Are you thinking creatively enough about Presidents Day weekend and February break? Decide for yourself after perusing our own picks for out-of-the-box places — some near, some far — to spend your days off.
Ice surprises in Woodstock, New Hampshire
Sorry, New York, but that other Woodstock is the one to visit this time of year, thanks to the annual descent of Ice Castles onto the tiny town, an immersive and frigid achievement of the first order. The story has become the stuff of ice sculpting legend: years ago, Brent Christensen built a simple ice cave for his daughter in the yard of their Utah home, one of such detail and impressiveness people came from miles around to see it. From those humble beginnings grew a frozen water empire with seasonal creations now annually in five towns across America. Woodstock is the only East Coast destination to showcase Christensen’s company’s extraordinary structures, in which thousands of icicles are first grown and harvested — some with LED lights frozen inside — and then used to build and decorate an all-ice village: a 1-acre castle, ice slides, caves, a frozen maze, crawl tunnels that are fun for kids and a pub with winter-themed beverages for adults. Ice Castles is scheduled to be open through March 2 (weather permitting), and to our mind pairs perfectly with a stay at one of 35 adorably tiny houses at Lumen Nature Retreat. Available are two- and four-person cabins, all of them outfitted with a firepit and Adirondack chairs outside, along with kitchenettes, hotel-quality beds and full-wall windows inside. There are also two saunas on the grounds for guests as well as a communal bathhouse that’s far more luxurious than it sounds. As for good eating, head to Woodstock’s Main Street and a place like Five Main on the River, a pub with an extensive American menu and enviable views of the White Mountains.
Woodstock, New Hampshire, is 320 miles north of New York City, about a five-hour drive. Ice Castles is at 24 Clark Farm Rd. in N. Woodstock, icecastles.com. Entrance over Presidents Day weekend is $31 for adults and $23 for children 411. Lumen Nature Retreat is at 11 Sugar Plum Ln. in North Woodstock, 603-633-8790, stayatlumen.com. Two- and four-person cabins start at $158 per night.
Indoor ice in Jersey
New Hampshire too far? Not outdoorsy enough for ice fishing? American Dream has got you. Apparently it wasn’t enough for New Jersey’s mall with the mostest to have an indoor theme park (the largest in the Western Hemisphere), indoor waterpark (largest in North America) and first-of-its-kind indoor immersive experience, Sesame Street Learn & Play, which opened in November. They had to bring winter indoors too. Enter Big Snow, an all-season skiing and snowboarding destination that’s — you guessed it — the largest indoor facility of its kind on the continent. And we’re not talking fake snow either. Thanks to a constant temperature of 28 degrees year-round, water molecules falling from American Dream’s ceiling turn into the real stuff, which ultimately piles up 2 feet deep. Complete with its own 16-story ski slope and quad chairlift, it’s a wonderland sure to sweep away the winter blues.
American Dream is at 1 American Dream Way in East Rutherford, New Jersey, 833-263-7326, american dream.com. Entrance to Big Snow during Presidents Week starts at $69.99 for two-hour access to the ski slope and chairlifts. Entrance to DreamWorks Water Park starts at $69; entrance to the theme park, Nickelodeon Universe, starts at $59; entrance to Sesame Street Learn & Play starts at $26.
Ice fishing and water parks in the Catskills
What have you not done during the recent past’s unseasonably warm winters? Ice fish, that’s what. Even as you stared forlornly as the snow outside melted without accumulating and the trees budded obscenely early, you wondered whether it would ever be cold enough for you to stand on a lake in winter, drill through the ice and cast a line — and if so, what excuse would you have then. Well, there are no excuses, not this weekend. For one thing, winter 2025 has proved cold enough to ice over many ponds and lakes, and for another, Feb. 15-16 are two of only six days this year in which you can legally fish without a freshwater fishing license in New York state. Yellow perch, black crappie and Atlantic salmon are all in season now and getting them requires far less driving north than you might think. Sullivan County in the Catskills has numerous bodies of water with an ice depth of 3-4 inches (the minimum for safe angling), as do other counties in the Hudson Valley and environs. It’s a perfect activity for the whole family, assuming the whole family likes fishing, and if not, bring along skates and sleds for more outdoor frozen lake fun. As for time off the ice, Villa Roma, a full-service resort in Callicoon near the Pennsylvania border offers everything from skiing to spaing, while Kartrite Resort in Monticello boasts both skiing at nearby Holiday Mountain and a large indoor waterpark on the premises. Hungry? Everyone raves about The Heron in Narrowsburg, a farm-to-table haven for lovers of southern and comfort food alike.
Sullivan County is 100 miles northwest of Manhattan, a one-hour, 45-minute drive. For information on best places to ice fish in Sullivan and other counties, visit dec.ny.gov. Nightly rates at Villa Roma (356 Villa Roma Rd., Callicoon, 800-533-6767, villaroma.com) start at $348 for a room accommodating up to five. Rates at Kartrite Resort (555 Resorts World Dr., Monticello, 844-527-8748, thekartrite.com) start at $386 for suites sleeping up to six.
Newsday writer and restaurant critic Scott Vogel aims for a refreshing, gimlet-eyed take on the Long Island food scene, often while drinking a refreshing gimlet.
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