Relocating to Albany, NY

Only one choice for you. Saratoga Springs!

Clifton Park, Saratoga Springs, Loudonville, Kinderhook would also be excellent choice for access to Mass. and Conn.

what about downtown albany?

Any specific areas in those towns?

the local club: www.hmrrc.com runs from SUNYA. The Pine Bush has some excellent trails considering it's urban proximity. Saratoga Springs is fantastic for it's trail running, nordic skiing and cycling options, not to mention it's performing arts center and music centric culture. Problem is, it would be a bitch of a commute from Saratoga to Albany for everyday work. Better to drive to Saratoga when time permits for your leisure activities. Assuming you don't have children, look for close proximity to the SUNYA and State Office Campus area (public schools not so great here). You'll be close to trail running in the Pine Bush and the campus area is very popular running turf, especially in winter.

[quote]Relocating to Albany wrote:

I'm looking for input on what areas are good to live in.

I'll probably be subletting or renting for the first six months. Then, I'll find a condo or home to purchase.

Is there any insight on a good location for someone who enjoys live music/running/mountain biking in the region?

HMRRC is an excellent local running club. You'll certainly want to look them up.

Mountain and road cycling is exceptionally good in that area. I used to mountian bike a lot around Lake Desolation (northwest of Saratoga, near Sacandaga lake) and Grafton Lakes state Park (east of Troy), both of which have many miles of trails. There are also a lot of smaller parks and forests with trails. Mohawk Hudson Cycling Club holds a lot of road and off-road rides. You should hook up with them.

The live music is good in Saratoga, Troy, and various neighborhoods in Albany.

A single person might want to look at Saratoga or some Albany neighborhoods like Pine Hills or the Lark Street area. Downtown Troy has gone through various up-and-down cycles. I don't know where they stand right now.

A family person with kids in school might want to look at Delmar, Bethlehem, Niskayuna, Saratoga, or Clifton Park. That might be a consideration if you plan on settling in the area long term.

Note that Saratoga is on both lists ... good town with good schools. It's a pretty long drive from Albany though. Delmar is quite close to Albany, but it's somewhat expensive for the area.

You'll probably want to live in downtown Troy, or downtown Schenectady. Seriously though, there are a lot of nice areas around, many previously mentioned on the thread. You might want to look at the Albany Running Exchange website, they might have a forum, I can't remember. Did a 15k trail race at John Boyd Thatcher State Park, down in Voorheesville, near New Scotland. It was very nice there.

Downtown Schenectady is going through a large revitalization project and I must say it is coming along very nicely. It is in a good location and the surrounding neighborhoods are pretty nice (Niskayuna, Scotia). There are plans to build nice apartments on the riverfront in the next couple of years and that would be a nice place to be. The Schenctady Stockade is a scenic and historic area and is home to one of the largest 15k runs in the nation (The Stockade-athon).

In terms of live music there is the newly re-done Proctors Theater (part of the revitalization) home to a variety of music, comedy, and theatrical shows. Freedom park right across the bridge in Scotia is home to outdoor live music in the summer (and great food from Jumpin' Jacks). Also Schenectady has its own central park where there are occasional live shows and is also home to many races (Start of the stockade-athon, sefcu 5k, cardiac classic, etc.)

As far as running and mountain biking Saratoga can satisfy both of those and is a shorts drive away for some good trails. Other than that you be confined to roads really as there are not many trails in the area.

there are alot of trails just north of saratoga, queensbury, NY your about 45-55 mins outside of albany though.

Hey, there is the region known (by a select few) as The Adirondacks a bit north of there.

check it out!

I lived in The Capitol region my whole life. Went to school in Guilderland and went to college at UAlbany. whatever you do, don't live in the cities of Albany, Schenectady or Troy. But Clifton Park, Guilderland and North Colonie are great places to live. Some parts of Niskauna aren't bad either. All these place, bar Niskauna, are right next to I-90 and 87. Rock on. also, the pinebush is the bomb diggity to run in.

High schools north and west of Albany produce the best high school cross country teams in the nation.....

It depends. How old are you? Where will you be working (commuting to)?

Do you prefer city life? Or would you prefer suburban or country?

I was born and raised here. If you would like to post an e-mail, I'd be happy to give you specifics.

that's all i gots to say on the same token. cuz you don'tb have to buy it cuz i'm not selling it.

I grew up in Watervliet but after coming back to visit, not the place someone would want to live. Latham or Colonie are nice suburbs that you may wanna check out.

pine hills and buckingham pond neighborhoods are nice...

great brownstones by washington park (willett st, hudson ave, etc)

lark street is fun, spectrum and madison are excellent movie theaters

albany schools are great for your kids, there's just a strong bias against them from the blurbs like guilderland, delmar, etc, which are typical whitebread suburbs that hate everything they think is beneath them

go albany

I appreciate the offer.

29 Single out of shape corporate type. Moving from a mid-sized city in the south. Prefer city life or at least suburbs. But with easy access to outdoor activities.

The relo still isn't 100% but we're negotiating right now.