Nanuet is suburban Rockland County through and through, a place of shopping centres, highway junctions and quiet residential streets just west of the Hudson. Nobody rides here for the scenery, but its location is excellent, because some of the best riding near New York City starts a few miles away.
To the north and west lie Harriman and Bear Mountain state parks, a huge expanse of forests, lakes and rocky ridges in the Hudson Highlands. The roads through them, such as Seven Lakes Drive and the Perkins Memorial Drive up Bear Mountain, are winding and scenic, with views over the Hudson and the surrounding hills. The Palisades Interstate Parkway runs north from the George Washington Bridge along the cliffs of the Palisades, a fast and beautiful route out of the city. The parks were created in the early twentieth century, partly to stop quarrying that was destroying the Palisades cliffs.
The riding in the parks is excellent, but the roads can be busy on summer weekends, with hikers, cyclists and families, and speed limits are strictly enforced. Deer are common, especially at dawn and dusk. In autumn, the foliage is spectacular, and the roads are at their best.
Nanuet has plenty of fuel stations, diners, delis and coffee shops, and unlike in New Jersey across the state line, you can pump your own fuel here. It is a good place to fill up and grab a coffee before heading into the parks or north towards the Catskills and Vermont. From the top of Bear Mountain, the view over the Hudson is one of the best in the region.