Best Things to do in Lake Placid in the Fall

If you are looking for a great fall foliage trip idea, you have to add Adirondacks to your list. It is STUNNING. Carl and I took a road trip to the Adirondacks and stayed in the cute town of Lake Placid for a long weekend. We arrived on Thursday night and left on Sunday. In this post, I want to share all the best things to do in Lake Placid in the fall.

Explore the town of Lake Placid

Lake Placid has the cutest downtown filled with so many cool cafes, restaurants, and shops. The town sits along Mirror Lake so you can also get really nice views of the lake with fall foliage mountainous views in the background.

Gondola Ride at White Face Mountain

If you want to enjoy the views of Adirondack’s tall mountains without the hiking part, you have to check out the Cloudsplitter Gondola that takes you up Whiteface Mountain. It’s located in Wilmington, New York. Tickets are $25 and it takes around 15 minutes to get to the top. You get the most incredible views of all the fall foliage. When you get to the top, there are different trails you can walk through to explore before taking the gondola back down.

Indian Head Trail

Adirondacks is filled with so many different hiking trails. One of the most popular hiking view in the Adirondacks is the Indian Head trail. It’s located in Keene, New York which is about 30 minutes from Lake Placid. Also, please note that to reach the trailhead, you have to walk along a dirt road that turns paved near a golf course.

This trail is a long moderate hike. It’s about 10 miles and it can take 5-6 hours to complete. But the views are so worth it! It ended up raining when we did this hike, but even on a rainy and cloudy day, the views were amazing!

Places to Eat

Lake Placid Pub & Brewery – This makes a great lunch spot! They have salads, sandwiches, burgers, etc!

Lisa Gs – This restaurant is so popular so unfortunately we were unable to eat here since it was completely booked, but I heard so many great things about it!

Smoke Signals – This BBQ place is SO GOOD! It’s a really popular place so I highly recommend you make reservations. Carl and I made the mistake of just putting our name on the waitlist and we waited 3 hours LOL! Definitely worth the wait though!

Luna Restaurant – This is a great Italian restaurant. The lobster ravioli is so good!

The Farmhouse Cafe – We had breakfast here before heading home and the pumpkin pancakes were DELICIOUS!

The Coffee Bar – This is a cute coffee shop that has a really nice view of Mirror Lake. They also serve breakfast and lunch sandwiches.