Mohonk Preserve
The cliffs, if you get there before the lots fill.
- Food
- Main Street Bistro
- Church
- Reformed Church of New Paltz
- Farm stand
- Hudson Valley Open Market
- Sauna
- Wintersun Sauna
- Sports
- Climbing at the Trapps
- Lodging
- New Paltz
Crowd level: Mixed. Go early, or pick a weekday.
Best season Weekday spring and fall. Summer weekends and leaf season are busy. Winter is carriage-road quiet if the roads are open. Check the preserve for closures.
Drive About 1 hr 45 min–2 hr 15 min
General guidance from Midtown to New Paltz. The last miles up the ridge are slower. Weekend traffic adds time.
Parking. Pay at a staffed trailhead or the visitor center. A Mountain House gatehouse pass is a different lot and a different ticket. Do not park there on a Preserve day.
Carriage roads and cliffs on the Shawangunk ridge, above New Paltz. The Preserve is the day pass. Mohonk Mountain House next door is a hotel with its own pass.
Worth knowing
Which ticket
On October 20, 2026 the plan-your-visit page listed hikers at $15 Monday through Thursday and $20 Friday through Sunday and holidays. Bikers, climbers, cross-country skiers, and horseback riders were $25. Children 15 and under were free with an adult. The visitor center and its immediate grounds were free. The hotel’s hiking pass is a different ticket.
Pine Road
Mohonk’s alerts say Pine Road is closed for road work from October 13 until further notice. That lot is not the backup on a foliage weekend.
The short version
Mohonk Preserve is the land trust on the Shawangunk ridge west of New Paltz. A hiker day fee is $15 Monday through Thursday and $20 Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and holidays. Bikers, climbers, cross-country skiers, and horseback riders are $25. Children 15 and under are free with an adult. The visitor center and its immediate grounds are free. The Mountain House next door is a hotel. A Preserve pass is not a hotel reservation.
Food nearby
Main Street Bistro
The trailhead is not a restaurant. Main Street Bistro is at 59 Main Street in New Paltz. Breakfast and lunch Monday and Wednesday–Friday 8 am–3 pm and Saturday–Sunday 8 am–3 pm, closed Tuesday, and dinner Friday–Sunday 4:30–8 pm. Doug and Teresa Thompson bought it on July 1, 1993.
Official menuA game nearby
Climbing at the Trapps
Climbers pay the $25 day fee, not the hiker fee. Bring your own gear or book a guide you have checked.
Farms and stands nearby
Hudson Valley Open Market
The market calls itself the farmers and makers market for New Paltz.
Season. Every Saturday, 10 am. To 3 pm., May through October, at 196 Main Street, in the New Paltz Middle School parking lot.
The grocery stop if you are cooking in the village after the ridge.
Official page
Staying in New Paltz – snapshot (lodging only)
Checked Oct 16, 2026. We recommend; you book directly. Prices are nightly, low–high by season, with a source. “From” prices depend on your dates. Items we couldn't verify are marked †.
The quiet base: New Paltz for the ridge. Brookfield Farm is the farm stay, in Modena.
Inns, B&Bs, farm stays, guesthouses, campgrounds
- Gatehouse Gardens, New Paltz
- Type.
- B&B suites
- Price (low–high).
- Open 3/29–12/2 (closed in winter). 2026: $180 room / $260 4-guest / $410 6-guest suite. 2027: $190/$270/$480 (own)
- Good for.
- Strong, up to 6
- Book via.
- Booking/Expedia/Airbnb:
- Why we like it.
- Private entrances, pond
- Brookfield Farm B&B, Modena
- Type.
- Farm B&B
- Price (low–high).
- $210 Mon–Thu, $230 Fri–Sun, 5% off 5+ nights; no seasonal variation shown (own)
- Good for.
- Suite for 4
- Book via.
- Booking/Expedia:
- Why we like it.
- Highland cows, orchards
Vacation rentals
- Haywood Farmhouse, New Paltz
- Sleeps.
- 5 guests
- Price (low–high).
- No price on file
- Good for.
- 5 guests, pool
- Book via.
- Airbnb
- Why we like it.
- 5 guests, pool
Know before you book: Gatehouse Gardens is open 3/29–12/2 and closed in winter. Haywood Farmhouse has no price.
Some links may earn us a commission.
A church
Reformed Church of New Paltz
Worship is at 92 Huguenot Street, New Paltz, NY 12561. Sunday worship at 10 am.
Church school is offered for ages 3 through 8th grade.
Service timesA sauna
Wintersun Sauna
The sauna is now at Taliaferro Farm, 187 Plains Road, New Paltz, and that this stop begins October 24. Weekday social sessions are 90 minutes, communal, up to 8 people, and they ask for a minimum of 2.
Book ahead. To wear a swimsuit or sweat-ready clothes and to bring two towels, one for the bench.
Their site