The Perfect Saratoga Springs One Day Itinerary

Over the summer JP and I took a little road trip around New York.

We were originally just visiting for my brother‘s wedding in Lake Placid, but we decided we wanted to see a little bit of everything while we were up there.

So we took a day to explore Saratoga Springs too.

To be honest, the main reason I wanted to see Saratoga Springs was to compare it to Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort and see what elements were just an inspiration versus literal recreations.

Saratoga Springs One Day Itinerary

Saratoga Springs has a great mix of downtown shopping, dining, historic sites, and obviously horse racing.

Here is how you can tackle it all in just one day.

Morning: Saratoga Battlefields

I recommend starting off your day with a scenic drive around the Saratoga battlefield.

You’ll want to start at the visitor center to get your stamp for visiting the park and you may also want a physical map just in case.

Something we like to do is get a Christmas ornament everywhere that we go and the visitor center is where you can do that.

From the visitor center, you will just follow the Scenic Drive.

There are different stops along the way that tell you the story of the Saratoga battles and there are also Park Rangers at various sites that can also answer any questions for you.

This trail is very popular with bikers, so always be cautious of them on the road.

The best way to experience the Saratoga battlefields is through the National Park Service app that is free and it basically works like a GPS.

It tells you things as you go from place to place and tells you where to stop along the way.

We use these self guided audio driving tours everywhere!

Lunch: Olde Bryan Inn

After visiting the Saratoga battlefields, you absolutely have to have lunch at the Old Bryan Inn.

It’s a historic colonial era tavern from 1773.

We shared the ham and black bean soup as an appetizer, which I believe was just the soup of the day, so they may or may not have it when you go.

Usually we’ll share an entree when we go out to eat because portion sizes are so huge, but we couldn’t narrow it down to just one thing.

One of our entrees was the open faced hot turkey sandwich, which came with mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, cranberry sauce, and stuffing.

It was basically like a Thanksgiving leftovers platter.

For our other entree shared a French onion prime rib sandwich, which came with au jus dipping sauce and french fries.

This one was pretty good too and a unique way of combining prime rib with a french dip sandwich.

For dessert, tried the chocolate chip pie and the warm apple crisp.

We just could not decide between the two and had to have both!

Even now I can’t even decide which 1 to recommend if I had to just pick 1 because they are just both so different.

Afternoon: Downtown Saratoga

After lunch, you’ll want to drive down the road to downtown Saratoga Springs and you can park anywhere in the lots off of the main road.

Then take the afternoon to just browse the area shops.

Since we were short on time, we didn’t get to do too much of this, but we did stop into a shop to get an ornament that had racing horses on it.

We were only in town for half a day so we didn’t eat dinner anywhere in town, but I would recommend just eating here in downtown.

You can also take this time to explore Congress Park and look at the different statues and fountains throughout.

It’s just on the back side of the main street.

Then you can obviously fill the rest of your day at the race tracks if there’s anything going on the day that you’re visiting.

We were only passing through Saratoga Springs on our way to Cooperstown, so we didn’t stay the night in any area hotels, but we personally always just look for either the cheapest Hilton hotel or the most unique Hilton hotel, like their boutique collections.

Conclusion: Saratoga Springs One Day Itinerary

So if you just have one day to visit Saratoga Springs, you definitely want to check out the battlefields, the Olde Bryan Inn, and then take some time to explore the shops downtown, just walking up and down the main street, and checking out Congress Park and the race tracks. 

If you have more time to explore the area, just about 2 hours away are the Adirondack Mountains.

You can take a day trip up to Lake Placid or stay in the nearby town of Lake Saranac at their haunted hotel.

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