Ultimate 2-Day Adventure Guide to Lake Placid in the Adirondacks

The Adirondack Mountains are home to the largest protected natural area in the Lower 48 States. The impressive wilderness features more than 100 peaks spanning over 5,000 square miles.

The region is home to black bears, moose, beavers, and bobcats, which can sometimes be seen on the vast array of hiking and biking trails.

The goal of this guide is to provide first-timers and newcomers a full 2-day itinerary to enjoy some of the best that the Adirondack Mountains has to offer. The guide will include where to eat, where to stay, and how to have fun with the best adventures.

Lake Placid

Lake Placid is a village located in the Adirondack Region of upstate New York. It’s known for hosting the Winter Olympics in 1932 and 1980.

The town is close to many popular destinations, including Whiteface Mountain, Olympic Ski Jumping Complex, and many peaks such as Mt. Van Hovenburg, Mt. Colden, Mt. Marcy, and Algonquin Peak.

Mirror Lake is situated right in the heart of Lake Placid and offers many activities, such as kayaking and canoeing in the summer and ice skating in the winter.

If shopping is your forte, Lake Placid hosts many local businesses that feature unique products such as popcorn, souvenirs, wooden art, pottery, and outdoor gear.

Day 0: Arriving at Lake Placid

• Finding a hotel
• Dinner at Big Slide
• Preparing for the next day

If arriving at Lake Placid in the evening to enjoy your weekend gateway, what better to do than get settled into your hotel and enjoy some dinner? You’ll want to make sure you are all ready to go for your adventure in High Peaks.

Finding a Hotel

When it comes to finding a place to stay within the Adirondacks, and especially Lake Placid, there is absolutely no shortage of motels, hotels, and retreats that will meet your needs.

Where I choose to Stay

During my time in Lake Placid, I chose to stay at the Art Develin Olympic Motor Inn. This quaint motel is nestled in the heart of Lake Placid and features comfortable and spacious rooms and suites. It also boasts a unique history of hosting an Olympic legacy of an Olympic ski jumper, Art Devlin.

The Art Devlin Olympic Motor Inn is located at 2764 Main Street in Lake Placid. It offers a very convenient location: by car, you can reach the Olympic Center in 1 minute, the Ski Jumping Complex in 3 minutes, and the Whiteface Mountain Ski Center in 13 minutes.

The Inn’s history started with Art Devlin, a prominent figure in the Olympic ski jumping world whose house was originally built on the land of the Inn. The hotel has been preserved through its initial construction and offers a retro-style stay with clean rooms and courteous staff. The best part of this motel is Art’s impressive trophy collection, which is featured in the Lobby.

The average price for a stay at the Art Devlin Inn ranges from about $100 to $150 for a standard queen or king room and $200 to $250 for a King room with a Mountain view balcony.

For bigger parties who need more room, the premium queen suite features a kitchenette and balcony and costs around $200-300 per night.

During our stay, we decided to choose the King room with a balcony. We were pleasantly surprised to find that our room was very spacious. The room also featured a walk-in shower, which was a big plus. It was really great being able to step out to the balcony to smell the Adirondack Pine trees.

Other options for Stays

If you wanted to find a place to stay that offered more flexibility in your budget, you could book the Pines Inn. It is located right around the corner from the main shopping area of Lake Placid. The outside features a rustic brick facade, and the rooms, although a bit old-fashioned, offer a comfortable place to rest your head.

The Pines Inn’s price ranges from around $70-$120 a night, depending on the season and whether you book a weekday or weekend stay.

If you want to add a bit more luxury to your stay, I recommend staying at the Mirror Lake Inn. This hotel is rated the #1 resort in Lake Placid and is situated just outside of the main shopping area, offering convenient access to shopping and dining. It is also situated right on Mirror Lake, so the views definitely won’t disappoint.

The price of Mirror Lake Inn varies depending on the room you choose. The Lookout room is a standard room with views of the lake and starts at around $400 per night. You could go all out in the Presidential Suite, which costs over $1000 per night.

Dinner

After you are checked in and ready to enjoy a great meal, head to the Big Slide Brewery for your choice of local beers and wines with delicious food options like pizzas and burgers. This low-key tap house features farm-to-table food that is freshly prepared with a warm and welcoming atmosphere to relax and enjoy the night.

We decided to order a flight of craft beers to sample the tastes of local Adirondack Beers. I tried the Blackberry Sour, You Drive Me Hazy, Big Slide IPA, Autumn Alt, and Uncle Red. As I am biased toward IPAs, the Big Slide IPA was the winner in this lineup. However, Uncle Red provided a unique sour beer experience, and the Autumn Alt was a more traditional Altbier with a crisp, classic taste of German beer.

To eat, make sure to try one of the pizzas. They make their dough fresh at a local bakery and have very unique flavors to try. We got to enjoy the Send-a-roni, which features a red sauce base and house cheese blend, with pepperoni, green pepper, hot pepper relish, grated parmesan, and honey drizzle. The Boomer pizza came with a garlic creme fraiche base, hose cheese, shredded Dutch Knuckle, mushrooms, fennel pollen, and balsamic glaze. These pizzas were to die for!

After going out to enjoy dinner, prepare for the day ahead by laying out your gear so that you have everything packed.

Driving to Mt. Jo

Day 1: Taking on the High Peaks

Morning

You’ll want to start your hike as early as possible, so make sure to enjoy a quick, light breakfast. In the summer and fall, parking for most hikes within the High Peaks Wilderness fills up very quickly. You can expect parking lots to be full by 8 am in most areas.

If you didn’t bring your own cereal or oatmeal, grab a quick bite at Soulshine Bagels. If you head there early enough, you can get a breakfast sandwich on a homemade bagel with a seasonal latte in 5 minutes and be out the door headed toward your hike.

Mid-Day

For this 2-day itinerary in the Adirondacks, one day will be spent hiking, and the other will be spent enjoying more views from the top of a 46’er peak by driving. Since only one day will be spent hiking, you can decide how much you want to tackle for one day of exercise.

The hike that I recommend doing is Indian Head Mountain. This peak is a relatively moderate hike with a distance of around 10 miles, but it offers some of the most stunning views in the High Peaks area. The fall foliage is definitely worth seeing, but any season is worth visiting this hike.

Views from Indian Head Mountain

If you want a full guide for hiking Indian Head Mountain, check out my guide here:

Indian Head Trail: What to Know Before You Go – Adirondacks High Peaks – Curione Travel

Keep in mind that are reservations required for this hike, so make sure to check out my Indian Head Trail guide and do some research if you want to spend the day on this beautiful trail.

Mt. Jo Trail

If you aren’t able to get the chance to hike Indian Head, that’s ok, because the Mt. Jo trail is arguably just as beautiful and way less strenuous than the Indian Head Trail.

You can find this trail on Alltrails Here.

Views from Mt. Jo

Here’s what to know before hiking Mt. Jo:

• Be sure to arrive early at the Heart Lake Trailhead. Parking fills up around 7-9 am daily.
• If you do not park in the parking lot, you can park along the road. However, this may add an extra 1-2 miles to your hike.
• The hike is 2.5 mi long and features 700ft of elevation gain. Know your endurance level before taking on this trail.
• Mt. Jo trail has 2 ways to reach the summit. The clockwise trail has a more shallow grade and should be used if you do not want a strenuous down climb. Climbing counterclockwise is very steep but is a shorter distance and provides a gentle downclimb.
• Make sure to stop at the Heart Lake to take in views of the water before heading up the mountain. It is just a couple of feet off of the main trail.

Evening

Food is definitely a reward after taking on Mt. Jo. For dinner in town, I recommend checking out Smoke Signals. This barbecue joint features house-smoked meats with scratch-made sides and offers a rustic, cozy atmosphere to relax for dinner or escape the cold in the fall and winter.

We got the Baby Back Ribs with mac and cheese and mashed potatoes. The rib sauce was sweet and savory, and the mac and cheese was warm and flavorful. The Pesto Salmon was cooked perfectly and came with tomatoes and focaccia that were very savory.

If you aren’t in the mood to go out to dinner again, you can always head to a local Stewart’s Grocery to pick up your camping food to cook for dinner.

Day 2: Enjoying the views from Whiteface

The best way to see as much of the Adirondacks as possible is by enjoying the views from the top of a 46’er peak. These are mountains whose summit is higher than 4600ft elevation. Whiteface Mountains happens to be the only 46’er mountain that you can drive to the top. However, if you prefer the rugged route, you can always hike it as well.

The Mountain is accessible from two sides: the North and South Sides. For this itinerary, I recommend taking the time to enjoy both perspectives of the mountain, as they both offer unique scenery. If you are coming from Lake Placid, start on the North side or the further side of the mountain and make your way to the South Side on your way back to the town.

Whiteface Memorial Highway

On the North Side of Whiteface Mountain, you can get to the Whiteface Memorial Highway. Here, you can pay to access the scenic road that twists and turns up switchbacks to get you to the mountain’s summit. The entry price for the highway is $20 per person.

Once you pay, you will get a map that contains information about the surrounding area, the history of the road, and spots where you can stop to enjoy the views. As you travel up to the top of Whiteface, stop along the pull-offs to enjoy the miles of forest seen from the road.

Parking is available near Whiteface Castle just short of the summit. After you park your car, you can visit the castle to learn more about the history of Whiteface Mountain and see unique memorabilia that contributed to the development of the memorial highway.

Stairs to the Summit of Whiteface

After this, you have the choice of hiking to the true summit of the mountain. This requires about 0.5 miles of stairclimbing with a moderately steep incline. If you choose to take on this challenge, which I recommend, you will be greeted with a full view of Lake Placid and the surrounding High Peaks Area.

Gianna getting a picture of Lake Placid from Whiteface Mountain

Whiteface Gondola

The south side of Whiteface Mountain features the Whiteface Ski Resort, where you can access the Gondola and Ski Lifts. This side of the mountain is much closer to Lake Placid and can be reached with a 25-minute car ride.

Riding up the Cloudsplitter Gondola

Tickets for the Cloudsplitter Gondola must be purchased in advance on the Whiteface Mountain website. To purchase tickets, click here.

The gondola ride carries you from the Main Base Lodge to the top of Little Whiteface. Expect the ride to last around 15 minutes.

Riding the gondola allows you to trace the jagged mountain edges and view the thick forests of the High Peaks. Once reaching the top, you’ll be greeted with views of several mountains including Lake Champlain.

Evening

After spending the day at Whiteface, head back to Lake Placid to sit along Mirror Lake and enjoy the views. Relaxing by the water in an Adirondack chair, you’ll be able to see the reflection of the tall Pine trees in the calm lake water. If you happen to be in Lake Placid in the winter, you can hop on the ice and enjoy some skating.

For dinner, book reservations at Generations Tap and Grill. You can sit outside and enjoy local beer and wine or a cocktail with a Generations Burger with their secret sauce. This restaurant also features a cozy bar to spend some time in after enjoying dinner.

Conclusion

Enjoying 2 days in Lake Placid just scratches the surface of the wall that the Adirondacks has to offer. However, this guide will take you to some of the best there is to eat, see, and do in the Lake Placid area.

I hope that this guide provided some insight into your next stay in the High Peaks area. Save this guide for later so you can stay up-to-date with a full plan for your next weekend in Lake Placid.

If you enjoyed this post, please check out my website for more Adirondacks guides and other travel destinations.