For many years now, my travel calendar has been organized around school vacations. Spring break, summer, the occasional long weekend. The windows are narrow, the prices reflect it, and you share every destination with everyone else who had the same idea.
My youngest is finishing his junior year. I can see the other side of this from here. And I've started doing something I haven't done in years: looking at October flights.
If you're in a similar place, or if you've always had the flexibility and just haven't gone for it, this one is for you. Fall travel is different in ways that matter: fewer crowds, lower prices, and weather that's cooled down enough to actually walk around a city without feeling like you're being punished. Here are three places worth booking now.
Fall destinationNorthern Italy: the Dolomites and Piedmont
I'm planning two Italy trips for clients right now, and it's one of my favorite destinations to work on. October is when it earns its reputation.
The summer crowds in Venice and Florence don't really thin until October, which means September is still busy, but by mid-October you're traveling at a different pace. Here's a way to think about it: already going to Venice? Add a few days in the Dolomites. Already planning Florence? Consider adding a route through Piedmont.
The Dolomites are in the northeastern corner of Italy, alpine in the best sense: dramatic limestone peaks, mountain villages, hiking trails that are actually walkable once the summer heat has lifted. The light in October does something extraordinary to the rock faces in the late afternoon.
Piedmont, in the northwest, is an undiscovered food mecca. October is truffle season, and you can book a guide to go truffle hunting yourself: out in the woods early in the morning with a dog, then back to eat what you found. It's one of the more memorable experiences I can build into an itinerary.
Fall destinationSouth Korea
South Korea has one of the most spectacular fall foliage seasons in the world, and almost no one outside Asia plans a trip around it. Seoul is high on my own travel list. The combination of ancient palace complexes and one of the most technologically advanced cities on earth is singular, and I want to see it for myself.
The country's mountain parks, Seoraksan in the northeast and Naejangsan in the southwest, turn deep red and gold from late September through November, and the hiking culture here means the trails are well maintained and well marked.
Seoul in October is one of the more pleasant city experiences I can think of: warm enough to be comfortable, cool enough to walk all day. Korea is also significantly more affordable than Japan for a comparable level of food culture and service. If Japan has been on your list and you want something adjacent but less traveled, South Korea in the fall is worth serious consideration.
Fall destinationThe British Isles: England, Scotland, Ireland
These three countries share a climate that was essentially designed for autumn travel, cool, dramatic, moody in all the right ways, and each has a region that earns a visit specifically in the fall.
England: The Lake District in October, when the summer walkers have gone home and the fells are turning amber. Wordsworth country, proper pub food, and the kind of landscape that makes you understand why people write poetry about it.
Scotland: The Isle of Skye in autumn is the version of Skye worth waiting for. In summer the crowds on the island can be overwhelming, but by October a quietness returns that suits the landscape: misty, dramatic, the kind of wild that feels earned. The Fairy Pools are particularly striking in autumn when the water is running high. Afterward, Portree, the island's small main town, has some excellent boutique hotels.
Ireland: I visited Glendalough and the Wicklow Mountains in spring and have been wanting to go back in the fall ever since. Glendalough is a sixth-century monastic settlement tucked into a glacial valley: two lakes, wooded hills, round towers that have been standing for over a thousand years. In spring it's lush and quiet. I suspect autumn turns the whole valley gold. It's about an hour from Dublin, which makes it an easy addition to any Ireland itinerary.
Thinking about a fall trip? Let's talk about it.
Trip reportParis side quest
My client Karin and her husband were planning a trip to London to visit friends. She asked him whether he wanted to add another destination. She was expecting Oxford or Bath. He said Paris.
She knew she needed help to make a three-day Paris detour work in the middle of a London vacation, and that's when she called me. I found them an affordable hotel in the Marais that they loved, organized a tour of Notre Dame, and got them skip-the-line tickets with a guide at the Musée d'Orsay.
Her husband also embarked on a personal quest to try the city's ten best croissants, which I cannot take any credit for. That one was all him.
This is one of my favorite kinds of trip to build: the add-on that turns a good trip into a great one. If you're already going somewhere and wondering whether it's worth adding a few days somewhere else, the answer is usually yes, and it's easier to pull off than it sounds.
Hotel pickThe Refinery, New York
A client needed one night in the city before catching a train from Penn Station. The Refinery is a converted 1912 building in the Garment District: 12-foot ceilings, marble bathrooms, a rooftop bar with Empire State Building views, and a short walk to the station. Easy call. As a Fora advisor, I can often get you perks like free breakfast or an upgraded room.
"Almost immediately after our talk, I felt relief at having her as an ally in the planning and execution of our fairly complicated trip, and as an added bonus she has a real understanding of managing mobility and health issues on travels."Shana G., Japan