As a resident of Los Angeles, although I love the weather, I do miss the changing of the seasons. I grew up in suburban Philadelphia and the fall always brought the beautiful foliage and leaf-peeping trips.
While the leaves were always beautiful, I do remember the fall always brought another task, raking the leaves. Many weekends were spent at home, raking huge piles of leaves from the trees around our house. Leaf-peeping trips to view fall foliage are great trips for families, romantic weekends, even solo getaways. Here are three great destinations to see fall foliage:
Philadelphia, PA
I grew up in Philadelphia and the mid-Atlantic state remains a beautiful place to see fall foliage. The city is a great place for a weekend getaway, I would stay at the Four Seasons, the location is convenient to some great museums and the hotel is also home to the Fountain Restaurant, one of the city’s finest. Rates are reasonable, starting about $244 per night, and the hotel is an easy drive from the fall foliage along the Ben Franklin Parkway and in Fairmont Park.
Fairmont Park is a large space next to downtown Philadelphia. The large space is filled with trees and greenery and is a great place to go leaf-peeping to see fall foliage. I would suggest hiking along some of the trails along Lincoln Drive.
Four Seasons Philadelphia
One Logan Square
Philadelphia, PA 19103
fourseasons.com/philadelphia/
Concord, MA
This historic city outside Boston was important to the start of the American Revolution and the creation of the U.S. The foliage here is truly spectacular. Boston.com has a great guide to local fall foliage
Concord’s Colonial Inn is a beautiful property dating from 1716. Wonderful accommodations, great food, and you are surrounded by the area’s fall foliage. The hotel will provide local maps and itineraries for travelers to do local leaf-peeping.
Concord’s Colonial Inn
48 Monument Sq.
Concord, MA 01742
concordscolonialinn.com
Maine
In the northeast corner of New England, Maine is a state that takes it’s fall foliage seriously. There is a great state website, mainefoliage.com. offering all kinds of fall foliage travel tips, including a constantly updating “foliage color chart” showing exactly when it’s peak season to see the wonderful colors.
Things really get started around October 1 and all of October is a great time to visit. I would take one of the official state-sponsored hikes through the forest to really have a great experience. Portland, Maine is a great base for fall foliage travel and staying at the waterfront area allows for a great mix of the sea with the fall foliage, found more inland.
Hilton Garden Inn Portland Downtown Waterfront
65 Commercial Street, Portland, Maine, USA 04101
hiltongardeninn.com
Freddy Sherman is a world traveler and editor of the travel blog travel4people.com. You can also follow him on twitter, @thefredsherman
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