Andes — The Western Catskills Arts-and-Cabin Weekend

Andes, By Itself

Andes is the Delaware-County Main-Street town that catches everyone slowing down on Rt 28 between Margaretville and Delhi. The village runs about three blocks long — wood storefronts, a single traffic signal, the Andes Hotel anchoring the south end with its dining room and bar. Population sits around 1,300 between the village and the surrounding township; weekend density triples in fall and ski-feeder months but the town never feels busy the way Woodstock does.

The pull is the dining and the gallery, both within a quarter-mile walk. The Andes Hotel runs a serious kitchen (Christopher Andersen behind the menu) that pulls weekenders for long Saturday-night dinners. Hawk + Hive runs a contemporary art program in the renovated 1850s storefront across from it. Together they're the reason a weekend cabin in Andes works as a destination rather than a stopover.

Where to Buy

There's no licensed dispensary in Andes itself — the township is small and the OCM pipeline hasn't routed one here yet. Closest licensed shops:

• Lively Harvest in Margaretville (10 minutes east on Rt 28). The first licensed cannabis shop in Delaware County's Catskills side, opened March 2025.
• Bovina-side travelers can also route through Delhi's licensed retailers, ~25 minutes northwest.

Plan ahead — Andes itself is a "stocked-already" weekend, not a stop-on-the-way-in weekend.

Hawk + Hive and the Western Gallery Cluster

Hawk + Hive opened in the renovated 1850s general store on Main Street and runs a year-round contemporary program with shows that rotate every six to eight weeks. Sculpture, painting, photography — the program leans toward regional artists with strong work but isn't precious about it. Worth a stop on any Andes weekend.

The broader western cluster: Longyear Gallery in Margaretville and the Roxbury Arts Group programming twenty minutes north pair with Hawk + Hive to make Andes–Margaretville–Roxbury a real three-stop gallery triangle. It's the western counterpart to what Woodstock does on the Ulster side, just smaller and quieter.

The Andes Hotel

The Andes Hotel reopened under new ownership in the past decade and runs as both a restaurant and a small inn. The dining room is the kind of place you book a week ahead in foliage season. The menu rotates seasonally — short, focused, regionally sourced — and the bar pulls a local-and-weekender mix that makes the room feel lived-in. If you're staying nearby, plan one Saturday night here.

Outdoor — The Pepacton Side

Andes sits on the south slope above the Pepacton Reservoir, which means short drives down to the water and trails into the Catskill Forest Preserve hill country. Mary Smith Hill and the Andes Rail Trail offer reasonable half-day walks. The Pepacton itself is a DEP-managed reservoir; New York state law prohibits cannabis consumption on state-owned land and in public spaces, and DEP rules add their own access requirements. Pre-roll and a rental porch is the cleaner play.

Fall foliage on the Pepacton is the move from late September through mid-October — Rt 30 along the north shore is one of the more underrated drives in the region.

The Weekend Template

Friday

Arrive before dark; check in to whatever cabin or guesthouse the trip is built around. Walk to the Andes Hotel for the kind of long, slow Friday-night dinner that resets the week. Two-glass-of-wine pace. Cannabis-aware adults 21+ can pre-roll at the rental and walk down — leaving the stocked product locked at the rental, not in the bar.

Saturday

Morning at Hawk + Hive when the gallery opens, then a short drive over to Margaretville for a stop at Longyear Gallery and a bite at one of the village's newer cafes. Afternoon hike (Mary Smith or Andes Rail Trail). Evening at Bovina Farm + Fermentory or back in Andes — the Andes Hotel bar runs late, but the dinner crowd thins after 9.

Sunday

Drive up to Roxbury for the Roxbury Arts Group's current program; route home via Rt 30 along the north side of the Pepacton if foliage is peaking. Stop in Margaretville for groceries or last-night-in items at Lively Harvest if you're back-to-back booking another Catskills weekend.

Why Andes Works

Andes is the answer to "Woodstock weekend, but quieter" — a real Main Street, a real restaurant, a real gallery, and trails out the back door. Adults 21+ on a cabin-and-walk weekend get all the Catskills atmosphere with about 80% less crowd. The licensed-cannabis logistics route through Margaretville, the lodging is small inns and rentals (not big resorts), and the pace is genuinely slow. As of 2026, that's increasingly hard to find in the Catskills, which is exactly why Andes is on the rise.