travlin321

Hello,

We would like to take a four day weekend trip this fall to see the leaves change somewhere in New England. We don't know anything about it. We'd like to keep it relatively inexpensive. Just looking for some good hiking/driving/food. Any suggestions on when to go, where to go, what to do, and what to eat?

Thanks.

gc

First, inexpensive is relative and hard to find when a few million people are descending on the region in its fall finest.

Having said that, you might start here:

http://www.yankeemagazine.com/foliage/map/index.php

have fun!

mclaurie

The NY Times did an article about this in yesterday's travel section. They offered lots of helpful websites. I would certainly advise avoiding the Columbus Day weekend as this is usually packed with leaf lookers & prices will soar.

Here are some of the websites they mentioned
EscapeMaker.com
foliagenetwork.com (tracks foliage)
urbanext.utuc.edu/fallcolor
Gorp.com/gorp/features/fall/fall2.htm

dfrostnh

The Yankee magazine website is a good one to explore. Everybody including all the tour buses seems to head to the Conway/Kancamagus area. There are plenty of other places. I might suggest driving straight thru Franconia stopping to see some sights and do some hiking but spend the night further north such as the Littleton NH or St Johnsbury VT area. The corn maze in Danville VT (www.vermontcornmaze.com) is great. Have ice cream at Bishops in Littleton. You can have reasonably priced good food at the Miss Lyndonville Diner in VT. Your location makes a swing thru the Middlebury/Stowe area possible but go before Columbus Day weekend this far north for good foliage. If you want after Columbus Day weekend or even Columbus Day I would suggest the overlooked area of southwestern NH. Hike Mt Monadnock. Pretty area. Peterborough Diner is very good. If Columbus Day Weekend drive up to Warner NH for the fall foliage festival and an easy hike up Mt Kearsarge. On day three make a swing thru southern VT.

TravelinMom

Here's another alternative -- the SF Chronicle (www.sfgate.com) just had an article on the virtues of going up to Quebec province to see the leaves -- fraction of the cost and fraction of the people (plus, for me, all that great French influence). You might want to go to the paper's website and check out the article.

wantsomesun

I would recommend a trip up to the Laconia / Meredith area. They are on Lake Winepasauke (spelling) and the hills are beautiful.

There is some good outlet shopping in the area and a few good restaurants. Harts Turkey Farm in Meredith is a good example. There's also the Annalee Doll Factory, something special to take home.

There are a few nice hotels and B&B's in the area and sites to see just north like Old Man of the Mountain and Indian Head (ok, Old Man had a bit of a face lift recently), Indian Head and the Flume. There are also some Christmas stores and villages to visit.

I would get in touch with the Visitors Center for New Hampshire for info and travel guides.

Have a fun trip.