Below are suggestions for several regions; you can also click to p. 2 for out-of-state options within 3 hours from NYC.
Ski Resorts
New York is a big state, with two "upstate" mountain ranges with ski resorts: the Catskills and the Adirondacks; plus some smaller slopes, too.
Catskills New York Winter Vacation Ideas:
90 minutes from NY City; 500-acres; all-inclusive activities and meal. Winter snow tubing and skiing, ice skating, sleigh rides.
Downhill and cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, sleighrides. Check for Kids Programs during winter-break dates, and packages geared to families.
90 miles north of NYC, lakeside "Victorian castle" dates from an era of upscale mountain lodges. Cross-country skiing on 35 miles of trails, snowshoeing, supervised snow-tubing, ice-skating, skating parties in the Victoria Pavilion.
Modern-looking 4-season resort on 400 acres in the Shawangunk Mountains. Winter activities include snow tubing, cross-country skiing, outdoor ice skating.
Kids twelve and under stay free at River Run B&B, (built at the turn of the century in classic Victorian style) ; and kids ski for free at Belleayre Mountain, two miles away. (I.e., for each full-price adult lift ticket purchased (say, $44), kids twelve and under ski free.)
This area has long been a playground for New Yorkers.
Upstate New York Winter Vacation:
An hour south of Albany: participate (or not) in daily life of a working dairy farm: milk cows, collect eggs, feed pigs... Private guest-houses; home-cooked dinners and breakfast included in rates.
Finger Lakes New York Winter Vacation:
Families are welcome at this working farm in western NY state: guests can feed calves and lambs, watch milking, etc. Breakfast in a twenty room farmhouse with four cozy guest rooms; hayloft room has toys for kids. Skiing nearby.
