Purchase is a hamlet in Westchester County, New York, home to State University of New York at Purchase and Manhattanville College, and the headquarters of PepsiCo.
Get in
By car
From points south: Take the Hutchinson River Parkway and exit onto Lincoln Av.
From points west: Take the Cross-Westchester Expressway (I-287) and exit onto Anderson Hill Road.
From Connecticut: Take the Merritt Parkway, which becomes the Hutchinson River Parkway, and exit onto Lincoln Av., or take the Connecticut Turnpike.
From points due north (and inland from the Hudson River and the Long Island Sound), I-684 is a good road that seldom backs up.
By bus
Take the Westchester County Bee-Line Bus route 12 from the White Plains TransCenter, Lane B (across from the Metro North train station). Service ends early, with the last bus scheduled to leave the TransCenter at 6:10 PM on weekdays, 5:40 on Saturdays and 5:00 on Sundays.
By plane
Westchester County Airport (IATA: HPN) is right beyond the SUNY at Purchase campus, on the border with Connecticut.
Get around
To get around Purchase, unless you are just going from one building to another on an academic mall, will require at a minimum a bicycle and, more likely, a motorized vehicle. It is not very feasible to walk the long distances within Purchase or between Purchase and neighboring towns.
By bus
The Westchester County 12 bus stops at both SUNY at Purchase and Manhattanville College, connecting them with the Metro-North Train Station in White Plains, but it is not useful to travel to diners on Anderson Hill Road, etc.
By taxi
If you need a taxi, you have to call one. You will not be able to flag cabs down on the street. Ask the people wherever you are who you should call; everyone who's ever needed a cab is likely to know.
See
- Neuberger Museum of Art, 735 Anderson Hill Rd (On the campus of SUNY at Purchase), 41.048195°, -73.702512°, +1 914-251-6100 (operator available M-F 8:30AM-5:30PM), +1 914-251-6117 (operator available S and Su 11AM-5PM). T-F, 10AM-4PM; S and Su, 11AM-5PM. Features modern, contemporary, and African art. Fairly sizable for a university art museum and well worth your visiting if you're visiting the campus of SUNY at Purchase.
- Donald M Kendall Sculpture Gardens, 700 Anderson Hill Rd (PepsiCo), 41.0342°, -73.6908°, +1 914-253-3150. April–October 7AM-7PM and November–March 7AM-4:30PM. Corporate collection of PepsiCo, comprising more than 40 major sculptures among 12 gardens. Reopened in March 2017 following renovations. Free admission
Do
- The Performing Arts Center at Purchase College (SUNY at Purchase Performing Arts Center), 735 Anderson Hill Rd, 41.0487°, -73.7048°, +1 914 251-6200, center@purchase.edu. The Performing Arts Center has a full season of professional performances in music, dance, and theater, and also screens movies. There are also some student performances in the PAC. SUNY at Purchase is generally considered the top undergraduate SUNY school for music, dance and theater, and also has graduate programs in music and dance, among other subjects.
Buy
Eat
Purchase does not have a wide variety of food options. However, there are a few (2 to 4) restaurants down Anderson Hill Road past Purchase Street. In addition, there are two colleges in Purchase (SUNY at Purchase and Manhattanville) which possess college food for students to eat.
- Trattoria 632, 632 Anderson Hill Rd, 41.0379°, -73.7018°, +1 914-481-5811. M–W 11AM–10PM, Th–Sa 11AM–11PM, Su 11AM–9PM. Italian restaurant with homemade pastas and specialty pizzas, round or square. 2021-05-20
Drink
Sleep
If you need to sleep over at SUNY at Purchase or Manhattanville College and don't have a friend you can stay with, you may be able to pay for a room on campus overnight, or if you are a visiting lecturer, the university may put you up in one as part of your compensation. Otherwise, you might want to check accommodation options in nearby towns like those mentioned in "Go next."
Go next
Purchase is not far from the Long Island Sound, where there are several nearby well-to-do towns with charming houses, Sound views, and hills, including Greenwich, Connecticut; Rye; and Mamaroneck.
White Plains is much less picturesque, but it's where the nearest easily accessible Metro-North station lies, and from there, a train ride to Manhattan takes about 30-40 minutes.
Port Chester, the nearest town on the Long Island Sound, though not quite as charming as other towns on the Sound mentioned above, has another train station, on the New Haven Line, which connects New York City with New Haven, Connecticut.