Uncover the magic of a New York canal cruise on the long-lasting Erie Canal.
Sluggish journey again to 1817, when development started on a waterway to attach the Hudson River with Lake Erie. Simply eight years later in 1825, the human-built canal from Albany to Buffalo turned the supply of the unique E-commerce.
The Erie Canal lowered the price of delivery, expanded manufacturing, inspired settlers to maneuver west and south, and spawned the Industrial Revolution.
Expertise the Erie Canal’s historic locks, aqueducts and bridges with a houseboat or canal boat rental. The Canal’s revolutionary engineering transforms a laidback Erie Canal barge trip into an unforgettable 100% American-made, bucket-list journey.
A Stress-free Erie Canal Cruise Again in Time
Progressive concepts, abolitionist politics and Yankee ingenuity traveled 363 miles down the Canal and unfold throughout America. As soon as referred to as “Clinton’s Large Ditch” after Governor DeWitt Clinton, who championed it, the Erie Canal was an prompt industrial success. And all of it occurred 200 years in the past!
To commemorate the Bicentennial, we booked Otisco, a two-bedroom houseboat rental from Erie Canal Adventures. With finest mates. we self-skippered the barge west from Macedon Touchdown to Spencerport for a novel journey expertise.
Study to Barge the Erie Canal on a New York Canal Cruise
Day 1, the affected person workers at Erie Canal Adventures takes bargeloads of newbies by a rigorous four-hour coaching session.
No expertise? No downside! No matter classes you don’t memorize within the classroom are repeated, in individual, with a coach, as you cruise away from shore, navigate a lock, and grasp 360s along with your barge!
Captain Your Canal Barge Rental
Steering a barge, whose efficient velocity tops out at 6mph, challenges persistence and application. Not driving abilities. That’s a part of what makes a boating vacation secure sufficient so children can take the helm.
Neglect the mules who pulled barges at 2½ mph alongside the Canal Towpath again within the day. Right this moment’s boats have engines and bow thrusters for simple maneuvering. A responsive tiller factors the way in which from the strict.
The arrogance constructed by captaining a New York canal barge ensures a lifelong love of cruising.
Conquer Locks and Bridges on a New York Canal Cruise
The Erie Canal adjustments 568 ft in elevation between Lake Erie and the Hudson River. To manage the water degree, 83 stone locks have been constructed for the Canal’s opening; 34 (some added later) are nonetheless in use.
Through the lesson section, your coach demonstrates tips on how to navigate Lock 30, a part of Macedon Touchdown Canal Park. “Conquering” locks requires clear communication with the Lockmaster, who manages the gates and lineup of boats. You’ll want this information to traverse Lock 32 and Lock 33 in your boating journey. Most vital, take note of the security lights!
Professional Tip: Go for a seven-night constitution eastbound to succeed in Lockport. This tranquil Canalside city close to Niagara Falls is famed for its Flight of 5 Locks.
Admire Bridges on a New York Barge Trip
Keep in mind the chorus: Low Bridge, Everyone Down…We Should Be Getting Close to a City?
That tune was written between 1905 and 1918, when the Canal was deepened and widened to accommodate bigger vessels. Take note of the sleek mechanics of elevate bridges added throughout this era, all genuine to this spectacular waterway.
Study to make use of the marine radio to speak with the 15 elevate bridges nonetheless working on western New York canal cruises.
Try which routes cross locks and bridges on the Canal Company’s nice map of the New York canal cruise system and the complete Erie Canalway.
Ease on Down: A Chill New York Canal Boat Trip
We moored our houseboat barge the primary evening in Bushnel’s Basin at Perinton. It took 20 hair-raising minutes of steering nearer and nearer to the city dock…however not shut sufficient… to tie it up.
Quickly, we have been toasting one another with a bottle of Prosecco at Branca’s, a famous vacation spot Italian restaurant close to the port.
Professional tip: A tiny port like Bushnel’s Basin is a superb various to bigger docks crowded with leisure boaters.
Rolling into Nineteenth-Century Pittsford
Don’t miss Pittsford, the place verdant lawns and transformed farmhouses allure guests. Remnants of a portside mill recall how the Erie Canal boosted native manufacturing, incomes close by Rochester the nickname “Flour Metropolis.”
Make the most of the simple mooring for a nostalgic stroll to Pittsford Dairy, a category act farm market. Picnic tables, a children’ pony corral, shade timber and clear restrooms invite boaters to linger. Discover the scenic Canal Towpath winding by dense timber. It’s excellent for a leisurely stroll or bike trip (bikes are included with every rental).
If that is an Erie Canal boat vacation for households, sweeten your day with an additional scoop of well-known Lumberjack ice cream. Overnighters get pleasure from a meal at Erie Grill, only a five-minute stroll from the marina.
Professional Tip: Pittsford is an effective place to inventory the galley with informal breakfast and lunch fare. Every city has provisions and grills so you possibly can barbecue — or dine out – at supper.
Issues to See on an Erie Canal Barge Journey: Spencerport
After a tranquil Canalside picnic, we mastered two busy locks to succeed in Spencerport. Bigger than it appears to be like from the pier, Spencerport is full of gingerbread houses, century-old oaks and church steeples. Make time to go to the Spencerport Depot and Canal Museum, open choose days Might 31 to late October.
Eating choices vary from the funky Texas Bar-B-Que, the place draft beer and ribs are available parts befitting the state that impressed it, to the extra refined The Coterie. Locals say Spencerport VIC’s (Village Ice Cream Parlor) is a compulsory cease!
Professional Tip: Calm down and benefit from the timeless tempo of leisure boating.
Gem Amongst Erie Canalway Points of interest: Fairport
The picturesque Fairport Elevate Bridge, inbuilt 1913, is an Insta-worthy vacationer magnet. Ensure you dock early sufficient to discover this refined, gentrified manufacturing facility city. The railroad depot and legacy mills have been transformed to craft breweries, artisanal bakeries, classic clothes shops, upscale eateries and extra.
At evening, try the Irish bars with reside music instantly throughout from the marina. The Porterhouse is a enjoyable steak and seafood place above the city dock that overlooks the Erie Canal. Cross the illuminated elevate bridge and check out Compane Trattoria and pattern the bourbon from Iron Smoke Distillery subsequent door.
The Erie Canal Makes the Finger Lakes Business New York Waterways
All of the villages we visited have been settled as Erie Canal development progressed. Every prospered as staff, items and households moved to the area.
Quickly Cayuga and Seneca Lakes, of the Finger Lakes, might entry the Nice Lakes. Go to them on a seven-day jap itinerary from Macedon Touchdown!
Seneca Falls is among the best-known ports on an eastbound canal boat trip. It’s the birthplace of the Suffrage motion that introduced the appropriate to vote to American ladies. Frederick Douglass, the abolitionist and journalist who lived in Rochester, attended the Seneca Falls Conference in 1848.
Different canal boat, houseboat and barge leases can be found within the Finger Lakes.
The Value of Renting a Barge or Houseboat for a New York Canal Cruise
Neglect extraordinary holidays — think about a surprisingly luxurious Class A motorhome on water. To us, the pink and inexperienced Erie Canal Adventures rental barges evoked the previous. The fact is that they’re all metal hulls modeled on what European households have vacationed in for generations.
Some Canal houseboats have two double-bedded rooms and others, a double room and two bunks. In each fashions, the lowered eating counter meets upholstered bench seats to type a 3rd double mattress. Everybody shares two bogs (one bathe), two closets, ample storage, a full kitchen with coffeemaker, half fridge and extra. (“Cabins” are tiny and beds are compact, so they might not go well with tall or giant torsos.)
What You Get for Your Canal Cruise Bucks
An Erie Canal Adventures three-night, four-day journey begins at $2,625 for a well-designed 42-foot-long, two-bedroom barge, sleeping as much as six.
Erie Canal Adventures supplies useful Eastbound and Westbound itineraries with instructed overnights, plus a free app that particulars every village’s services.
Chase down the harbormaster at your in a single day ports to pay $23 for water, an electrical energy hookup and WiFi. It’s cash nicely spent to discover and assist classic Americana.
The Greatest Time to Cruise the Erie Canal
The Erie Canal Adventures firm rents canal barges between mid-Might and October, when the Erie Canalway is operational.
Early and late season promise the most effective charges and availability, however chances are you’ll expertise rain, chilly climate (40s to mid-60s F) and excessive winds. The prime months of July and August sometimes convey sunny days within the 70s and 80s, extra crowds and better costs.
Professional Tip: Particularly if touring with children, contemplate a midweek rental to keep away from the weekend leisure boaters, kayakers and rowers on the Erie Canal.
Extra Methods to Discover the Erie Canal Waterway: Ohio
Quickly after the Erie Canal opening, the Ohio & Erie Canal undertaking was launched to attach Lake Erie with the Ohio River. Working 308 miles, the O&E finally lowered journey time between Cleveland and Cincinnati to only 80 hours. Discover components of the unique canal and bike the Canal Towpath in Cuyahoga Valley Nationwide Park. For a deeper dive, be a part of Discovery Bicycle Excursions supported inn-to-inn biking on the Ohio to Erie Path.
Particular Occasions for the 2 hundredth Anniversary of the Erie Canal
Rejoice the majestic Erie Canal in the course of the 2025 summer season season in all of the areas the Canal traverses.
For instance, Cayuga County, which boasts the second largest aqueduct within the system, is internet hosting occasions on the Montezuma Canal Heritage Park. You should definitely go to Auburn, residence to the famed Underground Railroad heroine, Harriet Tubman.
Buffalo kicks off immersive programming within the metropolis’s Canalside neighborhood in late Might. Search for museum displays and tour the duplicate Seneca Chief barge that Governor Clinton used throughout its popping out social gathering. From Sept 20-24, 2025, that barge will make a Bicentennial Voyage, calling on 28 ports from Buffalo to New York Harbor.
It’s attainable to bike alongside the Canal towpath any time, however cyclists declare the annual Parks & Trails Cycle the Erie Canal Path trip is a should. This Bicentennial 12 months, riders can bike the complete 400-mile route from Buffalo to Albany from July 12-20. A four-day leg (Buffalo to Syracuse) ranges from $200 for under-5s to $800/adults together with meals and supported tenting.
In latest information: New York State has allotted $50 million in direction of preserving the Erie Canal’s infrastructure within the coming century.
Plan now to expertise the moonshot legacy of this 200-year-old marvel for your self!
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