The Catskills This Weekend: More Culture Than Your Group Chat Is Ready For
Looking for a reason to escape the city this weekend? The Catskills just handed you five.
Live music, wellness retreats, opera, outdoor sculpture, and a mountain town full of people who genuinely can't stop talking about vintage album covers turned into art.
Whether you're planning a romantic getaway, a family trip, or a few days of doing deeply little, Alpine Four Season Lodge puts you close to all of it
Uplift Your Body. Uplift Your Heart. Recharge at the UPLIFT Festival
Friday, July 24 through Sunday, July 26 | Phoenicia, NY
The UPLIFT Festival at Menla Retreat is three days of ecstatic dance, yoga, sound baths, a cacao ceremony, song circles, and bonfire sing-alongs, all happening on grounds that sit atop a meteor impact crater roughly 375 million years old. So if anyone asks what you did this weekend, "recalibrated my nervous system on an ancient meteor site" is right there for you.
Hear Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams at Maverick Concerts
Friday, July 24 at 8:00 PM | Woodstock, NY
Spend the evening at Maverick Concerts, where Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams bring their Americana, country, blues, and roots sound into a century-old open-air concert hall in the woods. No screens, no crowd fighting you for a view, just music and trees doing what they do best
Experience a Rare Opera at Bard SummerScape
July 24 through August 2 | Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
For something a little more dressed-up, Bard SummerScape is staging Richard Strauss's rarely performed opera The Egyptian Helen. Mythology, psychological drama, and a score most people will never get another chance to hear live. Worth the drive, and worth pretending you knew who Richard Strauss was before this weekend.
Enjoy Live Music and Sculpture at Art Omi
Saturday, July 25 | Ghent, NY
Wander 120 acres of contemporary sculpture and architecture at Art Omi, then stick around for the outdoor Long Light concert series. A genuinely excellent day trip if you want art, music, and fresh air without picking just one.
Discover the Creative Side of Phoenicia
Phoenicia remains one of the most original small towns in the Catskills, and multimedia artist Christina Varga's studio proves it. Her work turns vintage album covers, found objects, and glittering scraps into something you'll want to photograph for longer than you meant to. Afterward, grab coffee, browse the shops, and have a meal on Main Street like a local, or at least like someone pretending very convincingly.
Add a Little Mountain Adventure. Between events, work in some actual mountain time:
Take a scenic gondola ride at Belleayre Mountain
Hike one of the nearby Catskill trails
Explore Phoenicia, Fleischmanns, and Margaretville
Pack a picnic and spend the afternoon by the water
Come back to the lodge for the fire pit and whatever's left of the stars
Stay Near the Best Catskills Events
Why drive home after the final song?
Alpine Four Season Lodge puts you minutes from Belleayre Mountain, Phoenicia, Fleischmanns, and everything on this list. Summer weekends are filling fast, but a few openings remain.
Check availability and book direct
See you in the mountains,
Daniel & The Crew
Alpine Four Season Lodge 32 Galli Curci Road Highmount, NY 12441
