America's Most Visited State From Abroad Is A Walkable Destination Full Of Famous Cities, Restaurants, And Parks

When folks think of visiting the United States from other countries, certain states or cities are bound to come to mind. California is a top choice, with the star-studded Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles and the whole Bay Area, as is Florida (never underestimate the power of beaches and Disney). And then, of course, there's Texas, and Nevada (read: Las Vegas). But, one state stands above the rest, wielding the immense power of its name and reputation: New York. In 2024, 9.07 million international travelers visited New York, followed by Florida with 7.3 million and California with 6.3 million(via Road Genius).

The vast majority of international travelers bypass the entirety of New York state for the New York City metropolitan area — 8.9 million out of 9.07 million (98%). We all know how grand New York City is and how much it has to offer in terms of attractions, history, culture, dining, walkability, and so forth. But that leaves only 112,000 international visitors for the entire rest of the state. Those happy few also have the chance to see that there's so much more to the state than The Big Apple.

Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and Albany have all the walkable downtowns, wonderful restaurants, and lovely parks and natural environments that you'll find at larger scale in New York City to the south. The cities create a west-to-east line in Upstate, Central, and Western New York (since there is some debate as to what classifies as "upstate"). Further north, things get pretty sparse as you get closer to the Canadian border. But taken all in all, these cities, along with NYC, contain the best of what New York has to offer international visitors –– no matter if they've got a week, a month, or more to stay.

New York City is not only one of the most well-known metropolises in the U.S., but also the world. Home to signature, set-piece icons like the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, and Central Park, replete with some of the most distinctive and recognizable boroughs on the planet (Manhattan, Queens, Bronx, Brooklyn, and Staten Island), a font of world-class theater and arts on- and off-Broadway, and some of the globe's finest dining, including 72 ultra-expensive, but occasionally affordable Michelin-starred restaurants in 2025. Yes, the Big Apple's got it all. And while international tourism to the city hasn't recovered from its pre-COVID peak of 13.5 million visitors in 2019 – and some businesses are feeling the crunch, as a result — it still received 8.9 million international tourists in 2024. That's more than the population of the city (8.2 million) and getting close to half the population of New York State (20 million).

What else can we say about such a place that hasn't been said before? Sure, the blocks are enormous and might make you want to call an Uber, but New York City on the whole is incredibly walkable (with some help from the subway). In terms of parks, Central Park (843 acres) in Manhattan gets all the attention, but it's actually only the fifth largest park in the city — the largest is Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx at 2,765 acres. On the food side, the whole city has about 17,600 restaurants in it. These restaurants cover 94 world cuisines — that's more than any other city on the globe. And while they can't all be winners, you can, at least, rarely go wrong with pizza.

Out of all the non-NYC cities in New York state, Buffalo tends to get the most attention if only because of its proximity to Niagara Falls (about 30 minutes by car). Located right along Lake Erie, it has its own international airport, Buffalo Niagara International Airport (BUF), and connects to Niagara Falls directly by bus (NFTA-Metro), shuttle, taxi, etc. But, even though the entirety of Erie County has seen a recent rise in tourism, and Niagara Falls itself gets a colossal 14 million visitors per year, only 1 million of them come from abroad. Buffalo tends to get overlooked, even though it checks boxes that international visitors might want and need.

Visitors to Buffalo can start with its industrial waterfront, which connects to the city's downtown via prominent, highly walkable streets like Pearl Street and Main Street. The waterfront strip contains strollable parks like the long Ralph Wilson Park, the small Veteran's Park right next to Buffalo's Naval & Military Park that contains four decommissioned battleships, which is right across the Buffalo River from the Times Beach Nature Preserve. Visitors can hit up these parks along with a trip to Silo City, an artsy community hub in view of massive grain silos.  

From there, a short, 20-minute walk north takes travelers face-to-face with every food and drink option they'd ever want, including Thai, Ethiopian, Italian, American diners, and much more. There's also loads of pubs and brewhouses like the four-level Pearl Street Grill & Brewery (which itself contains nine bars), while Main Street south of Tupper contains the added bonus of an unbelievable host of performing arts theatres all packed in together. 

With a central, downtown district that resembles a miniature Midtown, New York City, Rochester has the same international appeal as the other New York cities on our list, but gets even less attention than Buffalo. Even though its airport, The Frederick Douglass Greater Rochester International Airport (ROC), handles 2.4 million people per year, its international travelers largely come from nearby Canada (20% of all passengers). Those visitors are in for a treat, though, as Rochester is an exceedingly park-dotted, restaurant-filled, walkable space (at least its downtown).

Starting at Lake Ontario along Rochester's northern border, the entire stretch of its Genesee River is one park after the other: Ontario Beach Park, Turning Point Beach Park, Seneca Park (with its zoo), Maplewood Park, plus tons of wooded diversions along the way. Central, walkable Rochester is also pocketed with little green parks, the largest of which is Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park at Manhattan Square. These green spaces help break up Rochester's sight lines and building-filled horizon. 

Rochester's walkability centers on East Main Street as it connects to East Street. This approximately 20-minute-long stretch (on foot) extends from the Genesee River to the bar-flush Alexander Street, and contains many of the city's food-and-drink options and cityside offerings like performing arts theaters. The upper crust Patron Saint is right near the homey Farmhouse Table Midtown, which is one short block over from the pizza place, Stromboli's Restaurant, which is down the street from the the bar-meets-axe-throwing venue, Axes and Ales. This is all within walking distance of the Strong National Museum of Play, a kid-focused toy museum meets interactive game space, plus tons of pubs and wine and cocktail bars.

Syracuse is the first New York city on our list that doesn't border a major body of water. Located further east from Rochester and inland from Lake Ontario, it also has its own international airport, Syracuse Hancock International Airport (SYR), and in 2022 saw tourists spend about $1.1 billion in its county. Beyond this incomplete data, exact figures on international visitors to Syracuse are impossible to come by. But suffice it so say: When international travelers book flights to Syracuse, they're probably booking a flight to the original Syracuse on Sicily.

Nonetheless, Syracuse has the same, walkable, park-and-restaurant-filled goodness as Buffalo, Rochester, Albany, or New York City. It's also it's got the same kind of structure as Buffalo and Rochester, where there's a (in this case smaller) body of water, Onondaga Lake, surrounded by parks that leads inland to a walkable downtown. That downtown is also festooned with parks, from little patches like Firefighter's Memorial Park and Forman Park, to the larger Thorden Park next to Syracuse University.

As far as walkability is concerned, if travelers stick south of I-81 and I-690 and north of Harrison Street, they'll find everything they want in a roughly 15-minute span on foot — and we really mean everything. Downtown Syracuse is a foodie's paradise packed with a mind-blowing density of options, from barbecue to donuts, Thai, Mexican, Italian, Japanese, endless bars, pubs, cafes, etc., etc. The highly-rated, Southern-style Dinosaur Bar-B-Que stands out, as does Al's Wine and Whiskey Lounge further south. The entire set of blocks contained by West Fayette, Route 11, and the Museum of Science and Technology is so jam-packed that practically every other building is a restaurant.

Finally we come to Albany, the furthest east and south of restaurant-and-park-filled New York cities right near the border with Massachusetts. Once again, the city in question has its own international airport, Albany International Airport (ALB), and once again, stands as another, overlooked option in the U.S. state with the most international visitors. 

A top-level view of Albany's downtown, east of the Hudson River until roughly Washington Park in the west, shows precisely how many green spaces the city has. From the beautiful waterside walkways of Corning Preserve along the Hudson, to East and West Capitol Park on either side of the New York State Capitol, to the expansive and well-manicured Washington Park, Albany's parks sit evenly distribution throughout the city. But visitors should beware that some of the blocks are bit longer, similar to Manhattan. Getting across the entire, two-mile, downtown-ish span from the Hudson to Washington Park will take about 45 minutes on foot.

Albany's food-and-drink options tend to be packed around little clusters within this area. Lark Street is a good place to hit, from Lark Street Tavern and Fresh N' Pressed along adjacent Madison Avenue to Mamoun's Restaurant on the other end at Washington Avenue. Heading along Washington Street towards Tricentennial Park further east towards the Hudson affords several more pockets of amazing food choices. And even though we're focusing on walking, those international travelers  who do have access to a car can always get more nature outside of Albany by heading to Mine Kills Falls, an 80-foot-tall waterfall that cascades through narrow rock formations.