1 Week Fall Foliage Drive

Set out from Boston on a glorious autumn tour that will renew your gratitude for nature’s gifts. Try to start your trip between the last week of September and mid-October, and be sure to make lodging reservations in advance—6 months ahead is not too soon.

 

 

It’s a 3-hour straight shot from Boston to North Conway, NH, your base for the next 3 days. Give yourself time en route to meander through picture-perfect towns like Wolfeboro, Moultonborough, and Sandwich on Lake Winnipesaukee’s eastern shore. Stop into the Old Country Store in Moultonborough, which modestly claims to be the oldest retail establishment in the nation . . . perhaps to try Moxie and stock up on cheese and penny candy for your road trip.

 

On Days 2 and 3, choose from myriad adventures. Soar above the treetops on the Cannon Mountain Aerial Tramway or the canopy tour at Bretton Woods Mount Washington Resort. Drive scenic Route 302 to Franconia Notch State Park and Flume Gorge. Enjoy a nostalgic Conway Scenic Railroad trip or experience the wonder of climbing to New England’s highest point aboard the Mount Washington Cog Railway.

 

 

Drive the high-climbing Kancamagus Highway through the White Mountain National Forest on Day 4 to Woodstock, VT, your base for the next 2 nights. Stopping often for photo ops, follow Route 112 to Route 118 South, then turn west on Route 4 in Canaan, NH. Stop en route at stunning Quechee Gorge, near the town of Quechee, to add to your image bank. Also visit the Simon Pearce flagship store in Quechee to watch glassblowers at work and to savor a memorable meal overlooking a covered bridge and waterfall. 

 

With its town green edged with antique homes and Middle Covered Bridge in the center of the village, Woodstock enchants photographers in the fall. Spend Day 5 stretching your legs and lungs at the still-working Billings Farm and Museum and the neighboring Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park. South of Woodstock in Reading, you’ll bump into fellow shutterbugs at Jenne Farm, reputed to be the most photographed farm in New England. 

 

 

Leave Woodstock for Williamstown, MA, on Day 6 by driving west on Route 4, then south in Route 7. Along the way, in Bennington, VT, pause to make a scavenger hunt of finding five covered bridges. You’ll also want to take the elevator to the top of the Bennington Battle Monument for panoramic foliage views. On Day 7, be among the early birds at Bash-Bish Falls in Mt. Washington, MA, where a short hike’s rewarded with the dramatic scene of Massachusetts’ highest waterfall spilling into a shimmering pool. Then, follow the Mohawk Trail (Route 2), America’s first scenic byway, back east to Boston, stopping to see sights like the famed Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne Falls.