Cornell University

Address:Ithaca, New York

A visit to Cornell offers much more than just buildings and university information.

The Ithaca campus, Cornell's main campus, is a gorgeous 745-acres-long and sits on a hilltop overlooking the 400-foot-deep Finger Lakes of central New York State. Both sides of the campus are surrounded by gorges, cut during the last 12,000 years, with beautiful creeks and waterfalls. Tour all that Cornell University has to offer, from the art museum to the beautiful plantation and gardens. You can even spend the night in style at Cornell's student-run campus hotel.

Guided walking tours of beautiful Ithaca campus are offered throughout the year, except from late December through early January. The tours are an enjoyable and informative introduction to Cornell, its history, student life, and Cornell's combined role as an undergraduate teaching institution, an international research university, and New York State's land-grant institution. The tours are mostly outdoors; each lasts about one hour and 15 minutes and includes information about Cornell's undergraduate, graduate and professional schools and colleges.

Visit the Cornell Plantations, a living museum of more than 3,400 acres of natural and horticultural resources. Adults can take a bus tour, guided walking tour or just walk around on your own. The guided walking tour may be more suitable than the bus tour since your group has to provide the bus with which to sightsee. Most tours go through the botanical garden, but those that go through the arboretum and natural areas can be arranged. Tours of the botanical garden highlight the winter garden, a one-acre herb garden, a rhododendron collection, rock garden, an unusual and beautiful ground cover collection, and a low maintenance perennial garden. Although three of the specialty gardens are wheelchair accessible, the majority of the tour is not. Register very early because the plantation and garden tours fill fast. Each tour lasts approximately an hour. There is an admission fee on all days except Wednesdays and Saturdays. On the guided walking tour you can take extra time and explore the gardens on your own and browse the gift shop.

Children too will enjoy a hands-on, interactive tour of the plantation and garden. Beautiful summer tours include Evening Wildflower Walks, Garden Highlights Tour and the Arboretum Highlights Tour. You may want to eat before you visit the plantation - it does not have dining facilities. For a real campus experience though, eat in any of Cornell's dining halls.

Go swimming, fishing or motor boating in beautiful 400-foot-deep, 40-mile wide Cayuga Lake.

At the Herbert F. Johnson Museum, view Cornell's art collection dating back to the 1880s. The permanent collection consists of more than 30,000 works of art. Aside from the outstanding Asian collection, its greatest strength is in European and American prints, drawings and photographs, presenting the history of graphic art from the 15th century to the present. American painting and sculpture, European art from ancient Greece to the present, African sculpture and textiles, and pre-Columbian sculpture and ceramics are also well represented. Metered parking is available across the street and guided tours are offered.

On weekends, free campus parking is available in most campus lots and on weekdays you can get a complimentary parking pass until 5 p.m.

Spend the night on campus at The Statler Hotel, part of the renowned Cornell University School of Hotel Administration. The staff are students, but don't worry, the service and food are excellent. If you are visiting as a prospective student, the student hotel staff can give you the low-down on what it's really like at Cornell. Choose from traditional rooms; larger deluxe view king rooms; Cornell Suites; or the best rooms, the Tower Suites. The Cornell Suite is ideally suited for a family in want of an extra room. If staying on campus is not an option, there is a quaint eight-room bed and breakfast 10 minutes from campus.

A visit to Cornell will be a fun, educational experience and it will leave you with gorgeous pictures!!