Thousands will head to the historic Erie Canal region of Upstate New York this year to explore and enjoy.

Here is a list of dining suggestions while you visit the canal area.  These restaurants cover all kinds of genres from diners to steakhouses to seafood restaurants to brewpubs.  You will find a pizza joint, a spaghetti house, a Mexican restaurant (with awesome guacamole), a 1950s' "Happy Days-style" diner, a couple of family restaurants, and some that offer great views of the water activity along the Erie Canal.  Almost all of them are within walking distance of the waterway, so if you are boating you can just pull up, drop anchor, and walk to a great meal!

You will notice that we feature mostly smaller canal villages, and that they run from Canastota westward to Lockport.  There are so many great restaurants along the canal we split it up in two.  We will visit restaurants from Canastota east to Albany in a future post.  If a restaurant is near a museum or historic site, we have included a link to it in the gallery.  Each restaurant mentioned in this gallery includes a direct link to their social media and a telephone number so you can call ahead (from your boat?) and make a reservation.

My favorite on this list is in Brockport, the "Victorian Village on the Erie Canal."  You will see that a little tap room and grill a block from the Erie Canal here makes one of the most iconic sandwiches in Upstate New York.  Check it out!

And, remember.  If your favorite canal village restaurant didn't make the list, please give it a shout out over on our Facebook page.

13 Delicious Places to Eat Along the Erie Canal!

Thousands of tourists travel the Erie Canal route, by car and boat, in Upstate New York annually. For a convenient reference guide we have picked out a baker's dozen great places to dine along the canal for single folks traveling through or for families making this region their summer vacation. There are many fine restaurants to choose from, so we split it up in two. This gallery looks at places from Canastota westward. We will look "the other half" in a future gallery.

Take a Lick! Grab a Cone at Any of These 21 Classic New York Ice Cream Stands!

A rite of passage from winter to spring in Upstate New York is the opening of the 100 roadside ice cream stands in the region. Here are 21 of the best.

A River Runs Through These 11 Amazing Upstate New York Towns

New York State has countless rivers, streams, creeks, canals, and all sorts of other waterways. Here we take a look at 11 of our great rivers, some big and some very small, and all of them have a great story to tell.

The list picks one "river town" along the waterway to highlight. Among the rivers mentioned are the Hudson, Susquehanna, Chemung, Niagara, Delaware, and others. And (of course) the Erie Canal.

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