Explore: More than gaming at New York casinos

Friday, September 11, 2009  

"If you're not a gambler, odds are you haven't considered going to a casino for a weekend getaway. But there are plenty of reasons why you should — and none of them have anything to do with slot machines.

New York's Turning Stone Resort & Casino, and Foxwoods Resort Casino and its neighbor Mohegan Sun in Connecticut are resorts with a capital "R." Each offer luxury hotels, championship golf courses, world-class spas, four-star restaurants and big-name entertainers, all within driving distance of Albany.

Step outside a casino in Atlantic City and you're likely to encounter panhandlers, people peddling adult entertainment, pawnshops and more casinos. Step away from the three Indian casinos that are at least two hours closer to home, and you're most likely to meet a deer. Built on Indian reservations, these casinos rise up from rolling forested hills and sparkling rivers as impressive and unexpected as the Emerald City was to Dorothy.

Just two hours from Albany, the Oneida Indian Nation's Turning Stone Casino is a 1,200-acre resort tucked away in the scenic Mohawk Valley. It's New York's fifth most popular tourist destination and one of the top destinations for golfers in the country. The resort includes three hampionship golf courses, the longest being the Tom Fazio-designed Atunyote course, which is listed among the 10 best golf resorts by Travel & Leisure, the Robb Report and Golfweek. Golf World's Readers' Choice Awards ranked Turning Stone number one for service and named it the second best resort facility in the country.

Foxwoods, a three-hour drive from Albany in Ledyard, Connecticut, also has plenty to boast about with its two Rees Jones-designed championship Lake of Isles courses. Built around a 900-acre lake and set among ancient forests, Lake of Isles was named best new course by Golf Digest and was Golf Magazine's pick for the top 10 best new courses you can play. If your idea of golf is a good walk spoiled, however, Foxwoods also offers hiking trails that lead straight from the Great Cedar Casino lobby into the backwoods and hills of southeastern Connecticut that, on a clear day, offer views of Block Island."

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Explore: Beyond gaming (The Albany Times-Union 9/9)