts and crafts. Meet interesting people from common washerwomen to the Queen herself, and enjoy special theme weekends like the Pirate Invasion and the Highland Fling. Warwickshire's many denizens remain solidly in character at all times, and they love engaging with visitors. This is the premier upstate Renaissance festival, and is often counted among the best in the entire country. Adult $24.95, child $14.95, under 6 free. 
• Sterling Stage, 274 Kent Rd, ☏ +1 818-212-9489, sterlingstage@gmail.com. Select weekends, Th 9AM - M 11AM. The Sterling Stage, started in 1996, features what they call a "Kampitheater"—for your admission price, you get four days of music and a campsite where you can set up a tent and commune with your fellow music lovers. The lineup tends toward folk, roots music, and jam bands... pretty much exactly what you'd expect to appeal to the let's-camp-at-a-music-festival crowd. Day passes: $50 at gate, $40 advance, $35 Su advance; Weekend passes: $85 at gate, $60 early bird, $70 advance; 12 and under free (under 18 with adult only); car parking $12/weekend or $6/day; RV/camper parking $40-100 based on size. (updated Jun 2015)

Sleep

Sterling is a sleepy little town... except when the Renaissance Festival is going on. Even then, most visitors attend as a day trip from Oswego, Syracuse, or even Rochester. But if you do want to stay overnight, there are a surprising number of options for such a small community. Most of them are in Fair Haven, catering to Little Sodus Bay fishermen and boaters.

• Anchor Resort & Marina, 14424 West Bay Rd, Fair Haven, ☏ +1 315 947-5331. A variety of accommodations available, from RV sites to cottages to a B&B all to yourself... though for that last one they only accept weekly reservations. Kitchen facilities available, and Wi-Fi throughout the resort. 
• Maple Grove Bed & Breakfast, 1275 Rt 104A, Sterling, ☏ +1 315 947-5408. Four rooms available, each sharing a bath with another. Wi-Fi, refrigerators, cozy shared living room. Two night minimum. $89-$135; add $40 for each guest beyond 2; breakfast included. 
• Pleasant Beach Hotel, 14477 Fancher Ave, Fair Haven, ☏ +1 315 947-5399 (in-season), +1 706 968-9222 (off-season). Open since 1910, this is a venerable hotel with B&B-style accommodations. The food, by all accounts, is outstanding, and the hotel's restaurant is quite popular even among those not staying here. The rooms get more mixed reviews; some guests have found problems with upkeep and cleanliness, and the decor is seriously dated. The location is hard to beat, though, and some of the rooms have incredible views looking west over the bay. Closed winters. $110-$175, breakfast included. 

Campgrounds

• Fair Haven Beach State Park, 14985 State Park Rd, Fair Haven, ☏ +1 315 947-5205. The state park has 184 campsites as well as a 30 unit "cabin colony" with central bathroom facilities, and a handful of self-contained cottages with private facilities. $15 plus fees, some minimum stay restrictions apply. 
• Holiday Harbor Resort, 9415 Blind Sodus Bay Rd, ☏ +1 315 947-5244. Whether you want sunny or wooded, bayfront or lakefront, this campground on the western promontory between Lake Ontario and Blind Sodus Bay offers quite a variety of camping sites. 
• Shady Shores Campground, 14986 West Bay Rd, Fair Haven, ☏ +1 315 947-5488. Surrounded on three sides by water (Lake Ontario to the north, Blind Sodus Bay to the west, and Little Sodus Bay to the east), this campground has plenty of fishing and boating options nearby, as well as 1500 feet (450 m) of beach. Daily, weekly, and monthly rates. $32-$60 for water and electric sites; $20 for tent sites; discounts for weekly and monthly reservations. 

Go next

Routes through Sterling

Watertown ← Pulaski ←

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