With our sunburns healing and the last summer vacations coming to an end, it is time to focus our attention on the calendar’s next great travel opportunity: fall foliage appreciation trips. America is blessed with beautiful colors to visit from coast to coast, from the craggy shores of Maine to the radiant larches of the Pacific Northwest.
Planning such trips can be tricky; go too early, and you’ll get more green leaves than gold. Go too late, and you’ll be stick-peeping instead.
To catch colors at their best, use the 2024 fall foliage prediction map, an interactive tool by the tourism site for the Smoky Mountain region. Since 2013, the annual map — powered by weather science, historical temperature data and forecast temperatures, among other factors — has helped travelers predict when peak fall will happen, county by county, for the entire United States. Although it’s not a perfect science, it lets users swipe easily for an estimate of when regions should have minimal, patchy, full force and past-peak foliage.
Here’s what the map predicts for five fall destinations.
Pennsylvania
Having grown up in Pennsylvania, David Hawkraven, the owner of Designed Travel, can vouch firsthand for the state’s autumnal splendor. “It just has some of the most beautiful fall foliage with its rolling hills,” he said.
Hawkraven sends clients, whether families, couples or multigenerational groups, to the Nemacolin resort, which sits on more than 2,000 acres in the Allegheny Mountains. According to the foliage tracker, you should look to visit in early to mid-October.
Oregon
For a West Coast trip, Oregon promises radiant foliage mixed in with the state’s Douglas firs. Travelers can expect to see a close-to-peak showing around Oct. 7 and full color around late October.
Consider a wine-tasting tour of the Willamette Valley, where you can enjoy the region’s famous pinot noir just as vineyards are finishing their harvest.
Vermont
According to this year’s map, the best time to visit Vermont this fall will be early October, with “ultimate peak” colors forecast to hit the second week of the month. You may still be able to squeeze in a trip to the southern part of the state through late October.
Vermont is a top pick for luxury travel adviser Lisa Harris Boyd, who owns Life Is Short Adventures, to send clients on foliage-filled road trips. Her hotel of choice is the Woodstock Inn & Resort. “There’s a lot within an hour and a half,” Boyd said. “A lot of great cities and small little towns that you can drive to.”
Colorado
To witness the amber magic of Colorado’s aspen trees, plan your trip near the end of September. That’s when this year’s forecast predicts colors around Boulder and Denver will begin to change.
The timeline changes if you’re traveling outside the big cities; the majority of Colorado should reach peak or near-peak between mid- and late October.
North Carolina
For a later fall trip, head to North Carolina and rent a car to explore the Blue Ridge Mountains, recommends Susan Zurbin-Hothersall, a New York-based travel planner with Travel Edge. Leaves will begin changing in the state around mid-October, with peak foliage expected between Oct. 28 and Nov. 1.
Zurbin-Hothersall recommends making Asheville your base to enjoy the city’s food and craft beer scene between drives on the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway.
