New York Renaissance Faire
- Dates
- Aug 15 to Oct 4, 2026
- Status
- Confirmed
- Venue
- 600 Route 17A (NY-17A), Tuxedo, NY 10987 - permanent 65-acre faire village
- Price
- $60
- Camping
- None on site
- Last checked
- Aug 24, 2026
The experience
What's special
The New York Renaissance Faire turns a permanent 65-acre village in Tuxedo into Elizabethan England every late summer, with a court led by Queen Elizabeth I, jousting, parades, and entertainment spread across 17 performance areas and the streets in between. Running since 1978 and a sister faire to the Original Renaissance Pleasure Faire in Southern California and Wisconsin's Bristol Renaissance Faire, it packs in more than 100 marketplace shops, games, rides, a pub crawl, and interactive living-history exhibits, all included with admission alongside hundreds of street and stage performers.
What people love
Longtime attendees prize the setting and the ritual of it - many plan yearly trips, praise the jaw-dropping costumes, the roaming performers and joust, and food favorites like the gyro platters, Turkish burger, and cheddar broccoli soup, and love the closing dance out the gates with the cast. Recent seasons split opinion sharply: a vocal share of veterans say admission and food prices have climbed steeply ($60 adult gate, $18 turkey legs), that peak days are oversold and packed shoulder to shoulder, that arrival traffic and parking handling can sour the day, and that the old immersion has faded as more of the crowd comes in street clothes. Practical consensus: arrive before opening, bring cash, and expect heat and dust.
Last time around
The 2025 season marked the faire's 48th anniversary, running Saturdays, Sundays, and Labor Day Monday from August 16 through October 5. Attendee reception was polarized: the spectacle, costumes, and performers drew their usual praise, while a wave of reviews from late in the season criticized crowding on sold-out-feeling days, higher admission and food prices, and rougher parking and traffic operations.
See it before you go
See the grounds
Costumes & what to wear
Do I need a costume?
No costume needed, depending on the day roughly half the crowd or more is in street clothes, and regulars advise first-timers to skip the costume, wear something cool (the grounds get hot and dusty), and build garb over time from the faire's artisans. An on-site costume rental shop lets you rent as much or as little as you like
Costume rules
Costumes are welcome but the dress code is practical: shirts and shoes at all times, no clothing with obscenities or offensive images, and clothing in multiple layers is subject to search. The faire suggests dressing for the day's weather in comfortable walking shoes
Weapons policy
Functional firearms, knives, razor blades, and weapons or objects of any kind capable of causing harm are strictly forbidden. Prop firearms of any kind, including replicas, toys, fantasy firearms, water guns, and bubble guns, are not permitted inside the faire
Joining in
Admission includes jousts, parades, and hundreds of performers in street and stage shows, with interactive living-history exhibits and a pub crawl among the ticketed extras. Performers pass the hat; tipping in cash is the norm
Getting there
How do I get to New York Renaissance Faire?
By train 1
Tuxedo has its own rail station on the Port Jervis Line (operated by NJ Transit under contract with Metro-North), with weekend service, trains run from Hoboken Terminal roughly every two hours, about 55 minutes to Tuxedo; from Manhattan, connect via PATH to Hoboken or NJ Transit to Secaucus Junction. The station sits on Route 17 in Tuxedo hamlet, and the faire is a further ~2 miles uphill on Route 17A, plan a local taxi/rideshare for that last leg rather than walking the highway shoulder
Book / info →By bus 1
A scheduled alternative to the faire-day Shortline service: Rockland Coaches runs from Port Authority to the Tuxedo park-and-ride in about an hour, though it stops in the hamlet rather than at the faire gate, finish with a short local taxi/rideshare
Book / info →Festival shuttle 1
The standout no-car option, and it runs on every faire day: Shortline (Coach USA) sells a round-trip bus from Manhattan's Port Authority Bus Terminal directly to the Faire's front gate. Choose bus-only (about $40.60 adult / $21.30 child round trip) or the Day Trip Package bundling the bus with a discounted Faire admission (about $95.60 adult, saving $5; $46.30 child). Buy online in advance, then exchange your receipt for a printed ticket at the Port Authority window before boarding. From EWR, reach Port Authority by Coach USA's Newark Airport Express or NJ Transit rail via Penn Station
Book / info →Taxi & rideshare 1
Rideshare covers the ~35-mile run from Newark Liberty (pickup at each terminal's designated rideshare zone) to the faire in about 45 minutes. Coverage around rural Tuxedo thins out at day's end, so book return pickups a little ahead of the 7 pm close
Book / info →🅿 Parking
On site parking available. Cost General parking free; paid preferred parking available closer to the gate. Free general lots involve a walk up a hill to the gate, with a paid preferred option closer in. Arrival traffic on the rural approach roads builds sharply later in the morning, come early. A free shuttle serves accessible parking in the main lot when the closer handicap spots fill
🚙 Car hire
Compare car hire
Useful for fly-in visitors who want to pair the faire with the Hudson Valley or Woodbury Common, but note this is one of the few big faires genuinely reachable without a car, thanks to the official Port Authority front-gate bus and the Tuxedo rail station
Search car hire →Live price search coming soon.
Where
Venue
600 Route 17A (NY-17A), Tuxedo, NY 10987 - permanent 65-acre faire village
Camping & Accommodation
Where can I stay near New York Renaissance Faire?
No on site camping. Here is where to stay nearby.
Budget stays 2
Mahwah, NJ
≈ $93-125 / night approx, book direct with the hotel
Book direct →Central Valley, NY
≈ $104-135 / night approx, book direct with the hotel
Book direct →Mid-range hotels 2
Harriman/Woodbury, NY
≈ $122-170 / night approx, book direct with the hotel
Book direct →Mahwah, NJ
≈ $124-190 / night approx, book direct with the hotel
Book direct →Airbnb & private camping
Rentals are scarce in Tuxedo itself (much of the surrounding land is Sterling Forest State Park and the gated Tuxedo Park village), so most stays land in Warwick, Greenwood Lake, or the Monroe/Woodbury corridor, 15-25 minutes out. The faire's eight weekends overlap the Hudson Valley's early-fall leaf-peeping ramp-up, and Saturday nights in September price accordingly, book ahead
Search Airbnb →No camping at the faire, but this is genuine camping country, Harriman State Park's campgrounds and the wider Hudson Highlands sit minutes away, and Hipcamp lists private-land tent sites and glamping across Orange County and the New York side of the Ramapo Mountains for visitors who want woods over hotel walls
Search Hipcamp →Pricing
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