Five Family Days Out in Albany, New York, This September

Start with Washington Park and the Museum Mile

September in Albany is the best-value month of the year: the crowds that fill Lark Street in June are gone, but the fountain in Washington Park still runs and daytime highs sit near 24°C for the first three weeks. Base yourself downtown near State Street or Chapel Street and you can walk most of it. Start at Washington Park's 84-acre loop, then head up to the New York State Museum on Madison Avenue — free admission, open Wednesday to Sunday, and the fourth-floor Cohoes mastodon holds a five-year-old's attention longer than anything else in the city.

Walk ten minutes east on Madison to the Capitol and the Empire State Plaza's observation deck, then down to the Corning Tower for the view over the Hudson. Parking in the Plaza's underground garage costs a flat hourly rate and is far cheaper than the surface lots on Eagle Street, which is where visitors tend to get stung. Skip the guided trolley tour if your children are under six; the walk between the museum, the Capitol and the plaza is flat and takes about 25 minutes end to end.

The Pine Bush and a Half-Day at Thacher

The Albany Pine Bush Preserve on New Karner Road is one of the few inland pine barrens left on the planet, and September is peak season for the Karner blue butterfly's second brood. The Discovery Center is free, has restrooms and a short accessible trail, and the yellow-blazed trail out to the Truax barrens runs about 1.5 miles. Bring water — the sand holds heat and there is no shade on the ridge. This is the one stop I would not cut from a family week, because it is genuinely unusual rather than generically pleasant.

If you have a car, drive 25 minutes west on Route 20 to Thacher State Park in Voorheesville for the Indian Ladder Trail, a mile-long walk under a limestone escarpment with waterfall spray and a railed staircase. It is open through mid-October and takes 45 minutes at child pace. Combine it with a stop at Indian Ladder Farms on Altamont Road for cider doughnuts and a look at the animals; the farm is busiest between 11am and 2pm, so go early or after three.

Riverfront, the USS Slater and a Crossgates Rainy Day

The USS Slater, a Second World War destroyer escort moored at the foot of Broadway in Rensselaer, opens for tours Wednesday to Sunday through late November. You reach it by walking the Albany Skyway or driving the Dunn Memorial Bridge; the tour is volunteer-led, takes about an hour and involves steep ladder-like stairs, so it suits children over seven. Afterwards, the Corning Riverfront Preserve has a flat paved path along the Hudson that is good for scooters. Sunday afternoons are quietest.

For a wet day, Crossgates Mall in Guilderland is 15 minutes west on the Thruway and combines a cinema, a climbing wall and the usual chain restaurants — fine as a fallback, not as a destination. Better for a rainy morning is the Albany Institute of History & Art on Washington Avenue, which has a small Egyptian gallery and a mummy that lands well with primary-school children. It is closed Mondays and Tuesdays, so plan the week around that.

Where to Stay, and What to Skip

Book downtown if you want to walk: the hotels clustered around State and Chapel streets put you within 15 minutes of the museum, the park and the riverfront, and September rates there are typically 20 to 30 per cent below July's. If you are driving in from the west or planning Thacher and Crossgates, the Wolf Road strip near Albany International Airport in Colonie is cheaper, has free parking and sits about 15 minutes from downtown via I-87. Neither area is walkable to the other; pick one and stay put.

Skip the guided ghost tours on Lark Street — they run late and the content drifts over younger children's heads. Skip the aquarium-style attractions in the malls. And unless you are coming specifically for a show, do not pay a premium to be next to the Times Union Center on South Pearl Street; the blocks around it empty out after events and there is little else to walk to. Check hotel prices for your dates before you commit, because midweek in September is consistently the cheapest window.