Planning Fun, Local, Activities For Your Guests

With spring here, and Manhattan only forty minutes from Harrison, most of us can expect guests to appear on our doorsteps soon, asking for a bed and tourist itinerary suggestions.

Here are a few fun ways to fill your visitors' days and evenings, both within town or within easy access, by driving or public transportation.

Locally, make the most of good weather with our parks and walking trails. Saxon Woods Park on Mamaroneck Avenue is a 700 acre property offering a variety of recreational facilities including a pool, picnic areas and an 18-hole miniature golf course. It is the site of the county's only playground accessible to the disabled and has walking trails, which make for a great active morning out, with benches and tables for outdoor dining along the way. 

Similarly, Silver Lake Preserve is  a beautiful area to walk and spend some time enjoying the great outdoors.

If you want to do more of tour, try Manhattanville College in Purchase, which has a historic trail and hosts free walking tours with a historical guide.

Your guests can also enjoy Harrison's wooded local trails by horseback. Richard Vanorio at Kentucky Riding Stables on Union Avenue in Harrison, will lead you and your guests on half-hour, or longer, horseback tours through Harrison's trails and back woods.

For up to date activities, be sure to check Harrison Patch's events section each day for fun and different events in Harrison.

If you want to venture further afield in Westchester, try a morning window shopping, seeing art displays and more sophisticated eating, along the main streets of Rye, or Greenwich.

New Canaan should also be on your list. Thirty minutes from Harrison, New Canaan has the famed Glass House Visitor Center. It hosts hourly bus tours to Phillip Johnson's estate to see his iconic architectural designs and world- renowned art collection.

If your guests are keen to foray into Manhattan, start with the Red Apple Double Decker Bus Tours. There is nothing better than sitting on the top level, on a nice day or night, with coffee and a snack, enjoying the sights with the company's spirited guides. Have your guests also do a tour on the Circle Line, which has hourly cruises of varying lengths with full tour commentary. Big Apple Walking Tours also have fun, quirky themed tours of every neighborhood in Manhattan and Brooklyn, including stars homes and ghost tours.

Less known attractions that will be a hit with your visitors are Louis Armstrong's house tour in Queens, and the Queens Art Museum, which has an amazing room-size model of Manhattan complete with every building in the city scaled to size.

When it comes to evenings the choices are equally broad.

For fun, casual evenings, Harrison's recreation department regularly organizes musical performances and other special programs. Their Thursday night live movie and concert evenings in downtown Riis Park have become popular with residents and their guests, who bring picnic rugs and food and enjoy the live show.  

If you don't feel like cooking or picnicking, downtown Harrison has restaurants featuring an assortment of food, from Italian, French, and Japanese, to pizza, seafood and crepes.

For more formal evenings try Emilio's in Harrison, the Castle on the Hudson in Tarrytown, and Kittle House in Chappaqua.

With just a few of these activities and outings, your guests' visit can be a pleasure for them, and for you.

Some helpful phone numbers when planning an activity:

Harrison Recreation Department (914) 835-3130

Manhattanville College (914) 694-2200

Kentucky Riding Stables Harrison (914) 381-2825

Glass House Visitor Center, New Canaan 203-594-9884

Red Apple Bus Tours (212) 852-4821

Louis Armstrong Museum 718-478-8274

The Castle, Tarrytown 914 631-1980

Crabtrees Kittle House, Chappaqua 914-666-8044