Sonnenberg is Canandaigua's showpiece: a 50-acre Victorian estate with a mansion, formal gardens, informal grounds, and an old Lord & Burnham greenhouse complex. It is polished but not stiff, and it gives the city a clear link to the wealthy lake culture that shaped the northern Finger Lakes.
Allow at least a couple of hours if the gardens are open. The Japanese garden, rose garden, and greenhouse are the usual highlights, but the pleasure is also in wandering from one designed mood to another.