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Things to Do
Your Ellicottville adventure, by season
Two anchor resorts, 140+ miles of trail, creeks and cliffs to paddle, and the largest state park in New York. Here is everything to get into, all four seasons.
Two anchor resorts, 140+ miles of trail, creeks and cliffs to paddle, and the largest state park in New York. Here is everything to get into, all four seasons.
Ellicottville is one of the only four-season resort towns in the United States with two ski resorts just minutes from the village. Holiday Valley is the larger public ski area, with 60 trails, night skiing, terrain parks, and a golf course, and it has been named the 3rd best ski resort in the East by Ski Magazine.
HoliMont is North America's largest private ski area, tucked in the hills of Ellicottville, NY. For over 60 years, HoliMont has been a second home for families who care about connection, tradition, and time well spent outside. It is open to the public during the week and reserved for members on weekends.
Between the two: fresh corduroy at first chair, night laps under the lights, a tubing park, cross-country and snowshoe trails, and a walkable village at the bottom.
Read the ski-day playbook
When the downhill crowds head to the lifts, the state forest and Nordic trails go silent and white. Kick and glide groomed track, break trail on backcountry skis, or strap on snowshoes and wander a spruce forest heavy with snow.
Warming huts and lean-tos dot the trails. Pack a thermos, take your time, and enjoy a side of Ellicottville most visitors never see.
Ellicottville has quietly become one of the best places to ride in the Northeast. HoliMont is the resort most committed to the bike park, with a growing lift-served network, and Holiday Valley runs its own lift-served park on summer weekends. Out in the Rock City and McCarty Hill state forests, the WNYMBA Epic system holds singletrack for every level.
The Art Roscoe area offers 20+ miles of wide, forested trail cut through high ridges. The McCarty Hill loop climbs to open views over the rolling hills, and quiet paths wind through Rock City's mossy rock formations.
Easy family walks, big ridge-top payoffs, and endless forest. Bring water and good shoes.
See 5 hikes for fall color
Cast the creeks and stocked ponds for trout, bass, pike, and carp on the fly. When you would rather float, bring a kayak or paddleboard and drift beneath the shale cliffs of the creek or cross the calm lakes inside the state park.
Keep fish wet, handle them gently, and let them go strong. This water stays this good because people take care of it.
Photo: Andre Carrotflower, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
Just south of town sits the largest state park in New York: about 65,000 acres of dense forest, clear lakes, sandy beaches, and winding trail. It is a hub for hiking, mountain biking, freshwater fishing, kayaking, swimming, camping, and wildlife watching.
A short drive from the village turns a day trip into a full weekend outside.
Aerial by Aldrich Aerial Photography
For a few weeks each October, the hills around Ellicottville turn gold, orange, and deep red. Ride the Holiday Valley chairlift for a summit view, hike the McCarty Hill ridge, chase fall steelhead in the creeks, or just drive the back roads with the windows down.
5 hikes for peak colorCheck conditions, find your way here, and see where to fuel up before and after.
Plan your visit Where to fuel up