Slow Travel Review: Catskill, New York, USA – The Land Of Mountains

by A Purple Life, posted in Finance, Reviews, Spending, Travel, Travel Reviews
This post may contain affiliate links. For more info read my disclosure.

I’m sensing a pattern in these Slow Travel Reviews – I need to be more open 🙂 . I continue to be surprised with how awesome new towns are and how much they have to offer. I guess that’s better than the alternative – under promise and over deliver and all that jazz, but still. I’m 3/3 shocked at how awesome these places are so I think I need to recalibrate. The way our experience with this latest town came about, is a bit random. We didn’t have anyone in particular we wanted to see or anywhere in particular we wanted to go for the month of August, so I literally typed “Northeastern USA” into Airbnb and looked at all the available monthly stays.

Catskill, NY looked like a cute place to check out and chill for a while before a whirlwind of a fall. So we booked it:

The only thing I knew about the Catskills is that they were related to the film Dirty Dancing (LINK) somehow and that’s it. I expected a sleepy town with not much to do so we could recharge. Well, quickly after arriving here I realized we were wrong:

Our accommodations were amazing, well priced, and on the main drag. The town has lots of different cuisines, breweries and even a cider-y to check out. Despite being there a month, we didn’t make it to all the coffee shops and art galleries the main drag had to offer. And of course, despite our best efforts, we only had a sampling of the food available.

Instead of being a sleepy place to recharge, Catskill turned out to be a happening spot that just happens to be calm, cheap and beautiful. Who knew?!? So let’s get into the nitty gritty:

Walkability

I was shocked with how walkable Catskill was. There are sidewalks absolutely everywhere and water in every direction. To cross the water, there are also gorgeous bridges from small ones meant for solitary train cars in the 1800s, to the Rip Van Winkle Bridge, which sits 145 feet above the water and is 5,041 feet long. Check it out:

Obviously because we don’t want to own a car, walkability is very important to me. However, there was one thing that was technically walkable, but not close: grocery stores. There are little bodega type places in town where we can buy eggs and milk in a pinch, but actual groceries are 1.5 miles from downtown. Technically walkable (and my partner did once), but not a fun trek with a lot of groceries on our backs.

So before booking our stay, I confirmed that there were multiple grocery delivery options. We used Instacart to get groceries delivered seamlessly while I had a lovely nap on the couch 🙂 . In case you’re curious, my full review of Instacart’s latest services is here. Overall though, this place is WAY more walkable than I thought a random place in rural NY State would be – I guess I need to change my perception that only cities are walkable 😉 .

Inclusivity

Once again, I had assumptions 🙂 . We spent most of the summer in rural New York and unfortunately, I saw so many hateful signs that I started to learn to tune it out. I had assumed that Catskill would be the same – an abundance of confederate flags and posters supporting keeping a racist depiction of Native Americans as a local mascot. However, I am happy to report that I was completely wrong on this front.

I was surprised to learn that Catskill is quite a diverse place compared to other towns we’ve been to. It actually has way more people of color than I’ve seen recently based on my observation and according to the latest census, 30.73% of the residences are black. Wowza! We’ve come a long way from the 1.7% of Maine 🙂 .

Once again, signs don’t make a place, but seeing them along with the diverse looking people in this tiny town, paired with how we were treated walking around holding hands, made me feel completely at home here. And I don’t think I’ve ever said that about a rural area in the US before.

Nature

I knew the Catskills from “The Catskill Mountains” so I assumed nature would be around, but a little far flung as in not easy to get to without a car in our tiny part of this region. And once again, I was wrong 🙂 . Catskill is where Catskill Creek meets up with the Hudson River and it’s a gorgeous and fascinating place to see as a result. The brown waters of the creek mix with the blue river while gulls fly overhead and motorboats pass by with mountains winking in the distance.

It’s a gorgeous place and despite living on the main drag, I never felt far from nature. We had a wonderful porch at our Airbnb and regularly were visited by hummingbirds, birds and grey squirrels. There was no lack of nature despite being in the middle of civilization.

Food

As I mentioned, I did NOT expect this food to be delicious! I was planning to cook for myself while we were here, but instead only did that for a week and spent the rest of the time exploring this delicious cuisine! I’m going to let my restaurant reviews speak for themselves. Brace yourselves 🙂 :

The Cats

This was an unexpected surprise. Downtown Catskill is filled with unique looking cats, all by different artists. It’s a summer art exhibit called “Cat’n Around Catskill” and they’ve been doing it for 15 years. There are 52 unique cats about town by my count – and I wanted to catch them all 🙂 .

I tried to take a pic of each one, but sadly my partner was not having it – and yes it takes me an hour to walk a mile, but there are so many things to explore it’s not my fault!

Cost

I like to base estimates on solid facts and that’s why I began my retirement calculations by assuming I would continue spending the same amount that I did during my awesome HCOL life in Seattle, which cost $18,000 a year. I then added 11% on top of that amount just in case, to come to a round $20,000 for my annual retirement budget.

This padded assumption also adds another cushion to my plan because most places in the USA and especially the world, are cheaper to live in than Seattle, Washington. Previously, I’ve used the exact town to compare prices, but Catskill, NY is so small it doesn’t have that data so I did the next best thing – I used the closest city with data, which also happens to be the large capital city of Albany, NY:

From Numbeo

Despite this not being the actual city I’m in, and Albany being way more metropolitan than Catskill, it’s still way cheaper than Seattle. And Catskill is even more so.

Lodging 

Cost: $640.69 each

I think my Insta post says it all. We loved this place and are thinking about returning next year.

Food

Grocery Cost: $65.19

Eating Out Cost: $169.57

As I mentioned, we used Instacart to get groceries delivered once and otherwise picked things up at the local shops as needed and ate out the rest of the time. Yumm 🙂 .

Alcohol Cost: $41

Another surprise: Catskill has a few local brews!

Transit

Cost: $46.78

Similar to Portland, Maine, we found it harder to use ride-sharing services than in cities like NYC or Seattle. However, the few times I needed a ride, I was able to get one. 2/3 were instant and the 3rd did require that I try Lyft for the full 10 minutes of searching before they said they had no cars available, but then I tried Uber and got a car right away from an old friend:

Outside of ride-sharing, there are a few taxi companies in the area. I didn’t use them personally, but they’re another option if you don’t want to possibly wait a bit if a ride-share driver isn’t out and about. The way we got to this town and left was via Amtrak – who knew it was everywhere!

Conclusion

And that’s what I found after living in Catskill, New York for a month! I also learned many lessons about not having assumptions about new places and being open to different opportunities. Still growing over here! Until next time, this was my Slow Travel Review 😉 .

What’s a small city that surprised you?

14 thoughts on “Slow Travel Review: Catskill, New York, USA – The Land Of Mountains”

  1. As fellow walkability seekers, we totally agree about the grocery situation! We’re fortunate to have so many grocery delivery options now!

    When we first started traveling the US full-time, we also had a lot of notions of what we would face as a gay interracial couple in rural America. Thankfully, most of our worst fears turned out to be false. That’s not to say that we didn’t see plenty of hateful signs or have occasional awkward interactions. In general though, we were more often pleasantly surprised than disappointed. The stories we craft in our minds often end up being far more dramatic than the reality we experience.

    Glad the Catskills turned out too be a pleasant surprise!

    Reply

    1. Yeah I’m so glad there are additional options now – it helps widen our possible locations for sure 🙂 . And you’re completely right – I’m trying to internalize that truth myself. Thank you for stopping by!

      Reply

  3. We live in suburbia so whenever we go on vacation, choosing a walkable city is a must. This idea alone, regardless of destination always makes the experience more fun. I especially enjoy the smaller towns. I think I will try your idea of entering a region instead of the name of a city when searching next time.

    By the way, Tuesdays are busy for me at work but I always look forward to your posts as my escape.

    Reply

    1. Yeah I love walking – it definitely gives you a different feel than driving around. And yeah the region idea is awesome if you don’t have anywhere specific to be. And aww – thank you so much for telling me that!! It warms my heart 🙂 .

      Reply

  5. From your description, Catskill will have to be on my list of places to visit. I was on a driving holiday in August and there were some really pretty little towns in British Columbia that I loved.

    Reply

  6. Those artists have some real cat skill 😺

    Fun post! Slow travel looks like a good time, especially with the benedicts and brews!

    Reply

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