Interlaken
Follow Cayuga's western shore to Lucas Vineyards (3862 County Rd. 150, Interlaken; www.lucasvineyards.com). The Lucas family pioneered winemaking on Cayuga in 1980. Their 30 acres (12 hectares) of vines slope in orderly rows from a neat lawn down toward the lake, where vistas continue over three miles (4.8 kilometers) of water to the opposite shore. It's a wonderful setting for sipping Lucas's Beaujolais-style Tug Boat Red.

Ovid
Sheldrake Point Vineyard (7448 County Rd. 153, Ovid; www.sheldrakepoint.com) tucks even closer to the water, near a pocket of rambling summer homes that look like the setting for a Rockwellian August idyll. The vineyard's outdoor café, rimmed by gardens, pairs wines with daily lunch specials.

Romulus
Traders Village (Route 89 and Swick Rd., Romulus; www.theeamishmarket.com) is just that—or maybe more like a small town. It occupies a string of cavernous buildings crammed with sturdy colonial and mission furniture made by Amish craftsmen. The prices are astonishingly low, and the bargains extend to a huge inventory of quilts, rugs, toys, and other handmade items.

Seneca Falls
In historic Seneca Falls, believed to be the inspiration for Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life, the National Women's Hall of Fame (76 Fall St.) and Women's Rights National Historical Park (136 Fall St.; www.nps.gov/wori) commemorate the work of activists Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Amelia Bloomer, who both lived here.

Geneva
The splendidly restored 1894 Smith Opera House (82 Seneca St.; www.thesmith.org) is the downtown jewel of Geneva, a small city graced with a wealth of Greek Revival and Italianate homes at the northern tip of Seneca Lake. The Smith Opera House books touring performers whose acts compete with a riotously colorful art deco interior.