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 Falls is where American history changed. The birthplace of the womens rights movement sits between Cayuga and Seneca Lakes, offering a national park, canal-side charm, and a claim as the inspiration for Its a Wonderful Life.

With a population under 700, Aurora occupies a sliver of Cayuga Lake's eastern shore and packs in a liberal arts college, a luxury inn, and the MacKenzie-Childs factory — all set against one of the most beautiful stretches of lakeshore in the Finger Lakes.

The town where Elizabeth Cady Stanton and 300 others gathered in 1848 to demand women's suffrage, Seneca Falls preserves that history in a National Historical Park and carries an unexpected connection to one of America's favorite films.

Two major universities, more than 150 waterfalls within 10 miles, and a fiercely independent downtown make Ithaca the cultural and natural epicenter of the Finger Lakes.

Cayuga Lake stretches 38.2 miles from end to end — the longest of the Finger Lakes — with Cornell University and the city of Ithaca at its southern tip and some of the best bass fishing in New York at its northern shallows.