WILLIAMSTOWN, MASS.
This pretty-as-a-picture college town in Massachusetts offers delights whether your idea of fun is hitting a trail or a museum. The Berkshires idyll, about 3½ hours by car from Manhattan, has you covered both ways — and then some. Ditto nearby towns North Adams, Stockbridge and Pittsfield.
What’s new:
At Ramble wild (ramblewild.com), an elevated park in a hemlock forest 10 miles from Williamstown, you can channel your inner Tarzan or Jane on aerial obstacle courses, ranging from okey-dokey to OMG. “Van Gogh and Nature,” on view at the magnificent Clark Art Institute (clarkart.edu) through Sept. 13, offers another take on the great outdoors. And at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (massmoca.org), “Landscape Seen & Imagined” by New York artist Clifford Ross delivers a powerful perspective on nature through photos and video through Sept. 4.
Don’t miss:
Six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald stars in “A Moon for the Misbegotten” through Aug. 23 at the venerable Williamstown Theater Festival (wtfestival.org). Warhol by the Book (below) at Williams College Museum of Art (williams.edu) through Aug. 16 opens a window into Andy Warhol’s published and unpublished interests. The free, fascinating exhibition inspires tasty cat cookies at nearby Paper Cake Scissors (papercakescissors.com), a summer pop-up.
Stay:
At the comfy Berkshire Hills Country Inn (berkshirehillscountryinn.com), a room for two includes complimentary breakfast and is $99 for Daily News readers (just mention you read it here). And the 2-month-old Hotel on North (hotelonnorth.com) offers a cool mix of vintage and modern appointments in Pittsfield — rates start at $259.