Mohonk Preserve
The cliffs are worth the drive if you get there before the lots fill.
- Food
- Main Street Bistro
- Church
- Reformed Church of New Paltz
- Farm stand
- Hudson Valley Open Market
- Sauna
- Wintersun Sauna
- Sports
- Climbing at the Trapps
- Lodging
- New Paltz
Crowd level: Mixed. Go early, or pick a weekday
Best season Weekday spring and fall. Summer weekends and leaf season are busy. Winter is carriage-road quiet if the roads are open. Check the preserve for closures.
Drive About 1 hr 45 min–2 hr 15 min
General guidance from Midtown to New Paltz. The last miles up the ridge are slower. Weekend traffic adds time.
Parking. Pay at a staffed trailhead or the visitor center. A Mountain House gatehouse pass is a different lot and a different ticket. Do not park there on a Preserve day.
Carriage roads and cliffs on the Shawangunk ridge, above New Paltz. The Preserve is the public day. Mohonk Mountain House next door is a private hotel with its own pass. They are not the same ticket.
Worth knowing
Which ticket
The Preserve has published separate day fees for hikers, and higher fees for bikers and climbers, with weekends above weekdays. Those numbers move. Read mohonkpreserve.org the week you go. The hotel's own hiking pass is another product.
Pine Road
Mohonk’s alerts say Pine Road is closed for road work from October 13 until further notice. That lot is not the backup on a foliage weekend.
The short version
The Shawangunk conglomerate ridge west of New Paltz is the climbing ground called the Gunks. Mohonk Preserve is the land trust. Day visitors pay a fee that is higher on weekends and higher again for bikes, climbers, and horses. The Mountain House is a National Historic Landmark hotel. Its hiking pass does not let you into the hotel, and a Preserve pass is not a hotel reservation.
Food nearby
Main Street Bistro
The trailhead is not a restaurant. Main Street Bistro is at 59 Main Street in New Paltz. Their site prints breakfast and lunch Monday and Wednesday–Friday 8:00 am–3:00 pm and Saturday–Sunday 8:00 am–3:00 pm, closed Tuesday, and dinner Friday–Sunday 4:30–8:00 pm. The same page says Doug and Teresa Thompson bought it on July 1, 1993.
Their pageA game nearby
Climbing at the Trapps
The Preserve's climber day fee is not the hiker fee. Their site has listed a higher rate for climbers than for walkers. Bring your own gear or book a guide you have actually checked.
Farms and stands nearby
Hudson Valley Open Market
The market calls itself the farmers and makers market for New Paltz.
Season. Their site says every Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., May through October, at 196 Main Street, in the New Paltz Middle School parking lot.
The grocery stop if you are cooking in the village after the ridge. The site does not print a cash-only rule.
Official page
Staying in New Paltz – snapshot (lodging only)
Last checked: 2026-10-16. We recommend; you book directly. Prices are nightly, low–high by season, with a source. “From” prices depend on your dates. Items we couldn't verify are marked †.
The quiet base: New Paltz for the ridge. Brookfield Farm is the farm stay, in Modena.
Inns, B&Bs, farm stays, guesthouses, campgrounds
- Gatehouse Gardens, New Paltz
- Type.
- B&B suites
- Price (low–high).
- Open 3/29–12/2 (closed in winter). 2026: $180 room / $260 4-guest / $410 6-guest suite. 2027: $190/$270/$480 (own)
- Good for.
- Strong, up to 6
- Book via.
- Booking/Expedia/Airbnb: not found
- Why we like it.
- Private entrances, pond
- Brookfield Farm B&B, Modena
- Type.
- Farm B&B
- Price (low–high).
- $210 Mon–Thu, $230 Fri–Sun, 5% off 5+ nights; no seasonal variation shown (own)
- Good for.
- Suite for 4
- Book via.
- Booking/Expedia: not found
- Why we like it.
- Highland cows, orchards
Vacation rentals
- Haywood Farmhouse, New Paltz
- Sleeps.
- 5 guests
- Price (low–high).
- No price on file
- Good for.
- 5 guests, pool
- Book via.
- Airbnb
- Why we like it.
- 5 guests, pool
Know before you book: Gatehouse Gardens is open 3/29–12/2 and closed in winter. Haywood Farmhouse has no price.
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A church
Reformed Church of New Paltz
The congregation’s history page traces the church to January 22, 1683, when Pierre Daille preached in the Huguenot settlement. Worship is at 92 Huguenot Street.
Their homepage prints Sunday worship at 10:00 am, and church school for ages 3 through 8th grade.
Schedule sourceA sauna
Wintersun Sauna
Their homepage says the sauna is now at Taliaferro Farm, 187 Plains Road, New Paltz, and that this stop begins October 24. Weekday social sessions are 90 minutes, communal, up to 8 people, and they ask for a minimum of 2.
Book ahead. The page says to wear a swimsuit or sweat-ready clothes and to bring two towels, one for the bench.
House siteFrom people who went
Sample
Sample, not a visitor submission. A weekday morning on the carriage road was the quiet hour. This row shows how an approved note will look.
J. · 2026-09
Share your experience
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