Peak color moves south about 50 miles a week. That single fact shaped every decision on this trip. Start in northern Vermont in late September and follow the color down to Connecticut, and you get something close to a week of peak foliage instead of a single lucky weekend. We spent seven days chasing red maples and yellow birches along the back roads of New England, sleeping in old inns, eating far too many cider doughnuts and stopping at every covered bridge we passed. Here is the route, the timing and everything we learned along the way.
Best time: the first two weeks of October. Stay: seven days. Budget: moderate, with room for a splurge night or two.
The route, day by day
The basic plan is simple: Stowe, then Route 100 south through Vermont, across to the White Mountains on the Kancamagus Highway, and down to the Berkshires. It is roughly 500 miles of driving spread across a week, which leaves plenty of time for long lunches, short hikes and the inevitable detours when a hillside looks too good to pass.