When humidity blankets the city and the concrete jungle offers no reprieve, sometimes a city dweller’s only relief is escape. Fresh air and green grass are necessities, but New Yorkers require a dose of culture, too. Luckily, many of these pleasures are no farther away than a car trip or train ride, making them perfect for a weekend excursion or, if you’re early to rise and late to bed, a day trip. From the classically sublime to the experimental, here’s a roundup of the best festivals New York and New England’s relatively rural oases have to offer.

Tanglewood

Nestled in the green hills of the Berkshires in western Massachusetts, the granddaddy of summer music venues has a world-class reputation. This summer, as usual, the festival offers an embarrassment of classical riches. The Boston Symphony Orchestra serves up its ambitious Beethoven/Schonberg project, juxtaposing the divergent but seminal works of both composers on two Fridays, July 7 (Schonberg’s Chamber Symphony No. 1 and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9) and July 14 (Schonberg’s Romantic oratorio Gurrelieder). Also not to be missed is a performance by Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, the critically acclaimed mezzo-soprano, who joins the BSO on Friday, August 11, singing a selection of Handel arias.

But Tanglewood isn’t limited to classical masterpieces, and this summer offers an array of alternatives. Nicely dovetailing with upcoming movie interpretation of his popular radio program, Garrison Keillor will host a live broadcast of Minnesota Public Radio’s “A Prairie Home Companion” on Saturday, July 1.And the crowd-pleasing Boston Pops, lead by Keith Lockhart, will commemorate Leonard Bernstein with their “Bernstein on Broadway” program (July 12). Tickets start at $17 and are available at www.tanglewood.org or 888-266-1200.

Saratoga Performing Arts Center

For some New Yorkers, SPAC is an annual voyage because it offers a major comfort of home: The New York City Ballet. This year, the NYCB performs “Swan Lake,” along with a nicely balanced selection of repertory, including an Americana program. All shows include pre-performance informational talks. Other draws include the Philadelphia Orchestra with Yo-Yo Ma on August 9, the Lake George Opera performing “Our Town” on July 1, 5, and 9, and a huge number of pop and rock concerts. Tickets start at $18 for NYCB, $70 for the opera, and $15-$40 for pop and rock concerts and are available at www.ticketmaster.com or 518-587-3330.

Belleayre Music Festival

Popular music gets a break from stadiums at Belleayre, held on the grounds of Belleayre Mountain in Highmount in the Catskills. Opening night of the festival on Memorial Day weekend is sure to draw a big crowd as British artist James Blunt performs songs from his album, “Back to Bedlam.” (Currently, only lawn seats remain.) Subsequent performances showcase an array of reliable pop artists such as Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons (July 1), singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash (July 22), and crowd-pleaser Isaac Hayes (September 2). Tickets start at $25 for James Blunt and $40 for most other artists and are available at www.icatskills.us or 800-942-6904 ext. 344.

Berkshire Theater Festival

Packing an impressive amount of programming into one summer, the Berkshire Theater Festival offers shows sure to please a wide range of tastes. Early summer highlights include Tony Award winner “Amadeus” (starting June 20), family-friendly “James and the Giant Peach” (starting June 28), and Terrence McNally’s comedy “Where Has Tommy Flowers Gone?” (starting June 28). Later on, catch critical political satire with “The Pilgrim Papers” (opening August 2) or social commentary with Wendy Wasserstein’s Tony- and Pulitzer Award winner “The Heidi Chronicles” (opening August 18). Tickets start at $37 and are available at www.berkshiretheatre.org or 413-298-5576.

Chautauqua Institution

This upstate institution is well known for its arts offerings, but visitors can take advantage of Chautauqua’s other resources as well. This summer brings the lecture series “Global Climate Change: Securing the Future” (July 24-28), which includes talks by Vice President Gore, the Rev. Richard Cizik of the National Association of Evangelicals, and Mishkat al-Moumin, former minister of the environment for Iraq.

For those hoping for a bit more escapism, there’s the Chautauqua Opera Company, which will perform Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro,” Puccini’s “Sister Angelica,” and Barber’s “Vanessa,” among others. Tickets start at $20 and are available at www.ciweb.org or 716-357-6250.

Caramoor International Music Festival

Caramoor is one of the most appealing summer festivals, and not just because it offers direct air-conditioned bus service between Port Authority and its grounds in Katonah, N.Y. Rather, Caramoor’s musical coverage always manages to spin a quirky twist on the classics. First up is the festival’s gala opening night on June 24, with a slightly off-beat selection of Musto, Beethoven, and Mendelssohn, featuring superstar violinist Joshua Bell. One of the highlights of the season comes mid-summer, when Caramoor presents “Mozart, You Kid!” a family concert for ages 6 and up that features a live-action “Mozart” and a group of unusual soloists – children of the same age as Mozart when he performed for European royalty, joining the Orchestra of St. Luke’s as temporary young stars. Tickets start around $22 for most events and are available at www.caramoor.org or 914-232-1252.

Bard College’s SummerScape

Bard’s series, in just its fourth year of operation in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y., offers one of the best lineups of the summer for fans of any arts discipline. Opening performances feature two dance premieres by choreographer Donna Uchizono: the first, a commissioned work based on piano music by Franz Liszt, and the second, featuring Mikhail Baryshnikov and set to new music by Michael Floyd. The festival’s best bet will be a little off center stage: SummerScape embraces cabaret with its Spiegeltent, a handcrafted Belgian traveling tent that will showcase a variety of cabaret acts, from the traditional (a Hungarian Gypsy music ensemble and puppeteers) to the unusual (DJ Spooky, an electronic music artist). The tent also houses a dining area and bar. Tickets start at $5 and are available at summerscape.bard.edu or 845-758-7900.