Virtually everyone knows what the best summer vacation spots in the United States are, but when thinking about the best places to travel to in the Fall, people are often a little more stumped. This can be attributed to a variety of reasons, but the biggest culprit is travel companies not promoting it as hard, due to it being outside of school vacation times, and them not simply being able to sell people on the best beaches and sunshine spots.
Coincidentally, these two factors are also among the biggest reasons why Fall is many people’s favourite time to travel. This period lets them travel without encountering the huge crowds of tourists they would in the Summer, while also providing weather that is slightly cooler but still not cold.
If you consider yourself part of that group who prefers to travel in the Fall, you needn’t worry about a lack of help when it comes to inspiration, though, as we have you covered. In the following article, we will take you through a detailed guide to the best places to travel to in the Fall, to help you plan the Fall vacation of your dreams.
The Best Time To Travel In The Fall
The Fall season runs from mid-September to mid-December each year. However, the iconic imagery that people associate with Fall doesn’t usually stretch for the whole season. This includes the stunning Fall foliage, as well as festivals like Halloween and Thanksgiving. That is why timing your Fall vacation just right is essential if you want to ensure it provides everything you dreamed of.
The best time to travel in the Fall is from late September to the end of October. This period will allow you to enjoy the stunning Fall foliage at its most vibrant and ensure the Halloween festivities are in full swing for people who are into that sort of thing. It will also ensure that all of the attractions you want to visit are open, as certain parts of the country close down for the season once Halloween concludes.
The 5 Best Places To Travel To In The Fall
New England – The Best Place To Travel To In The Fall Overall
New England is frequently ranked as one of the best places to travel to in the Fall in the United States, and for good reason. Its combination of rich history, deciduous forests, culture, and climate makes it a region that epitomises virtually everything synonymous with Fall in the US.
Those seeking natural areas to take in the New England Fall foliage will be delighted by locations like Acadia National Park (the only National Park in New England), White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire (the largest National Forest in New England), and Green Mountain National Forest in Vermont, which some say has the best Fall foliage in the nation.
White Mountain National Forest is also where you’ll find the Kancamagus Highway. This is regularly ranked as the most beautiful driving route in New England, and it is especially stunning in the Fall. Towns like Stowe in Vermont and Bar Harbor and Bangor in Maine are perfect for people who want to combine nature with a small-town feel. Bar Harbor also provides easy access to Acadia National Park, and Bangor even has its own city forest.
For anyone wanting a historical experience, Capital cities are often a good place to visit, and New England has 6 of them for you to explore. Augusta, Maine, Concord, New Hampshire, and Montpelier, Vermont, are especially good options around this time of year, as they are fairly small cities that can perfectly blend history with a stereotypical Fall atmosphere and aesthetic.
Speaking of which, there are also a few destinations with history intrinsically linked to this time of year. Salem, Massachusetts, is famed for its witch trials and is incredibly popular around Halloween, while Plymouth, Massachusetts, is the site of the first-ever Thanksgiving celebration.
You even have a couple of big cities in Boston, Massachusetts, and Providence, Rhode Island, which are ideal for people looking to enjoy the Fall in an urban area.
Given that all of this only begins to scratch the surface of what New England has to offer, it should be clear why it routinely ranks among the very best places to travel to in the Fall. If you want to see as many of the best attractions as possible during your visit, we even have a guide to the best New England Fall road trip to help you do just that, which you can read here.
Best Place To Stay In New England In The Fall - Bangor Country Inn At The Mall
Where better to stay in New England to appreciate the Fall foliage than a city with its own forest, like Bangor, Maine? The Country Inn At The Mall is a fabulous hotel located near Bangor City Forest that has a beautiful, traditional New England Colonial style aesthetic and offers communal features like laundry services and a lobby computer, to make your stay as convenient as possible.
All of its spacious rooms are stylishly decorated and boast facilities like air conditioning, free Wi-Fi, an en-suite bathroom, a TV, and tea and coffee-making facilities. All reservations include free parking and a complimentary continental breakfast each morning.
Sleepy Hollow, New York – The Best Place To Travel To In The Fall For Halloween
Sleepy Hollow is a small town in the Hudson Valley, in New York state, roughly a 30-minute drive from both New England and New York City. Originally known as North Tarrytown, its name was changed after local writer Washington Irving published his classic novel “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, which was set in a town that bore many similarities to this New York community.
This history, combined with its routinely being ranked among the most haunted towns in the United States, has led to it becoming one of the best places in the nation to visit for Halloween. With everything from fantastic ghost tours to a stunning Halloween parade and one of the best Jack-O-Lantern displays you will ever see, Sleepy Hollow is definitely one of the very best places to travel to in the Fall for Halloween.
Sleepy Hollow isn’t just a place to visit for spooky treats, though, as it has plenty more to offer in the Fall.
In late October, Sleepy Hollow produces some of the most stunning, vibrant foliage you will find anywhere this late in the season. Its various historic sites are perfectly backdropped by brilliant shades of red, orange, and yellow produced by the Hemlocks, Maples, Oaks, and Poplars native to the region. You combine this with the crisp conditions created by its waterside position in the heart of a river valley, and it becomes a truly fantastic Fall destination for all to enjoy.
Best Place To Stay In Sleepy Hollow In The Fall – Courtyard By Marriott Tarrytown
While there are no hotels actually in Sleepy Hollow, Courtyard by Marriott Tarrytown is conveniently located just 10 minutes from the town.
A modern, comfortable hotel located in the scenic Hudson Valley, it features contemporary rooms with plush bedding, free Wi-Fi, and ergonomic workspaces, and desirable amenities like a fitness center, an indoor pool, and an on-site bistro serving breakfast, dinner, and cocktails.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park – The Best National Park To Travel To In The Fall
Comfortably the most popular National Park in the nation at any time of year, with over 12 million annual visitors, Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a truly fabulous, natural destination to visit in the Fall. Located in the Appalachian Mountains, covering parts of both Tennessee and North Carolina, it is a destination known for its incredible landscapes and vibrant wildlife.
Its forests include over 135 different species of trees, the vast majority of which are Hardwoods and Conifers. This variety of tree species, combined with the park’s varied elevations, creates a unique scene during the fall. While the lower elevations turn beautiful shades of orange, red, and yellow, they slowly become interspersed with a plethora of green shades as your gaze ascends, culminating in a darker green as the land meets the skyline.
With more than 800 miles of trails spread throughout the park, it is a truly fantastic place to get out in nature and appreciate the Fall colours in an environment completely unspoiled by man. Some of the most popular areas of Great Smoky Mountains National Park to explore in the Fall include Cades Cove, Clingmans Dome, and the area surrounding Roaring Fork.
For anyone seeking a detailed guide to exploring Great Smoky Mountains National Park that helps you plan what to do when you arrive, we have one available for you to read here.
Best Place To Stay In Great Smoky Mountains National Park In The Fall – Historic Tapoco Lodge, Tapoco
The Historic Tapoco Lodge is an iconic property on the edge of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, in Tapoco, North Carolina, that was founded in 1930. It boasts stunning architecture that perfectly represents the region at that time, while being surrounded by the iconic landscapes the area is known for.
All the rooms are spacious and feature Wi-Fi, air conditioning, comfortable furniture and linens, a private bathroom, a TV, and tea and coffee-making facilities. Most rooms also offer incredible views of the surrounding area, while the communal facilities include a bar, lounge, restaurant, terrace, choice of buffet or continental breakfast options each morning, and business and laundry facilities.
Blue Ridge Parkway – The Best Road To Drive In The Fall
If we were going to rank the 2nd best National Park to travel to in the Fall, it would likely be Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. It should perhaps be unsurprising, then, that the best road to drive in the Fall begins at Great Smoky Mountains National Park and ends at Shenandoah National Park, linking the two.
Routinely ranked as the most scenic driving road in the United States and one of the most picturesque in the world, the Blue Ridge Parkway is a 469-mile (755-kilometre) National Parkway route that crosses the Blue Ridge Range in the Appalachian Mountains in North Carolina and Virginia.
Boasting much of the same Fall foliage as Great Smoky Mountains National Park, it provides the perfect opportunity for people who would prefer to take in the season’s vibrant colours from the comfort of their vehicle. This fact is compounded by the countless stunning overlooks and panoramic vistas dotted at frequent intervals along the road, which give you a broader view of the Fall foliage than perhaps anywhere else in the country.
Those who like longer road trips can even extend their journey into Shenandoah National Park and drive its Skyline Drive, a 105-mile (169-kilometre) National Parkway that begins where the Blue Ridge Parkway ends. Heck, if you start by exploring Great Smoky Mountains National Park, you can put together a truly unforgettable road trip that covers virtually the entire region.
If you need help doing that, we even have a dedicated road trip guide to driving the Blue Ridge Parkway, which you can read here.
Best Place To Stay On Blue Ridge Parkway In The Fall – Hilton Garden Inn Roanoke
Located near the midway point of the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Hilton Garden Inn Roanoke is a wonderful, stylish property that offers spacious rooms with comfortable furniture and amenities like a coffee maker, desk, flat screen TV, refrigerator, air conditioning, a private bathroom with a bath, and high-speed Wi-Fi that is available throughout the property.
In the communal areas, there are also indoor and outdoor pools, business and fitness centres, a bar, a restaurant, and free on-site parking.
Northern California – The Best Place To Travel To In The Fall In The West
Most of the traditional iconography people associate with the Fall comes from the eastern United States. However, that doesn’t mean there isn’t anything for people out west to enjoy. Northern California can easily stake a claim to being one of the best places to travel to in the Fall in the nation, and it is comfortably the best place to travel to in the Fall in the west.
While Southern California is associated with high temperatures and a humid climate, the northern portion of the state is much cooler. This enables it to produce the kind of vibrant Fall foliage people seek at this time of year.
Northern California also features three prominent mountain ranges in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the Klamath Mountains, and the Cascade Mountains. Between them, they provide an incredible range of altitudes, with each being favoured by different tree species, meaning the region may provide a more diverse range of Fall foliage than anywhere else in the US.
With California having the most National Forests and the most National Parks of any state in the contiguous United States, it offers people a diverse array of places and experiences to enjoy on a Fall vacation, without having to travel all the way out east. So much so, in fact, that we even recently published a guide to the best Northern California Fall foliage road trip, which anyone planning to explore California this Fall can read here.
Best Place To Stay In Northern California In The Fall – Evergreen Lodge At Yosemite
Located in one of the most stunning parts of the planet, in Yosemite National Park, Evergreen Lodge At Yosemite is a fabulous property that perfectly exemplifies the region.
Guests will be surrounded by forests displaying vibrant fall foliage and enjoy spacious rooms boasting seating areas, private bathrooms, luxury furnishings and linens, free toiletries, and tea and coffee-making facilities. In the communal areas, you will find amenities including a bar, kids’ play area, games room, mini mart, outdoor pool and hot tub, and restaurant.
Final Thoughts On The Best Places To Travel To In The Fall
That concludes our guide on the best places to travel to in the Fall. All you have left to do now is decide what to take with you, and then you can start getting everything budgeted for and booked, so you can look forward to enjoying it all for yourself as soon as possible.
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