Keuka Lake is where American vinifera wine began — Dr. Konstantin Frank planted the first European grape varieties here in the 1960s. The Y-shaped lake now has a dozen wineries, fewer crowds than Seneca, and some of the oldest vines in the Finger Lakes.

September in the Finger Lakes brings warm days in the 70s, cool nights in the 50s, the start of the wine harvest, a thinning of the summer crowds, and lake temperatures still warm enough for swimming. It is the region’s most balanced month.

The Finger Lakes have a pizza scene that ranges from Roman-style slices in Ithaca to wood-fired pies in Geneva to thick-crust local staples in Watkins Glen. Here is where to eat, what to order, and what style each place does best.

The main parking lot at Watkins Glen State Park fills by 9 to 10 a.m. on summer weekends. But the park has two entrances, the village has free street parking within a 5-minute walk, and the shuttle between the top and bottom costs $5. Here is how to handle it.

Canandaigua sits at the north end of its namesake lake with a walkable Main Street, a 50-acre Victorian garden estate, and a west-shore wine trail that most visitors drive right past on the way to Seneca Lake. Here is how to spend two days doing it right.

The Finger Lakes have become one of the Northeast’s strongest wedding destinations, combining vineyard ceremony sites, restored barns, and lakefront settings at price points that run 30 to 50 percent below comparable venues in the Hudson Valley or Berkshires. Here is a venue-by-venue breakdown.

The Seneca Lake Wine Trail has 30-plus tasting rooms spread over a 75-mile loop, and most of them sit on rural highways with no sidewalks or public transit. Here is how to visit them without getting behind the wheel — from guided tours to bike routes to walking clusters.

Every September, the village of Naples at the south end of Canandaigua Lake draws 40,000 visitors for a two-day grape and wine festival built around grape pie, 200-plus craft vendors, and live music. Here is how to plan your trip, avoid the traffic, and find the pie.

Syracuse sits closer to the Finger Lakes than most people realize. Five routes, each under 75 minutes of driving, deliver lake towns, gorge trails, wine trails, and historic sites — all doable in a single day without an overnight.

Skaneateles Lake is one of the cleanest lakes in the United States and a public drinking water source for Syracuse, which means swimming access is more restricted than on other Finger Lakes. Here is where you can get in the water, when to go, and what rules to follow.