Three Days in Albany Without a Car
A CDTA bus on Washington Avenue in downtown Albany with the Capitol in the background
A carless itinerary covering 11 attractions, two cities and 22 miles using only trains, buses and walking.
The premise and the honest limits
You can do Albany without a car — completely, comfortably, for a long weekend. What you can’t do carless is Cooperstown, the Berkshires, the Catskills or Saratoga (except for the Amtrak-served ones). This itinerary stays inside the Capital District and uses CDTA buses, Amtrak's short Rensselaer-Hudson hop, and your own feet. Budget $28 for a three-day CDTA pass, one Amtrak round-trip at about $30, and maybe $50 in Ubers for evenings when you don’t feel like waiting for a bus.
Fly into Albany International (ALB) and take the CDTA Route 737 airport shuttle — 25 minutes, $1.50, drops you at downtown Albany. Or take Amtrak into Albany-Rensselaer Station, cross the river by CDTA bus 233 or a $10 Uber. Both work. This is the itinerary where you don’t need to think about parking, gas, or the fact that Empire State Plaza has genuinely confusing garage entrances. Trade-off: you’ll walk 6-8 miles a day. Bring good shoes.
Day 1: Downtown and the Plaza on foot
Base yourself at 74 State or the Hampton Inn Downtown on Chapel — both walk-only distance to everything on Day 1. Start at the Quackenbush Square Visitor Center for maps, then walk Broadway south to State Street. The USS Slater is a 15-minute walk down Broadway; go in the morning when it opens at 10am, spend 90 minutes on the destroyer escort tour, walk back to State Street for lunch at Cider Belly Doughnuts or the Hollow Bar.
Afternoon: walk up State Street to Empire State Plaza (uphill, but only four blocks), take the free elevator to the Corning Tower observation deck (42nd floor, views to the Berkshires), then descend to the underground concourse and walk south through the art collection to the State Museum. Three hours minimum at the museum. Dinner at Jack's Oyster House on State Street or Cafe Capriccio (12-minute walk uphill to Grand Street). All of Day 1 is on foot; you won’t need transit at all.
Day 2: Troy by CDTA bus 22
The CDTA bus 22 runs Albany-Troy every 15 minutes weekdays, every 20 minutes weekends. Board at Broadway and Columbia or any downtown stop, ride 20 minutes to downtown Troy at Fulton and Fourth. The fare is $1.50 or covered by your day pass. This is the workhorse route of the Capital District and one of the reasons carless Albany actually works — a bigger city would probably have made you take a train.
In Troy: Troy Waterfront Farmers Market on Saturday mornings (80-plus vendors, indoor November-April at the atrium on Fourth Street), Hart Cluett Museum on Second Street for regional history ($8), lunch at Illium Café on Broadway. Afternoon at the Burden Iron Works Museum on lower Polk Street if it's Saturday, or walk the RPI campus and stop at EMPAC for the architecture. Dinner at Donna's Italian or Peck's Arcade. Bus 22 runs until 11pm; check the last departure before you order the second bottle.
Day 3 option A: Schenectady by CDTA bus 905
Schenectady is 30 minutes by CDTA bus 905 (BusPlus service, limited stops, more comfortable than the regular routes). It leaves from downtown Albany every 15 minutes and drops you at State and Erie in downtown Schenectady. Walk the Stockade District — 45 buildings pre-1800, the oldest residential fabric in the state. The Schenectady County Historical Society at 32 Washington Avenue is $5 and worth an hour.
Lunch at Ambition Coffee on Jay Street or Aperitivo Bistro. Afternoon options: the Museum of Innovation and Science on Nott Terrace Heights for the Edison archive (90 minutes, $12), or Proctor's Theatre for a matinee if the calendar cooperates. Return on 905 by 8pm to leave time for dinner back in Albany at Yono's or the Hollow. Schenectady works as a day-trip; it doesn’t work as a base if you want easy access to the Capitol and Empire State Plaza the next morning.
Day 3 option B: Hudson by Amtrak
The more interesting Day 3 if you’re a design person. Amtrak Empire Service trains run from Albany-Rensselaer to Hudson roughly hourly, 35 minutes, $16-22 each way. Cross the river to Rensselaer station by CDTA bus 233 or a $10 Uber. Catch the 9:15am train south, arrive Hudson at 9:50am, walk 10 minutes from the station to Warren Street.
In Hudson: eight blocks of antique shops and galleries on Warren, lunch at Le Perche or Grazin' Diner, afternoon at the Olana State Historic Site if you’ve booked ahead (Frederic Church's house, $20, 15 minutes from downtown by taxi — this is the one part of the day that needs a car or a $22 Uber round-trip). Return train to Albany at 6:24pm or 8:15pm. Dinner back in Albany. This is a splurge day-trip within the carless framework and worth the effort.
The evenings without a car
Center Square, Lark Street and downtown are all walkable from any of the hotels listed below. If you stay downtown, Lark is a 15-minute walk uphill or a $6 Uber. If you stay in Center Square, downtown is 15 minutes downhill or a $6 Uber back up when you’re tired. The bars and restaurants worth doing without a car: New World Bistro on Lark, Cafe Capriccio on Grand, El Loco on Madison, Nine Pin Cider on Broadway, the Palace Theatre on Clinton, Lark Hall on Lark.
Uber and Lyft both operate reliably in Albany. Wait times downtown at 8pm run 3-5 minutes; wait times at 1am on a weekday can hit 15 minutes. The one place waits get long is at Empire State Plaza after big Egg events — 200 people trying to Uber home simultaneously breaks the algorithm. Walk two blocks in any direction before requesting and you’ll shave 8 minutes off the wait.
Where to sleep for a carless trip
Downtown is the smart choice. 74 State ($200-280) on State Street puts you five minutes from the Capitol, ten from the State Museum, and directly on the CDTA bus 22 route for Troy. Renaissance Albany on Broadway ($180-240) is a converted 1912 bank building with Yono's on-site, five minutes from the Amtrak shuttle stop. Hampton Inn Downtown on Chapel ($150-190) is the budget-conscious option, six blocks from everything.
Avoid the airport-area hotels entirely — they require a shuttle to get anywhere and add 25 minutes to every day. Avoid the Wolf Road cluster in Colonie for the same reason. If you specifically want Center Square, the Morgan State House on Washington Avenue ($180-240) works but adds 15 minutes of uphill walking every time you want to reach downtown. Downtown wins for a carless trip because everything you want to do starts within a six-block radius of State and Broadway.
Before you book
What people ask before booking Downtown Albany.
Bus 22 (Albany-Troy) and 905 (Albany-Schenectady) both run every 15-20 minutes weekdays, every 20-30 minutes weekends. Downtown Albany routes come every 10-15 minutes. Sunday evening and after 10pm frequencies drop to every 30-45 minutes on most routes. The Transit app shows real-time positions and works reliably.
CDTA Route 737 runs from Albany International to downtown Albany every 30 minutes, 5am-11pm, $1.50. It stops at Wolf Road hotels along the way. The trip takes 25-35 minutes depending on stops. Uber from ALB to downtown is $22-30 and takes 15 minutes. Take Uber if it's late or you have luggage; take the bus otherwise.
Only barely. Amtrak stops at Saratoga on the Adirondack line — one northbound and one southbound train per day, times inconvenient for a day-trip. CDTA does not serve Saratoga. Practical options are Trailways bus (2-3 daily, 45 minutes, $12) or an Uber round-trip at $80-100. For most carless trips, skip Saratoga.
