How traveling to summery destination in the summer shoulder season can pay off.
Harnessing the Indian summer is a perfect way to avoid some of the downsides of the busy summer vacation season. As kids start going back to school and the weather becomes milder, Indian summer means empty roads, affordable hotels and quiet attractions.
Why you should go?
Here are the top reasons to pack your bags and grab one more vacation before winter begins:
Cheaper rates – as airlines, hotels and rental car firms recover from the busy summer, rates go down, rooms are cheaper and peak-season surcharges vanish.
Peace and quiet – In the months between summer and fall, everyone will be back at work, kids are back at school and best of all, the roads will not be packed with people heading to your destination.
Moderate weather – If you hate the peak heat of summer, but dislike when the mercury dips into the single digits, the moderate climate at the end of fall can be very comfortable. Best of all, if you find yourself in the middle of a really nice Indian summer, you may even run into temperatures warm enough to let you sit outside for dinner and drinks.
Fall themed activities – This one really only applies to those that enjoy the quirky activities found outside in the fall. If you chuckle at the thought of getting lost in a corn maize, or shooting corn cobs with a canon, then enjoying the great outdoors and having good clean fun is one of the best ways to enjoy the final months of the year.
When to go?
Your first task will be to pick the best time to go – and this depends on the weather at your destination and what you want to see.
If you have trouble picking the best dates, use the Internet to help in your plans – hotel and airfare prices will always go down when demand does. Airlines and hotels know better than anybody in the industry when people are on vacation, so a quick scan of prices will show when you’ll get the best price, at the quietest time.
If all else fails, call the hotel at your destination, and ask a local for their advice. In most cases, the front desk will be more than willing to recommend the best time to visit.
Another handy resource comes from the Foliage Network. This online service relies on reports from ground spotters to report on the local foliage situation.
What to do?
Finding things to do depends on your interests – but a couple of “must visit” destinations include visiting a harvest farm or apple orchard.
Harvest farms, or Halloween farms are one of the most popular attractions in the fall – most of them take place at active farms, and are a great way for the owners to generate a bit of extra income before shutting down for the season. At a harvest farm, you’ll usually find a variety of pumpkin related activities like pumpkin shooting, pick your own pumpkins and pumpkin themed food.
Apple orchards usually open their gates early September, and the final harvest will be picked around the first or second week of November, depending on the climate. All About Apples operates a fantastic online resource listing almost every pick-your-own orchards in the country, along with their opening period and directions.
Leaf peeping is what you do when you want to watch the colors change. Depending on your location, this could be a quick and sudden event, and other places stretch it out for weeks, producing areas with the most brilliant colors. Leaf peeping on its own isn’t the most exciting activity, but with some careful planning, and the right place to stay, a couple of days in the forest can turn into a fantastic romantic getaway.
Where to go?
This should be an easy one – go where you want to take advantage of the scenery or a specific attraction. If you have a destination in mind, make sure you call in advance to check on their opening hours as many places consider anything past Labor Day to be the end of the season, and may close completely or only open on weekends.
Depending on your location, you may not even catch any Indian Summer at all, and jump right into some nasty weather – so no matter what you plan, always make sure you have some backup activities, or you may end up spending a week in your hotel room waiting for the snow to clear.
Harnessing the Indian summer is a perfect way to avoid some of the downsides of the busy summer vacation season. As kids start going back to school and the weather becomes milder, Indian summer means empty roads, affordable hotels and quiet attractions. Read More >
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