Little more than a decade ago, Nashville, a.k.a. Music City, wasn’t so much a tourist town as it was a destination for musicians — a place where performers like Taylor Swift could still play the Bluebird Cafe without creating a scene.
08.10.2024 - 09:53 / nytimes.com / Rocky Mountains
The air is crisp, and the leaves are bursting into vivid hues. Maybe you’re planning a road trip to admire the beauty. But getting your fill of fall foliage from behind the wheel can turn into an awkward juggle between admiring the vistas and navigating traffic. If you hop on a train, you can give the scenery your full attention and view some sights you just can’t see from the highway. Here are five great American train rides that offer day trips for peak-autumn panoramas.
Tucked away in central Pennsylvania, the East Broad Top Railroad offers a nine-mile round-trip fall foliage excursion from the tiny town of Orbisonia through the picturesque Aughwick Valley. Passengers can choose from enclosed and open-air cars on the line, the only remaining narrow-gauge railroad east of the Rocky Mountains, as the train winds through colorful hills and valleys. Red and sugar maple trees, two common species en route, put on a show as their falling leaves spin in a delicate dance. A stop at Colgate Grove gives passengers a chance to explore the serene surroundings, enjoy a picnic lunch and take a later train back.
From the 1870s until 1956, trains on the East Broad Top hauled millions of pounds of coal from local mines. After its closure, the line seemed destined for scrap, but in 1960, it got a reprieve and began running as a tourist attraction. It became a national historical landmark in 1964. Guided tours of the railroad’s shop facilities give visitors a look at Pennsylvania’s rich railroad history.
Fall foliage trains run through late October. On weekends, three-hour Peanuts-cartoon-themed train rides, including pumpkin picking and children’s activities at Colgate Grove, depart at 10 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $22 to $35 for adults and $16 to $29 for children 2 to 12.
Little more than a decade ago, Nashville, a.k.a. Music City, wasn’t so much a tourist town as it was a destination for musicians — a place where performers like Taylor Swift could still play the Bluebird Cafe without creating a scene.
Amtrak passengers with plans to see foliage around New York state may need to pack extra patience in the coming weeks.
American interest in traveling to Europe this fall has declined compared to last year, according to the European Travel Commission’s survey results released this week.
Seabourn is changing some of its fall 2025 itineraries amid the ongoing Houthi rebel attacks in the Red Sea.
International hotel group Wyndham Hotels & Resorts is making a fall or winter vacation easier by offering 20 percent or more off a stay, and even bigger savings for rewards members.
When I picture a road trip, I see images of two carefree people in a convertible traversing Route 66. There are no kids in the picture, and I'm not even sure there is luggage. It feels so easy and inexpensive. A road trip with kids, however, is a different experience, especially when those kids are teenagers.
Fall in NYC comes as a relief. The city in summer has its virtues—emptier streets, more easily-acquired reservations at most of the best restaurants—but the heat and the reek of garbage baking in it more than wear out that season’s welcome well before September slouches, sweating, into frame. Flattering it is not that autumn follows on its heels, not only turning off the oven but also invigorating New Yorkers who can now don the jackets they are so proud of and walk at their usual bracing clips without perspiring quite so readily.
Oct 3, 2024 • 7 min read
Amtrak is celebrating the start of fall with a Northeast flash sale that has big savings on popular routes.
Spirit Airlines is taking an ax to its route map this fall and cutting 32 routes from cities across the country. Boston and Dallas-Fort Worth — where Spirit faces steep competition from the likes of American, Delta, and JetBlue — are facing the deepest cuts, according to airline data service Cirium Diio and confirmation to Travel + Leisure from the airline.
Hyatt's newest promotion celebrates its recent incorporation of 800-plus luxurious Mr & Mrs Smith properties around the world, ranging from an apartment-style hotel in downtown Reykjavik to an all-inclusive hot spring resort in the Rocky Mountains. This fall is the perfect time to explore Hyatt's newest addition because World of Hyatt members can earn double points at Mr & Mrs Smith properties.
Amtrak is launching a new route between Chicago and Miami this fall that will whisk passengers from the Midwest to the Sunshine State in 47 hours.