To summer visitors Lenox is synonymous with Tanglewood, the spacious estate on the town's outskirts that has been for decades the summer performance center of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Each weekend Lenox fills to capacity with music lovers from Albany, Boston, Hartford, Montréal, New York City and beyond.

They come to enjoy the town's refined ambience, to stay at inns that were built as summer mansions, to tour the Berkshire Hills, and to enjoy other cultural diversions in nearby towns such as Lee, Pittsfield and Stockbridge.

You should make lodging reservations far in advance if you hope to stay overnight anywhere in the Berkshire Hills on a weekend in July or August.

Lenox's appeal is almost as bright mid-week (Sunday through Thursday nights). Tanglewood offers many smaller concerts by up-and-coming musicians. Lodging mid-week is much easier to find, and a lot cheaper when you do find it.

Here's a bit of Lenox history, here's how to get to Lenox, and here are things to see and do, including information about Tanglewood.