Discover FLX

Town Guide Finger Lakes

Your Guide to Corning, NY

Corning may not sit on a Finger Lake, but it is essential to any visit to the region. The Corning Museum of Glass draws over 300,000 visitors a year, and the restored Gaffer District downtown offers the best small-town shopping and dining corridor in the southern Finger Lakes.

Corning breaks the rules of Finger Lakes travel — there is no lake here, no wine trail wrapping around a shoreline — and it does not matter one bit. This city in the Chemung River valley has built an identity around craft, art, and a downtown revival that other small cities study and envy. The reason most people come is the Corning Museum of Glass, and it is the kind of institution that justifies a trip all by itself. With 50,000 objects spanning 3,500 years of glassmaking, live hot glass demonstrations, and hands-on studios where you can blow your own ornament, it is one of the best museums in New York State — period.

But Corning is not a one-attraction town. The Gaffer District, named for the master glassblowers who shaped the citys identity, is a beautifully restored downtown corridor of independent shops, galleries, and restaurants. The Rockwell Museum, an affiliate of the Smithsonian, houses an excellent collection of American art with a focus on the American West and contemporary Native American artists. Walking from one end of Market Street to the other, you pass wine bars, bookshops, craft studios, and the kind of storefronts that make you want to wander without a plan.

The dining scene in Corning has grown significantly. The local restaurants range from upscale farm-to-table spots to relaxed bistros and bakeries, and the quality reflects the towns broader investment in doing things well rather than doing them fast. Several Finger Lakes wineries maintain tasting rooms downtown, so you can sample the regions wines without driving the trails. The food here draws on the same agricultural base as the rest of the Finger Lakes — local produce, dairy, and meats — and it shows.

Corning sits at the southern edge of the Finger Lakes region, making it a natural entry point for visitors coming from the south or west. From here, Keuka Lake and Hammondsport are a short drive north, Watkins Glen and Seneca Lake are just to the northeast, and the rolling farmland in between is some of the prettiest driving in the state. Corning gives you culture, craftsmanship, and a downtown that feels genuinely alive — and then it sends you into wine country with a full stomach and a good mood.

More Guides

Seneca Lake

Your Guide to Geneva, NY

Geneva sits at the north end of Seneca Lake where historic architecture meets a booming food and wine scene. This is the Finger Lakes town that has it all — lakefront parks, world-class dining, and a walkable downtown that feels like it was built for weekend wandering.
Cayuga Lake

Your Guide to Ithaca, NY

Ithaca sits at the southern tip of Cayuga Lake, a college town with big-city culture, stunning gorges, and a food scene that has drawn national attention for decades. If the Finger Lakes had a creative capital, this would be it.
Seneca Lake

Your Guide to Watkins Glen, NY

Watkins Glen is a tiny village with an outsized reputation. Home to one of the most spectacular state parks in the eastern United States and a world-famous raceway, it sits at the southern tip of Seneca Lake as the gateway to Finger Lakes wine country.