Fall foliage trips, New England to the Mid-Atlantic

Fall color in the Northeast travels south and downhill over about six weeks, so the week you go matters as much as the place. As a rough guide, northern Vermont, New Hampshire’s White Mountains and inland Maine usually peak from late September into early October. Southern Vermont, the Berkshires and the Catskills follow in early to mid-October, and the Hudson Valley in mid- to late October. Coastal New England, New York City and the Mid-Atlantic down to Washington, DC typically turn from late October into early November. Higher ground turns first, so a mountain road can peak a week or two ahead of the town below it.

To pick a trip, start from the weekend you can actually get away, then choose the region that should be peaking then — rather than chasing a famous name in the wrong week. A warm or dry autumn can shift peak by a week either way, so check the state foliage reports a few days out, and book early for the long weekend around the second Monday in October, the busiest of the season.

Drive times, roughly and without traffic: New York City to the Hudson Valley is one to two hours and to the Berkshires about three; Boston to the White Mountains about two and a half to three; Washington to Shenandoah’s Skyline Drive about an hour and a half. Peak-weekend traffic can stretch those, so leave early.