Best waterfalls in New York
New York is quietly one of the great waterfall states — Niagara is just the headliner. The Finger Lakes hide gorge after gorge of cascades you can walk right beside, the Catskills inspired a whole school of painters, and the Adirondacks hold wild backcountry falls. Spring and fall are prime, and most are an easy walk.
a two-tier Catskills fall that inspired the Hudson River School painters.
taller than Niagara, in a Finger Lakes gorge near Ithaca.
the iconic thundering border falls; ride the Maid of the Mist.
a wide, terraced curtain over 400-million-year-old bedrock.
a long cascade tumbling into a swimming hole at the trailhead.
a broad, powerful fall a short walk from downtown Ithaca.
the showpiece of Robert H. Treman’s gorge trail.
a wide horseshoe plunge in Tug Hill country.
the centerpiece of the "Grand Canyon of the East".
a thundering fall in the middle of downtown Rochester.
a hidden Finger Lakes gorge fall above Skaneateles Lake.
the third of Letchworth’s big falls, reached by a stone staircase.
walk under and beside 19 falls in a storybook Finger Lakes gorge.
a clean plunge over white conglomerate in Minnewaska.
a natural-gas flame flickers in a grotto behind the falls.
Flows change with the season and recent rain — many falls roar at spring snowmelt and slow by late summer. Check conditions and any permit or reservation rules before you go.