Tours + Tickets

This guided, one mile-long walking tour provides an introduction to Olana’s naturalistic, designed landscape and to Frederic Church’s work as an artist, landscape designer, and environmental visionary. Remarkably intact, this National Historic Landmark is a 250-acre composition integrating architectural and landscape features, including a working farm, man-made lake, replanted native woodlands, and more than five miles of carriage roads. Experience Church’s living landscape masterwork against a backdrop of sublime and far-reaching views of the Hudson Valley. This fully-exterior tour covers approximately one mile over unpaved roads, and is not ADA accessible.

This 45-minute guided tour provides an introduction to Frederic Church’s home at Olana. Approach and enter the Main House as guests of the Church family did, experiencing sweeping views of the Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountains. Explore the art-filled, lavishly decorated public rooms of the first floor, including Church’s painting studio and learn about the work and life of America’s preeminent landscape artist. This tour is fully ADA accessible. For a complete Olana experience, pair this tour with a guided walking or electric vehicle tour of the artist-designed landscape at Olana. Be sure to leave at least 30 minutes in between tours.

This 30-minute guided exhibition tour invites you to the second-floor galleries of the Artist’s House to experience Olana’s first winter exhibition, "Chasing Icebergs: Art and a Disappearing Landscape." In the summer of 1859, Frederic Church set sail for the waters of Newfoundland and Labrador, hoping to capture the challenging light, color, and wondrous forms of Arctic ice. This voyage was the first of its kind for an American artist, and Church’s artistic interest in the Arctic North would continue in his work for decades. "Chasing Icebergs" brings many of Church’s iceberg works to Olana’s galleries for the very first time, and pairs these with paintings, photographs, and books that Church collected on the subject of Arctic ice. The exhibition includes work by contemporary artists that speak to the political, social, and environmental impact of these landscapes in both the 19th century and our current moment. Admission to ‘Chasing Icebergs’ requires a paid ticket. This tour requires several flights of stairs and is not-ADA accessible.

The Olana Electric Vehicle tour is the ultimate Olana experience. This guided driving tour, along 5 miles of Frederic Church’s designed carriage roads, provides the most comprehensive exploration of Olana as a 250-acre masterwork of American landscape design. Experience river and mountain views, journey around the lake, and enjoy sweeping vistas of the Church’s designed farm and park. End your journey along the original historic approach road, taking in the exterior architecture of the Main House just as guests of Frederic Church once did.

This ¼ mile-long walking tour focuses on the integration of landscape and architecture in the siting and design of Olana’s Main House. The route follows the historic carriage road entrance from the site of Frederic Church’s painting studio, past the Mingled Flower Garden, to culminate in the dramatic planned approach road with panoramic views of the Hudson River Valley and Catskill Mountains.