Hours verified August 2026. Places up here change their schedules with the season, so call ahead.

There is nothing wrong with the Jersey Shore, I have many happy shore memories from my childhood. It has earned every bit of its reputation, and if you have a week down there in August, go and enjoy it.

But it is not the only summer New Jersey has, and with August still ahead of us, let's talk about the rest of the state, specifically Sussex County!

Less than an hour from New York City, up in the corner of New Jersey where the land starts to rise, sits the Whistling Swan Inn: a 1905 Queen Anne Victorian on Main Street in Stanhope. Nine rooms, a wraparound porch, a garden, and a cat named Mama who runs the place more than I would like to admit.

This is the NJ Skylands. Same state, same summer, entirely different pace. Lakes instead of ocean. Vineyards instead of boardwalk. Two hours on a porch instead of two hours in traffic.

And I am going to make you a more specific argument than "it is nice up here." I am going to tell you why you should come mid-week, and I am going to provide a sample schedule.

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 Here is the thing nobody tells you about the NJ Skylands region: the best places up here are open on their terms, not yours.

Andre's Lakeside Dining in Sparta, serves Wednesday through Saturday. Mohawk House is closed Monday and Tuesday. Stone Water is closed Monday.  Burnt Mills Cider runs Wednesday through Sunday. Four Sisters Winery is closed Wednesdays.

Now stack that against a Saturday in August. Those dining rooms are booked solid, the wait for a lake-view table runs long, and every tasting room is three deep at the bar.

Come Wednesday through Friday instead and the whole region opens up for you specifically. You walk into Andre's. You get the deck at Stone Water. The bartender at the cidery has time to actually talk to you.

Same places. Same August. A completely different trip.

Rooms are priced lower mid-week, too, which leaves more room in the budget for a long dinner and maybe an extra glass of wine.

Wednesday to Friday is the sweet spot. Book it.

What you do with the days in between is the rest of this guide.

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Everything worth seeing up here falls into three easy loops, and the Whistling Swan Inn sits in the middle of all three. Pick a loop, do it properly, come back to the porch. Do not try to cram it into one frantic day.

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Everything in this loop is within twenty minutes of the front door. Wake early. Eat breakfast slowly. Leave at ten.

Three miles away. A restored 19th-century canal town with a grist mill, a blacksmith shop, Victorian homes, and a re-created Lenape village, all strung along the old Morris Canal. It is shady and it is quiet, and you can spend two hours there without checking the time.

 

 

Five minutes up Route 206. I know how that sounds, and every adult I have sent there has come back saying some version of the same thing, which is that they did not expect to have that good a time.

They have been staging Main Street gunfights, stagecoach heists, and saloon shows since 1957, and a group of grown men and women watching a fake shootout with a cold drink in hand is one of the more genuinely fun afternoons this county offers. Grab the hat and enjoy!

Open daily through early September. Weekday visits mean shorter lines and the good seats.

The largest freshwater lake in the state. All the pleasures of a day on the water, with no undertow and no sand in your bag three weeks later.

Board the Miss Lotta out of Nolan's Point for a lunch, brunch, or cocktail cruise. Someone else drives the boat, someone else mixes the drinks, and you get two hours of doing absolutely nothing on the water. If you would rather learn something, the Lake Hopatcong Foundation runs weekly Eco Cruises all summer.

The Windlass and Alice's sit right at Nolan's Point, both with water views and both built for a long unhurried table. This is the classic Lake Hopatcong evening.

Stone Water at 3 Peaks Marina is a covered open-air deck over the water, a serious kitchen, and good craft cocktails. Closed Mondays. On a Saturday you will wait. On a Wednesday you will be handed a deck table like it is nothing.

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Nobody expects New Jersey to have a wine country. It does, and it starts about half an hour west of the porch.

Rolling green in Warren County, rows of vines out the window, live music on weekends. Order a flight, take a table outside, stay longer than you planned.

A family farm winery with a full menu, good reds, and a habit of taking a photo of your group before you leave. Closed Wednesdays, so aim for Thursday.

About forty minutes up, and about as unpretentious as wine gets: a bar, a knowledgeable owner, a picnic table, and a five-dollar tasting that will restore your faith in reasonably priced things.

Stop at Stonewood Tavern in Byram, four miles from the inn on Route 206, and one of the most reliably good rooms in the county. Greek and Mediterranean leaning, big portions, grilled octopus people drive for, and prices that do not make you flinch. Open daily.

Or keep going into Hackettstown, about twenty minutes south. Toscana Trattoria on Main Street is the one to reserve, small and BYOB, closed Mondays. Mama's Cafe Baci is the long standing favorite, open every day until eleven, and one of the few places around here that treats a gluten free menu seriously. Pandan Room does Thai, with a good vegan list.

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Twenty minutes south. A picture-book main street of boutiques, antique shops, and farm stands. The kind of place where "let's just pop in for a minute" costs you an hour and a small ceramic bird you did not know you needed. Budget accordingly.

Ten more minutes down 206, just past Basking Ridge.

New Jersey was once the country's leading producer of hard cider, and Burnt Mills is part of bringing that back. A dozen or so tree-to-glass varieties, a tasting room, picnic tables around a fire pit, cornhole, and usually a food truck out front. They let you bring your own food, which almost nowhere does. Order a flight, claim a patch of grass, stay until the light goes.

Open Wednesday through Sunday. Another reason the back half of a mid-week stay works.

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Twenty-five minutes north, and worth its own evening.

Lake Mohawk's boardwalk is a genuine oddity: a Bavarian-styled lakefront promenade that looks like it wandered over from somewhere else entirely. Walk it before dinner.

Krogh's Restaurant & Brew Pub has anchored the boardwalk for decades. Historic building, house-brewed beer, dark woodwork, open every day. Easy, warm, unfussy.

Angeloni's on Lake Mohawk is right on the water with a thin-crust pizza people are genuinely militant about.

Mohawk House is the special-occasion room in Sparta. Steaks, a rustic lodge feel, and a bar worth arriving early for. Closed Monday and Tuesday.

Andre's Lakeside Dining is the one I would build a trip around. Small, lakefront, chef-owned, and the highest-rated restaurant in this entire guide. They serve Wednesday through Saturday, 5 to 8 p.m. That is the whole week. Come on a weekend and you are competing with everyone. Come on a Wednesday and you are not.

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Here is the part that actually changes the trip.

Bell's Mansion is a few hundred feet down Main Street. A big handsome old building with a garden, great menu, and a reputation for being haunted that the staff will happily confirm. Open every day until 9:30, later on weekends.

Shakey Jakes is about a half mile up Route 183. Unpretentious in the best way: great beer, excellent pizza, a wing sauce menu that requires study, and a kitchen open late when everything else around here has gone dark.

Why this matters more than it sounds like it does: nobody has to be the designated driver. You spent the day tasting wine and cider with a sober driver behind the wheel. On your last night, you do not need one. You walk down Main Street, you have whatever you want, and you walk back to a porch.

That is not a small thing. That is the whole reason to stay in a walkable town instead of a resort with a parking lot.

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The short version of everything above. Hours shift late in the season, so call ahead, but this is the shape of it.

Place Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri

Bell's Mansion (walk)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Shakey Jakes (walk)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Stonewood Tavern	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Krogh's Brew Pub	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Angeloni's	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Stone Water	closed	✓	✓	✓	✓
Mohawk House	closed	closed	✓	✓	✓
Andre's Lakeside	closed	closed	✓	✓	✓
Burnt Mills Cider	closed	closed	✓	✓	✓
Four Sisters Winery	✓	✓	closed	✓	✓
Brook Hollow Winery	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Wild West City	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓

Look at the Wednesday and Thursday columns. That is the argument.

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Wednesday. Arrive by afternoon. Waterloo Village, then walk to Bell's Mansion for dinner. Early night.

Thursday. Wild West City in the morning, cocktail cruise on Lake Hopatcong in the afternoon, deck table at Stone Water for dinner. Or drive up to Andre's, but book it.

Friday. Wine country west, or cider and antiques south. Home in the afternoon, porch, then walk to Shakey Jakes because nobody wants to drive and nobody has to.

Add a night and swap in the Newton Theatre. The Newton Theatre is a beautifully restored 600-seat venue twenty minutes north booking concerts, comedy, and touring acts all summer. Intimate, local, no bad seats. Check what is on before you pick your dates. It is worth building the trip around a show.

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How far is the Whistling Swan Inn from New York City? Less than an hour by car.

Are there restaurants within walking distance? Two. Bell's Mansion is a few hundred feet down Main Street, and Shakey Jakes is about a half mile up Route 183. Both open daily. Which means at least one night of your trip, nobody has to drive.

Is the NJ Skylands worth visiting in August? It is the best month for it. The lake is warm, the wineries have outdoor seating, and Wild West City runs daily through early September.

Why mid-week instead of a weekend? Because several of the best restaurants and tasting rooms in this region are only open mid-week, and the ones open all week are hardest to get into on a Saturday. See the table above.

Is this a good trip for a girls' getaway? It is built for it. Nine rooms means a small group can take the whole inn, and everything on this list works better with your people than without them.

Do I need a car? For the day loops, yes. For dinner, not always, and that is the point.

What is there to do besides eat and drink? Hiking at Allamuchy Mountain and Kittatinny Valley, canal history at Waterloo, live theatre in Newton, antiquing in Chester, a boardwalk at Lake Mohawk, a lake with a boat on it, miniature golf in Flanders or Lake Hopatcong and a porch with nothing on it at all.

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I do not usually lead with this, but since you have read this far: the Whistling Swan was voted New Jersey's Best B&B by the listeners of New Jersey 101.5.

I will let them do the bragging. I will just make the coffee.

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Keep the Shore week. Add this one.

Grab your people and take the quieter road north. Weekday rooms in August go faster than you would think, and mid-week is the only way to see this region the way it actually is.

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Whistling Swan Inn · 110 Main Street, Stanhope, NJ 07874 · Less than an hour from New York City.