A Hudson Valley Almanac day-trip guide
West of the high peaks, the Catskills soften into a quieter country — round-barn markets, book-village Main Streets, a heritage railroad, and some of the most farm-dense towns in the region. Delaware County doesn't get the weekend crush that the eastern mountaintop does, and that's exactly its appeal. Here's a Saturday built around the Route 28 and Route 30 corridor near Arkville and Margaretville, with everything close enough to do at an unhurried pace.
Most of the farm markets here are Saturday-morning affairs that close by early afternoon, so start with one and let the rest of the day unspool from there.
There's no better place to begin than the Pakatakan Farmers Market at the historic Round Barn in Halcottsville, a few miles up Route 30 from Margaretville. Running since 1991 and now past its 33rd year, it's one of the most beloved markets in the Catskills — vegetables, pasture-raised meats, trout, artisan cheeses, breads, maple, and crafts, with breakfast and brunch vendors and picnic tables that make it as much a gathering as a grocery run. Saturdays, roughly 9 to 1, mid-May into November. Fuel up here and stock the cooler.
A few minutes south at Arkville, the Delaware & Ulster Railroad runs heritage excursions along the East Branch of the Delaware, tracing a line first laid in 1866 — and back in service since 2025 after years dark. The short run is about 75 minutes round-trip to Halcottsville, with beaver, deer, and bald eagles along the river. If you'd rather move under your own power, the Catskill Scenic Trail runs 26 mostly-flat miles on an old railbed through Bloomville and Roxbury — walk or bike as much or as little as you like.
Head east on Route 28 to Andes, one of Delaware County's most charming hamlets and a genuine foodie pocket. Wayside Cider pours small-batch cider made from wild and abandoned homestead apple trees in a beautifully restored barn on Main Street, with a full bar of other local drinks, a rotating menu of small bites, and a fire pit out on the patio (well-behaved dogs welcome in the courtyard). It's the easy lunch anchor. While you're in town, the Andes Farmers Market runs Saturdays 10 to 2 in front of the Tin Horn if you didn't get your fill at Pakatakan.
Andes and its neighbors are quietly full of makers. Catskills Indigo is an indigo-dyeing studio in an 18th-century barn where the artists grow their own dye plants and run weekend workshops in natural dyeing and cyanotype. Over in Bloomville, Turquoise Barn builds furniture and lamps from reclaimed and found wood alongside natural-form sculpture.
When you're ready for a tasting, swing back to Arkville, where Union Grove Distillery makes its award-winning Vly Creek Vodka from New York apples and wheat, plus a maple spirit made from local Tree Juice syrup, a rye, and a gin — with Calico Outlaw Brewing sharing the same building, so it's a two-for-one stop.
Two of the area's best meals need a plan ahead. Bovina Farm & Fermentory in Bovina Center is a 20-acre farmstead brewery, restaurant, and inn where guests share candlelit communal tables for prix-fixe farm dinners — booked by email — and can stay over in one of four farmstead units. Greenane Farms in Meridale runs a farm-to-table restaurant serving wood-fired meats and authentic Mexican cuisine, Thursday through Saturday, seasonally. Either turns a day trip into a weekend.
The markets set the clock: Pakatakan runs Saturday mornings, the Bovina market is Friday 4–7, and Andes is Saturday 10–2 — plan around whichever you want most. The standout dinners (Bovina, Greenane) need reservations and run seasonally, so book before you drive. Check the railroad's schedule before counting on a ride. And out here, cell coverage gets thin between towns — download your directions before you lose signal.
The full Western Catskills lineup is on the Almanac: Delaware County markets and craft beverages.
Quieter mountains, slower roads, one very good Saturday.