Lake George in upstate New York is a gorgeous lake! This wasn’t my first trip to Lake George but it was the first time my family and I ventured away from Lake George Village and explored other areas. The Village is the main tourist location at the southern tip of the lake. Lake George is huge! We rented a Vrbo cabin in Diamond Point and here is how we spent three nights at Lake George.

Day One

We arrived on a Thursday night, checked into our cabin and got groceries. We cooked dinner there and got to bed at a normal time. I wanted to keep the kids on their normal sleep schedules. Our first full day, day one, Friday, we ate a big breakfast at The Lone Bull Restaurant in Diamond Point. It was very good!

I had bought tickets ahead of time to ride the Minne Ha-Ha steam boat for mid day. After several previous visits to the area my family and I promised each other we would ride the steam boat the next time we came to the lake. I held them to it! The kids weren’t as excited as my husband and I were but didn’t complain. I loved being out on the water.

After the boat ride we returned to the cabin and ate lunch, grabbed the dogs (had both with us for this trip) and drove to Lake George Village, parking on the street by the Marriott hotel. We walked up and down the main village area, shopping and grabbing some fresh lemonade. Very dog friendly area!

We drove the dogs back to the cabin and returned to the village for dinner at Boardwalk Restaurant. Food was decent but we really went to sit and eat on the water and were lucky to get a table for great views.

For the evening we booked tickets to do the Haunted History Tour at Fort William Henry. I’ve been visiting a lot of forts this summer! I’m not a fan of scary things but my family is so I succumbed. It was creepy! Great idea for the teenage crowd.

Day Two

Day two was Saturday and we got up early to get in a hike. Lake George has it’s fair share of kid and dog friendly hikes. My family and I previously hiked Shelving Rock waterfall (a great .4 mile easy hike to a beautiful waterfall) so this time we decided to head to Bolton Landing area. We parked at the trail head for Pinnacle Peak, hiked the blue trail to Bradley’s Lookout. Great views of Lake George! It was just over a mile there and back and the three kids and two dogs did great.

After hiking we went into Bolton Landing and grabbed some snacks and coffee at the Bear Cup. Amazing bagels! As in, the best I’ve ever had, even better than NYC bagels. I said it :)

We took the dogs back to the cabin, ate a quick lunch, got our swim stuff on and headed back out (without the dogs this time). A lot of resorts and hotels have kayaks and paddle boards for you to use but when you are staying at a house that isn’t on the water you have to rent. The only place I could find to do that was Lake George Kayak Company in Bolton Landing. We drove there in the middle of the day on a Saturday in July, praying they had stock for us to rent, and they certainly did! I was impressed by them. We had a blast on the water! We were close to The Sagamore Resort, a popular place to stay, but the water was too choppy to kayak over to it. We stuck to the inlet near the kayak company. Water was perfect.

Our friends were staying at a local hotel/cottages where there was a beach to swim so we went there after kayaking and swam a bit. The public beach areas were very busy so we avoided them. Having a private area to get in the water was key. One drawback to not staying at a hotel.

We regrouped at the cabin and headed out for a nice dinner at the Algonquin close to Bolton Landing. It was amazing!

We ended day two with an outdoor fire at our cabin and watched the fireflies put on a show.

Day Three

It was pouring rain! We had a few thunderstorms while at Lake George so our check-out day was a bit of a bummer. We just packed up and headed home.

Now that I visited Lake George and stayed outside of the village, I will never go back to it! I love to walk around the main village but it is much more quiet and peaceful away from that area. I loved that Diamond Point was so close to both the village area and Bolton Landing. It gave us lots of options for places to go and eat. When we visit again I will likely pick a resort closer to Bolton Landing and something right on the water. Finding a place to bring two dogs was difficult. I needed to give myself more time to book a place to stay, only had done it two months in advance. Plan ahead!

Have you been to Lake George?