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The Game Plan

To explore the Hudson Valley, it helps to have a car. But to see some of the area’s best art, look no further than public transit — specifically, an adorable green trolley with bells and brass rails.

The Cold Spring Trolley runs between the village of Cold Spring, the hamlet of Garrison and the city of Beacon, and on weekends, for just $2 per trip, the sweet, old-fashioned streetcar make stops at seven of the region’s cultural institutions.

String a few trolley rides together, and voilà, you have an upstate culture crawl.

Our below outlined route will take you to three sites — Manitoga/The Russel Wright Design Center, Magazzino and Dia:Beacon — but feel free to build your own itinerary (or plan a follow-up trip) to hit other trolley stops, such as the Putnam History Museum in Cold Spring; the Boscobel House and Gardens, a neoclassical mansion from the Federal period, in Garrison; or the Madam Brett Homestead, an 18th-century Dutch-style house, in Beacon.