comp1

I am celebrating my retirement from teaching with my first fall vacation. Can anyone suggest the best area and time for a visit to the northeast to experience breathtaking foliage? I am leaning towards Vermont but am open to any suggestions. We will fly and stay at least a week.

Wayne

Assuming you have the flexibility to travel whenever the colors are at their peak in various areas, almost anywhere in the northeast can be beautiful. I personally like New Hampshire's mountains, but Vermont is just as nice. The same goes for Maine, upstate New York, and even the hills in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, north Alabama and north Georgia. In other words, I would suggest you just pick a place you want to go and then take your trip to be commensurate with fall colors.

suze

Vermont!

bm

Definately come to Vermont! The first 2 weeks in October are USUALLY best. I say usually, because it can vary year to year. Start in Northern Vermont and wind your way south. Fly into Montreal and out of Albany or Hartford. Stowe would be a great base for Northern Vermont, and the Manchester, Bennington, or Wilmington areas would be a good base for Southern VT.

ronacele

Hi. I, too, will be celebrating my retirement from teaching by taking a fall foliage tour this coming September. I picked September because I have a wedding in Philadelphia on the 17 of September and will take off from there (I live in Los Angeles). Through some discussion and input on this board, I picked a tour with Globus through affordable tours. I'm doing the Classic Fall Foliage with Boston. It sounds great. Who knows - maybe we'll meet!

dfrostnh

ronacele, there's little chance of color in September. Can you change your dates? We expect color in Concord NH around Oct 10 but last year it was very late. We went to Fryeburg ME which is east of the Conway area and saw very little color. Who knows that it will be this year. It may be late again but I don't recall color ever coming very early. Since I commute on a major highway I see tour buses all the time and wonder why some start too early.
To comp1 I just want to point out that NH and VT offer quite different scenery experiences. If you want to see tall granite mountains and foliage, head to NH's White Mountains. You can make a stop in the lakes region to see beautiful color around the lake. Vermont has some very beautiful farmland, esp the area bordering Lake Champlain. The distance between Concord NH and Burlington VT (very northern VT on Lake Champlain - great city to visit) is approx 3 hours via rt 89. Although Rt 89 is an interstate, it is very scenic. I vote for flying into MHT (Manchester NH about 15 minutes south of Concord) and making a loop north thru the White Mtns then over to VT. Head north first. If you're lucky enough for perfect timing, you'll see great color in the north at the beginning of the week and great color in southern VT at the end of the week ... although if we don't have a heavy rainstorm, color can be gorgeous for a couple of weeks as different varieties of trees change color. I've seen early color in swamp maples around home but generally I do a weekend trip the 3rd weekend in Sept with friends BEFORE the foliage season starts. We've been in Stowe VT that weekend and seen hardly any color. When you drive south thru VT you can cross over to NH in the Keene area and take Rt 101 back to the airport. This will take you thru the lovely southwestern quiet corner of NH. Peterborough and Harrisville are beautiful old towns. Basically, the whole region is small enough so you can alter your plans a bit to find color. I suggest splitting the week between north and south and making reservations ASAP. It's the busiest time of year for hotels. There are suggested driving routes on Yankee Magazines website www.newengland.com.

BudgetQueen

I live in peak foliage, and I agree, cancel the Sept. foliage trip, you aren't going to see any. UNLESS you go WAY up north.

Best timeframe is end of Sept beg. of October for at least 10 days. It pays to be flexable and have a rental car. Areas are close. From the north, spend a few days, then go with the foliage south. Where I live in Central NY, I can drive an hour north- see great foliage, then the next week- it's in my area, following week, an hour south.

It pays to be on the move, since the trees aren't on any fixed schedule.

ronacele

Thanks for the input. Since I have to go back east for a wedding, I'm going to keep my plans as they are. I'll be in the area until the end of September so I should see some colors and the trip itself sounds good.

comp1

Thanks for all of the good advice. I think that I will fly into Manchester and spend most of my time in N and S VT. Now can anyone suggest places to stay. B&B would be nice for a few nights, but a private bath is a must.

tovarich

We did the 6 N.England states in 2004 in Sept./Oct; and the best foliage we saw was in the White mountains of N.Hampshire. We stayed in Jackson(beautiful little village)near to all the wonders of nature. In Vermont the foliage was still not very good.Paul

perennialqueen

We are planning a trip to my home state of Pennsylvania the end of September and first 2 weeks of October. We thought we would fly into Washington DC and see the sights there via Metro then Rent a car and drive north to Hersey and the Amish country before seeing the fall color up farther north. Any ideas?

DanB

I live in Vermont, but i find that there are more blazing reds in New Hampshire. Just my opinion.

I take visiting relatives to the White Mountain Forrest in NH. Everyone LOVES the beautiful and easy Flume walk.

Last year, the best color I saw was near Concord NH.

xkenx

Best time is the very beginning of October in northern NH and VT, early to mid October in southern VT, NH. I lived in New England for many years and found the most spectacular foliage and scenery in the White Mtns. of New Hampshire, particularly the Franconia Notch area (where the already-mentioned Flume is, which is a nature walk in a spectacular gorge), and the Kankamagus Highway which runs from the Franconia area over to the Conways to the east, another lovely area.

zootsi

I live in NH, but just a few miles from Vermont so I've seen lots of both. When the leaves are at peak, both states are spectacular. However, they have a different feel to them. The White Mountains of NH are very rugged with a flinty soil. Therefore, there are more pine trees in the mix, adding dark greens into the swaths of reds and yellows. Vermont has a sweeter soil better suited to agriculture, so although the mountains are slightly less spectacular, you'll see more cows and pumpkins along with your foliage.
Mid September is a little early for peak foliage, but you'll still see a little in some of the marshy areas, and it's a great time to be up here.

TarheelsInNj

I would highly recommend renting a car, so that you can explore many parts of New England. My husband and I had a great weekend trip in the beginning of October. We stayed in New Hampshire, and also drove through Vermont and the Berkshires (on our way back to NYC).

JBX

This thread with discussion on New England's fall foliage as well as several links may be of interest.

"When is foliage season in NE?" --- http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...1&tid=34895961