Best Fall Drives

204 miles

Even a short drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway (blueridgeparkway.org) offers rewarding views, but trek north of Asheville to add waterfalls to the autumnal palette. Linville Falls, at mile marker 316.3, is reportedly the most photographed waterfall in North Carolina, but there are at least a half dozen more along the route. The Lake Eden Arts Festival (October 19 to 22; theleaf.com) is a highlight on the local calendar, and the Biltmore Estate (1 Lodge St.; 828-225-1333; biltmore.com) is always worth a stop for its spectacular gardens.

21 miles

This road running between Burlington and Fairhaven has farmland at its southern end and sheer cliffs to the north. Most of the color is at the southern side of the route, but it is still worth continuing north into the evergreens. The road meanders alongside the Chuckanut Mountains, hugging a shoreline that offers island views in the distance. You’ll pass bays famous for the oysters that appear on local lunch menus.

105 miles

While New Mexico brings to mind a desert landscape, leaf-peepers can head over to the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort & Spa (1300 Tuyuna Tr.; 505-867-1234; tamaya.hyatt.com) in the pueblo of Santa Ana for a fall-foliage tour through the nearby Bosque cottonwood forest along the Rio Grande. Normally an oasis of greenery in the desert, the Bosque is filled with oranges, reds and yellows during fall. With that preview behind you, head 45 minutes north to Santa Fe and take the High Road to Taos (highroadnewmexico.com). Follow state roads 76 and 518 through the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to see yellow aspens and green spruce. Give yourself extra time—you’ll be tempted to visit all the artisan shops along the way.

30 miles

Nineteenth-century artists, such as Thomas Cole, Frederic Church and Jasper Francis Cropsey, captured the fall colors along the Hudson River in their paintings, and their work can be seen in museums in nearby Manhattan. But you can view for yourself what captured their imaginations with a drive that begins in Sleepy Hollow, a small village that celebrates its Headless Horseman connection (or lack thereof) every Halloween. Head north on Route 9 past Peekskill, where you will climb a rocky promontory with great views of the river. Continue on, bearing right on Route 9G, and stop at the gazebo in Cold Spring to view West Point, the U.S. military academy, on the opposite shore. A final stop in Beacon lets you view more modern artists at Dia:Beacon (3 Beekman St.; 845-440-0100; diabeacon.org), the largest contemporary art museum in the United States.

34 miles

Niagara Falls has been a tourist destination for seemingly an eternity, but in the fall visitors would be wise to head across to the Ontario side for a drive on the parkway—one of the oldest roads in Ontario—that follows the winding Niagara River. The drive runs from Fort Erie to Niagara-on-the-Lake, and the numerous local wineries are enticing stops along the way. Winston Churchill called this the “prettiest Sunday afternoon drive in the world” during a visit in 1943 after a meeting to plan D-day, and it doesn’t disappoint.

55 miles

Located just west of Boulder, this route runs north to Estes Park past the 14,255-foot-high Longs Peak. What you won’t see along the way is a rainbow of fall colors. What you will see are brilliant swaths of yellow set against a sea of evergreens, thanks to stands of aspen trees, which are actually a single organism connected by a massive root network. When the trees in each colony change color, they all do it at the same time.

200 miles

There is a riot of color in Vermont each fall, thanks to a mix of yellow alder, red maple, orange oak and evergreen spruce trees—and the best road to see them on is Route 100, which runs from Wilmington in the south to Lake Memphremagog near the Canadian border. Most of the route hugs the Green Mountains, and locals say the Appalachian, Middlebury, Lincoln and Roxbury gaps offer the best views. The Long Trail Brewing Co. (5520 Route 4; 802-672-5011; longtrail.com), renowned for its craft beer, is in Bridgewater Corners and offers seasonal fall ales.

75 miles

Fall doesn’t always have to be about leaves. It can also be about grapes, which turn golden this time of year. Sonoma (sonomacounty.org) has more than 300 wineries and 50 miles of coastline along legendary Highway 1. Use the town of Petaluma, which often stands in for New England villages in film and television productions, as your base. It is located about an hour’s drive north of San Francisco, and you can stop at Muir Woods (nps.gov) to see the giant redwoods on the way.

33 miles

Anywhere in these mountains is a good place to be in the fall, but it’s worth taking a drive along Route 2, which runs east-west between Route 7 and Interstate 95. The unabashed high point is a driving ascent of Mount Greylock, the highest peak in the state. At the summit, you’ll find a remarkable tower built in 1932 that looks like something from a Tesla electrical experiment but is actually a memorial monument to the state’s soldiers. From a terrace atop the tower, you can see changing leaves as far away as Vermont, New Hampshire and New York. berkshires.org.