Fall in New England is one of the great natural spectacles on earth, with rolling hills blanketed in brilliant reds and stunning oranges. The colors start to peak in mid-September in the Green and White mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire, and then bleed down into the Berkshires of Massachusetts. The colors move progressively south down the East Coast, through New York's Hudson River Valley, into October, when bumper-to-bumper traffic jams Virginia's Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park. The precise dates for prime viewing vary from year to year, depending on temperatures and rainfall, but the local newspapers and TV stations closely track the coloration.
Fall is also quite spectacular in the Rockies, especially in Colorado; in West Virginia's mountains; and in the Wisconsin Dells.
Tauck World Discovery (tel. 800/788-7885; www.tauck.com), Maupintour (tel. 800/255-4266 or 913/843-1211; www.maupintour.com), and several other escorted tour operators have foliage tours; see your travel agent.
