Best time for New England

Sept is a great time in Maine. I grew up in Maine and the fall leaves start pretty early due to frost.

Here is a link to the Mainefoilage.com website. It tells when and where is the best time to visit.

Maine Foilage

August is usually way too early and you will see little if any color. October is better on average.

We did a New England fall colors trip a few years ago and had the same question. We did an internet search and got all the information we needed to include when to go and where to go. We found a sort of email newsletter that we joined that provided us with periodic reports on the best places to see the colors and when those colors were supposed to peak. We were able to go into their archives to see many different photos of many different areas in order to decide where we wanted to go. That was one of our best trips ever.

October

There will be virtually no color change in August, so end of September at the earliest, October is usually best. What triggers the change is the shorter days. Color is dependent on multiple factors such as amount of rain and temperature. As others have stated the different state's foliage websites start tracking mid-to-late September throughout the season. Last year the colors were best I can remember and were late in turning.

1st or 2nd week of October.

Lakeside

A lot of NE towns will have their Fall foliage festivals over the Columbus 3 day weekend. Bear in mind if you chose this weekend so will A LOT of other people so you'll need to make your reservation almost as far in advance ad you would for a major holiday weekend. Some places will also have a minimum night stay requirement too.

Late September and the first two weeks of October, going form north to south. Here is the Vermont Foliage Link: Leaf Peepers Link and in season look here: More Peeping!

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