Things to Do in Syracuse in March
March weather, activities, events & insider tips
March Weather in Syracuse
Is March Right for You?
Advantages
- Basketball season peaks in March with Syracuse University hosting critical ACC tournament games and regular season finales - the Dome atmosphere is genuinely electric, and ticket prices drop 15-20% compared to December-January games as students leave for spring break mid-month
- Maple sugaring season runs through late March in nearby Tully and LaFayette - working sugarhouses offer weekend tours where you can watch sap boiling and taste syrup grades from Light Amber to Dark Robust, something you cannot experience any other time of year
- Hotel rates in University Hill and downtown drop to their lowest point of the academic year during spring break week (typically second or third week of March) - you will find rooms at Marriott Syracuse Downtown and Jefferson Clinton Hotel for 30-40% less than February or April rates
- The transition from winter to early spring means Onondaga Lake Loop and Erie Canal trails become accessible for walking and cycling by mid-to-late March as snow clears, but summer crowds have not arrived yet - parking at trail access points is easy and you will often have stretches to yourself
Considerations
- March weather in Syracuse is genuinely unpredictable - you might get 15°C (59°F) sunshine one day and 5 cm (2 inches) of wet snow the next, which makes planning outdoor activities frustrating and means you need to pack for three seasons simultaneously
- The city looks its worst aesthetically in March - leftover road salt creates gray slush, snow piles turn brown from dirt and exhaust, grass is dead, and trees are bare, so if you are visiting for scenic photography or outdoor beauty, this is objectively the wrong month
- Spring break timing (usually second or third week) creates a dead zone where many student-oriented restaurants and bars around Marshall Street reduce hours or close temporarily, and the energy that makes Syracuse feel vibrant just evaporates for 7-10 days
Best Activities in March
Syracuse University Basketball Games at JMA Wireless Dome
March is when Syracuse basketball matters most - you are catching the final home games of the regular season and potentially ACC tournament watch parties. The Dome holds 35,000+ for basketball and the student section creates an atmosphere you will not find at professional games. Weeknight games in early March tend to have better availability than weekend games. The building itself is worth seeing - it is the largest domed stadium on a college campus and that inflatable roof is genuinely impressive up close.
Maple Sugaring Tours in Tully and LaFayette
Working sugarhouses 24-32 km (15-20 miles) south of Syracuse run weekend tours through late March during active sugaring season. You will see the entire process from tapping trees to boiling sap in wood-fired evaporators to grading finished syrup. The steam from boiling creates this sweet humid atmosphere inside the sugarhouses that is pretty memorable. Many operations let you taste different syrup grades side-by-side - the flavor difference between Golden Delicate and Very Dark Strong is significant and worth understanding if you have only bought grocery store syrup before.
Erie Canal Museum and Historic Walking Tours
March weather makes indoor cultural activities appealing, and the Erie Canal Museum in downtown Syracuse sits in the only remaining weighlock building in North America - boats were literally floated into this building to be weighed for toll calculation. The museum does a solid job explaining how the canal made Syracuse an industrial powerhouse in the 1800s and why the city exists where it does. Self-guided tours take 60-90 minutes. The surrounding Armory Square district has 19th-century commercial buildings worth walking around if weather cooperates.
Destiny USA Shopping and Entertainment Complex
When March weather turns miserable - which happens frequently - Destiny USA provides 6 floors and 223,000 square meters (2.4 million square feet) of climate-controlled space. Beyond standard mall shopping, the complex includes an indoor ropes course, comedy club, multiple entertainment venues, and 20+ restaurants. It is genuinely useful as a backup plan when snow or cold rain wipes out outdoor activities. The complex connects to Inner Harbor area where you can walk along reclaimed industrial waterfront if weather permits.
Everson Museum of Art
The Everson holds the first museum collection of American ceramics in the country and sits in a distinctive I.M. Pei building from 1968 - the brutalist concrete architecture is polarizing but significant if you care about mid-century design. The permanent ceramics collection spans from ancient vessels to contemporary studio pottery and actually tells an interesting story about craft versus fine art debates. Temporary exhibitions rotate quarterly. A visit takes 90-120 minutes comfortably.
Green Lakes State Park Hiking
Two meromictic lakes 16 km (10 miles) east of Syracuse offer distinctive blue-green water color and 16 km (10 miles) of hiking trails. By late March, trails are usually passable though muddy in sections - the park transitions from winter to early spring and you will see ice breakup on the lakes if you visit early in the month. The 3.7 km (2.3 mile) loop around the lakes is relatively flat and takes 60-75 minutes at moderate pace. Worth noting the lakes are one of only about 20 meromictic lakes in the world where water layers do not mix seasonally.
March Events & Festivals
ACC Basketball Tournament Watch Parties
When Syracuse makes the ACC tournament (held in Greensboro, North Carolina in mid-March), downtown bars and the university area host watch parties that become citywide events. The atmosphere is more intense than regular season games because tournament implications matter for NCAA selection. Even if you are not a basketball fan, the communal energy gives you a real sense of how sports function in this city's identity.
St Patrick's Day Parade
Syracuse hosts one of the larger St Patrick's Day parades in upstate New York, typically the Saturday before March 17th. The parade runs through downtown Tipperary Hill neighborhood - the only place in America with an upside-down traffic light where green is on top instead of red, installed after Irish residents kept breaking the light in the 1920s because they refused to have red above green. The parade draws 30,000-40,000 people and surrounding bars get packed.