A Hudson Valley Almanac day-trip guide
Up here, the Catskills rearrange themselves around two roads. Route 23 runs the ridge through Windham; Route 23A drops down through Hunter and Tannersville toward the escarpment. Between them sits a string of mountain villages where the farm stands, sugar houses, breweries, and Main Street makers are close enough together that you can fill a whole Saturday without ever leaving the high country.
Here's a loop that does it: a morning in Windham, a swing west through Prattsville to Gilboa, and an afternoon working back east through Hunter and Tannersville. Pace it loosely, bring someone to drive the back half, and remember you're at elevation — mountain weather and seasonal hours both have opinions, so a call ahead never hurts.
Start on Main Street with coffee and something warm. Babblers Bakery and La Patisserie Normande both turn out croissants and pastries fresh — the Normande side leans properly French if you're in a cheesecake mood.
If it's a Saturday in season, the Windham Farmers' Market is the social heart of the mountain on Saturday mornings, mid-May through late October — local produce, meats, cheeses, maple, honey, soaps, and live music, all in one stop.
Then point the car west on Route 23 and pull in at the Catskill Mountain Country Store, a Windham institution since 1994. Homemade jams, maple syrup, honey, fudge, and award-winning baked goods up front; the Happy Sappy Maple Museum, farm animals, and a playground out back. A TasteNY stop and an easy place to stock the cooler before the drive.
Keep heading west into farm-stand country.
In Prattsville, RSK Farm on Route 23A is Robert and Sandra Kiley growing vegetables right in the fields behind the stand — sweet corn, heirloom potatoes, tomatoes, the works, plus local honey and maple (open mid-July through November). A short way on, Mossy Stone Farms is a certified-organic market garden on Route 10, a clean source for mountain-grown vegetables.
Then make the run down to Gilboa, where the Schoharie Creek opens up. Sunken City Cider is your midday anchor, and the name carries real local history — it honors the Village of Old Gilboa, drowned under the Schoharie Reservoir in 1926. Partner-owner Elisabeth was born and raised right there on Stryker Road. The cidery sits on a 70-acre former dairy farm, pours 100% New York hard cider (naturally sugar-free and gluten-free) under an open pavilion with mountain views off the creek, and runs food trucks most weekends. A scenic, story-rich place to land for a while.
Work your way back east and stretch your legs at the Mountain Top Arboretum in Tannersville — 200 acres at 2,400 feet, with boardwalks through meadows and wetlands and a calendar of foraging, herbalism, and botany workshops. Members free; $5 suggested for everyone else.
Tannersville's Main Street — the painted village — is worth a slow walk. Fromer Market Gardens runs a year-round organic farm stand right on Main, one of the only year-round local food sources on the mountain. Bones & Stones handcrafts one-of-a-kind knives and antler work. Catskills Candle Studio hand-pours candles in scents that smell like the woods outside. And Last Chance Antiques & Cheese Café has been pairing specialty cheese with antiques for as long as anyone can remember.
Finish with a beer. Hunter Mountain Brewery pours 15-plus of its own on tap with pub food (including vegan and gluten-free) just below the highest peak in the Northern Catskills, and it's a stop on the Catskills Beverage Trail. If you'd rather end back in Windham, The Vineyard at Windham pours flights with charcuterie at the base of Windham Mountain, and Mountain King Brewing has a taproom right on Main.
The mountaintop has more than one Saturday in it. Save these:
Saturday markets close early — Windham's runs roughly 9 to 1 — so do the market first. Several farm stands are seasonal (RSK opens mid-July), so call ahead in spring and late fall. Bring a designated driver for the cidery and breweries. And dress for the mountain: it's cooler and changeable up at 2,000-plus feet, even when the valley's warm.
The full lineup of mountaintop makers — every maple producer, brewery, and farm in the directory — is on the Almanac: Greene County craft beverages and Greene County maple & honey. (Sunken City sits just over the line in Schoharie County.)
One ridge, two roads, one very good Saturday.