Visiting Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame on a Budget
Ranked #7,292 in Travel, #227,833 overall
Make the Most of your time in Cooperstown
If you love baseball, you've got to make a trip to Cooperstown once in your lifetime. However, taking your family could get costly. I want to share the tips and tricks we used to make this trip down right dirt cheap!
How to get to Cooperstown?
You can't fly to Cooperstown. The main way to get there is by driving.
Cooperstown is between Syracuse and Albany, NY. Drive time from either Albany or Syracuse is around 2 hours. But more than likely you are going to come from New York City. The drive time is around 4 and 1/2 to 5 hours drive time.
Make sure you take cash, you will need it for toll roads leading to upstate New York. The drive is very scenic and relaxing.
Cooperstown is between Syracuse and Albany, NY. Drive time from either Albany or Syracuse is around 2 hours. But more than likely you are going to come from New York City. The drive time is around 4 and 1/2 to 5 hours drive time.
Make sure you take cash, you will need it for toll roads leading to upstate New York. The drive is very scenic and relaxing.
Visting the Baseball Hall of Fame
- Baseball Hall of Fame
- We visited the hall in 2006. My son was 9 at the time, and he was in heaven! Unlike most kids, he really gets into the history and the accomplishments of HOF's. However, his 5 year old sister hates baseball. The hall knows this, and they have a great thing for kids.
When you pay for your tickets, you can ask for a SCAVENGER HUNT sheet. The kids will go throughout the museum looking for Cool Papa Bell's sunglasses or Babe Ruth's contract, etc.. Instead of getting the "I'm bored" comment, your kids will have a blast. Once they finish the scavenger hunt, you can turn in your sheet at the gift shop, and they will give your kids a pack of Hall of Fame Baseball cards.
If you click through the web site, you can view what's on each floor. But all the good stuff is on the 2nd and 3rd floors. Some of the things you will see is a wall with a baseball from most every no hitter thrown, a section showing the Negro Leagues, Ty Cobb, Cy Young. You name it. You need to check the web site to see what special events are planned during your planned visit.
Operating Hours
Summer Hours (current)
Daily, 9 AM to 9 PM
From Friday of Memorial Day Weekend through Labor Day Monday.
Off-Season Hours
Daily, 9 AM to 5 PM
From the day after Labor Day through the Thursday before Memorial Day Weekend.
Admission
Adults $14.50
Senior Citizens and members of veterans organizations $9.50
Children (ages 7-12) $5.00
Children (under 7) Free
Retired career military Free
Active military Free
Adult 3-Museum Admission* $29.00
Junior 3-Museum Admission* $12.00
Adult 2-Museum Admission** $20.50
Junior 2-Museum Admission** $8.00
Places to Stay
These are great places to stay that won't break the bank.
Places to Eat
Get good grub without breaking the bank
The following list of places to eat and not to eat.
- Fly Creek Harmony House Cafe
6208 State Highway 28
Fly Creek, NY 13337
607-547-5077
Located 10 to 15 minutes from Cooperstown, this cafe is the best restaurant in the area. Unlike most other restaurants in the area that just reheat Sam's club food. This place makes everything on their menu from scratch using fresh ingredients. We had both breakfast and lunch items off the menu. Our plates were wiped clean every thing was so yummy. - THE DOUBLEDAY CAFE
93 Main St
Cooperstown, NY 13326
Telephone: 607/547-5468
Located in downtown Cooperstown, the Doubleday Cafe offers a wide variety of food and drink, offering meals for the entire family. Daily specials!
Kid Friendly, you can't go wrong with Doubleday's Applebee's like menu. The reasonably priced jalapeño burger was outstanding. One great thing about this place is that it stays open later than most other restaurants. Cooperstown keeps retirement community hours. When it gets dark, it seems like everything shuts down except for Double Café. - Fly Creek Cider Mill & Orchard
288 Goose Street
Fly Creek, NY 13337
phone: 1-800-505-6455
http://www.flycreekcidermill.com/
After you eat at Fly Creek Harmony House Cafe, you can have desert at Fly Creek Cider Mill & Orchard. The Cider Mill is just around the corner from the Café, and it's a great place to stop and let little kids visit and feed farm animals.
This is a working mill where you can get some of the best cider I've ever tasted. They give you free samples to get you hooked in buying a gallon. We had their delicious apple pie and doughnuts. If you just want a sandwich to go, Fly Creek Cider Mill has this as well along with soups and pulled pork BBQ.
One cool aspect about this place is that it is small kid friendly. Farm animals are located around the mill where your kids can pet and feed them. Our 5 year old daughter really liked feeding the ducks and chickens.
Lastly, they do have a nice gift shop that is geared more to country or Cracker Barrel type gifts. You won't find much baseball type stuff here - The Pepper Mill Restaurant
5418 State Highway 28
Cooperstown, New York 13326
Telephone: 607-547-8550
http://www.cooperstownpeppermill.com/
We didn't eat here during our visit. However, all the locals recommended it, and they had a lot of cars outside the restaurant. A lot cars is somewhat positive.
If you are coming to Cooperstown with a team, you may want to book their private banquet room with seating for 200 people. You could have your award ceremony or just eat together as a team.
Places Not To Eat!!
These places make institutional food look good.
I warned you! Avoid these dumps posing as restaurants.
- Triple Play Cafe
64 Main Street
Cooperstown, NY 13820
Telephone: 607/547-1395
Avoid this place. Lets begin with that this place shouldn't be in business. The food was not fresh. It had been either under the heat lamp too long or it just tasted bad. The owners of this place definitely don't know how to eat. It's institutional food that is poorly doctored. Do yourself a favor and eat at the Doubleday cafe. - T.J.'s Place / The Home Plate
124 Main Street
Cooperstown, NY 13326
(800) 860-5670
(607) 547-4040
(607) 547-4042 (fax)
http://www.tjs-place.com/
We visited this restaurant in early June last year. I'll be honest with you, we didn't eat at this joint. However, we sat down to be served, and it took forever to get someone to come to our table with hardly anyone in the restaurant!
The straw that broke the camels back was the fact that they charged $1.00 for tap water. Now when you are traveling with kids, one of the ways to cut cost is to order water instead of a soda.
Since we didn't get any service and they charged for water, we left and went to Fly Creek Harmony House Cafe.
If you have had a different experience, please post your comments. If I get enough positive comments, I will put TJ's on the places to eat list.
Cool Baseball Books
My son is a baseball nut, and he devours the Dan Gutman baseball series. If you want to get your son to read, get him these books.
Shoeless Joe & Me (Baseball Card Adventures)
Amazon Price: $5.99 (as of 12/06/2009) 
Honus and Me: A Baseball Card Adventure
Amazon Price: $5.99 (as of 12/06/2009)
Satch & Me (Baseball Card Adventures)
Amazon Price: $11.99 (as of 12/06/2009)
Mickey & Me: A Baseball Card Adventure (Baseball Card Adventures)
Amazon Price: $5.99 (as of 12/06/2009)
Abner & Me (Baseball Card Adventures)
Amazon Price: $5.99 (as of 12/06/2009)
Great Stuff on eBay
Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand by
Give me some Feedback.
This is a living Lens, please leave us feedback on what to add or delete.
submit
-
Reply
- PitTip PitTip Aug 10, 2009 @ 8:40 pm
- Glad you liked the lens. When we were planning to visit Cooperstown, I searched everywhere for places to eat, stay, etc...., but there was nothing on the web to help folks traveling to Cooperstown for the first time. Thus, I decided to make this lens. Please spread the word. Also, when you get back, please email me back what you would recommend when visiting Cooperstown.[in reply to Robyn]
-
Reply
- lefty78 lefty78 Jun 4, 2009 @ 11:45 pm
- Great lens, love Cooperstown...check out my group Total Baseball
-
Reply
- Robyn Robyn Mar 14, 2009 @ 11:25 pm
- Love this lens! I am going to Cooperstown in June of this year! Can't wait. Thanks for the great tips.
by PitTip
Ken Pitt, ebaying fool out of necessaty and FUN. Founder of PitTip, Inc. www.pittip.net is the first online, interactive, live eBay training site on t... (more)
Explore related pages
Baseball: Past, Present, and Future of America's Favorite Pastime- Baseball is no doubt America’s favorite pastime, and quickly becoming a fa...
Pete Rose
Atlanta Braves Baseball- The Atlanta Braves team is one of the oldest teams in baseball, first being esta...
Jack Morris- Jack Morris is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who pitched for the Detroi...
Nolan Ryan- I grew up an Angel fan and Nolan Ryan was one of my favorite players. He was a n...
Is your Favorite Chicago Baseball Team - Cubs or White Sox- I like them both Chicago is a city divided on their baseball teams. Whether you...
