NewbE

We are contemplating a fall weekend trip with friends who live in DC. Since we live in Florida and miss a proper fall desperately, I am hoping to catch some fall color. Does anyone have a good guess as to when the leaves would be turning in, say, Annapolis, or Charlottesville? Ideas for good weekend destinations from the DC area besides those two would also be appreciated.

yestravel

Charlottesville is a great destination if you're looking to see Fall color -- its a nice college town, good restaurants and right outside Skyline Drive where u can drive or hike and catch great Fall colors. This is a good website for Info about places in VA and tracks the fall colors
http://www.virginia.org/Fall/

How far from DC do u want to go? what are you looking to do?

NewbE

Thanks for the website, yestravel!
We don't want to drive more than 3 hours out of the city, and as for activities, nothing too exotic: good food, lots of walking (a mix of town and country/hiking would be ideal), a cute town (but not major shopping), a historic or artistic site or two. I think we'd go Friday afternoon until Sunday night or Monday.

NewbE

ttt

schlegal1

Usually in Virginia fall colors are at their peak in mid to late October. Although in my area (west of Charlottesville about an hour), things are starting to turn so it may be earlier this year. Still, for the last four years it has been peak around October 20 or so for us. And Charlottesville is a wonderful town to enjoy. Plenty of lovely restaurants, a cute downtown pedestrian mall, Monticello and other historical sites, wineries/vineyards, and a quick hop (30 min) to Skyline Drive or The Blue Ridge Parkway (get on in Waynesboro) for leaf peeping and hiking.

crazy4Hawaii

We visited Charlottesville the third weekend in October last year. The colors were just beginning to show - not peak yet - but we had a wonderful time!

kayd

I Charlottesville is your autumn destination, do check UVa's football schedule. You might want to avoid the town on the day of a home game.

writerhenn

The third week in Oct. is usually near peak in the Charlottsvile area -- another spot worth considering is St. Michael's on Maryland's Eastern Shore, where the colors start a bit earlier....

yestravel

I think the advantage to the Charlottesville area over the Eastern shore is what is nearby. The countryside of Va is really beautiful that time of the year -- u have rolling hills and the mountians in the backdrop with all the Fall colors exploding. U could take a short drive to James Madison's home, Montpelier, which is in another cute town, Orange, much smaller than Charlottesville. Thomas Jefferson's home, Monticello is fascintaing and in Charlottesville. I'm not a huge fan of VA wines, but many are and there are lots of wineries u could visit also.