Mount Beacon
Free ridge above Beacon. October weekends fill the lot.
- Food
- Pizza & Stuff
- Music
- Howland Chamber Music Circle
- Farm stand
- Beacon Farmers' Market
- Sports
- Hudson Valley Renegades
Crowd level: Mixed. Go early, or pick a weekday
Best season Clear weekdays. Summer weekends and October foliage fill the lot. Scenic Hudson lists the park as free, dawn to dusk, year-round.
Drive About 1 hr 20–1 hr 45 min
General guidance from Midtown by car when the roads are moving. Metro-North to Beacon station is the calmer arrival. Times vary.
Parking. Use the marked trailhead lot. It fills on fair weekends. Do not invent a spot on a side street and call it overflow.
A steep ridge walk above Beacon. The staircase follows the old incline railway. The fire tower is the longer walk. The casino ruins are the shorter turnaround.
Worth knowing
How far
Scenic Hudson calls the trail steep, with switchbacks, starting on the old railway stairs. The overlook is the short day. The fire tower is an extra walk along the ridge. Turn around if the tower is more than you wanted.
After the ridge
Eat on Main Street once you are down. The summit is not a restaurant, and October weekends fill the trailhead lot.
The short version
The mountain was a signal point in the Revolutionary War, and the city below took its name from that beacon. In the early 20th century an incline railway, called one of the steepest passenger funiculars, carried people to a casino and hotel. The railway burned. Scenic Hudson now holds a park on the ridge. The fire tower, on state park land, was restored and reopened in 2013.
Food nearby
Pizza & Stuff
There is no meal on the summit. Pizza & Stuff is at 332 Main Street in Beacon, independently owned by Ernesto and Lucy. Their site says Monday–Saturday 10:00 am–8:30 pm, closed Sunday, and that they have served Beacon since 2004.
Their pageA game nearby
Hudson Valley Renegades
The High-A affiliate of the New York Yankees plays at Heritage Financial Park in Wappingers Falls, south of Beacon. Their 2026 schedule release put the last home game on August 30, so October is after the regular season. Ticket office (845) 838-0094.
Farms and stands nearby
Beacon Farmers' Market
A Sunday market on Main Street, stewarded by Common Ground Farm, for local farms and food makers. The site does not print a standing vendor list we could copy. The tables hold whatever that Sunday's farmers brought.
Season. The market says every Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., year-round, rain or shine, at 223 Main Street, Beacon.
The hike ends in town, and the market is the grocery stop if you are cooking in a rental. The site does not print a cash-only rule. Read beaconfarmersmarket.org for who is there.
Official page
Music
Howland Chamber Music Circle
Sunday concerts at 4:00 pm at the Howland Cultural Center, 477 Main Street, Beacon. The chamber-series page says tickets are generally $40, students $10, with a limited pay-what-you-wish release one week before each concert.
Official calendar