Best Bets For Fall

Say goodbye to Labor Day, hang up those summer whites, and start planning for fall. There’s something for every palate, whether you prefer wine tours and culinary festivals or football and foliage. And by planning ahead, you can embrace the season, without breaking the bank.

Oktoberfest
You don't have to travel all the way to Munich, Germany to indulge in beer and bratwurst during Oktoberfest. Head to Cincinnati, Ohio on September 20 and 21 for North America's largest Oktoberfest, and join the over 500,000 attendees chowing down on soft pretzels, strudel, and even pig's feet. You might even end up in the Guinness Book of World Records when revelers attempt to perform the World's Largest Chicken Dance.

A Living Museum
Be one of the first people to step into the newly transformed California Academy of Sciences when it opens on September 27 in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Designed by starchitect Renzo Piano, the green museum has a 2.5-acre living roof that recycles rainwater, a four-story rainforest with a variety of ecosystems, and the world's deepest living coral reef tank.

College Football Season
Whether you root for the Lions, Tigers or Bears (oh my!), it's time for college football season. So dust off the foam finger, don that jersey and hit your local campus tailgate for some collegiate carousing.

Drink Wine
Virginia is for wine lovers in October, when the state celebrates the 20th anniversary of its wine month with special events across 130 wineries and trails. Enjoy food and vino pairings, cellar tours, and barrel tastings as you toast the harvest again and again.

Trick or Treating
Halloween buffs in search of goblins, ghouls and ghosts should grab their broomsticks and head to Salem, Massachusetts. Known for the 1692 witch trials, this quaint city turns especially eerie during the month of October, when locals don their best costumes for Haunted Happenings, a scare-fest unlike any other. Get a psychic reading, attend a séance and confront your own mortality all in one visit!

Antiques
Think antiquing is only for your grandmother? Not at the The Merchandise Mart International Antiques Fair (October 3-6) in Chicago, Illinois, where serious collectors congregate to shop from 100 of the nation’s top dealers. Peruse rare books, Asian art, furniture and Americana, including 19th-century American flags.

Apple Picking
Learn to tell your Macouns from your Fujis by picking your own apples at Stone Ridge Orchard, a 200 year-old farm tucked in New York’s Catskill Mountains' Rondout River Valley. The orchard is maintained by using progressive ecological farming methods, which means fruits are sustainable, flavorful and crisp.

Oyster Festival
Gulp down bivalves, clams and other fresh seafood at The 25th Annual Oyster Festival (October 17-19; theoysterfestival.org) in Long Island, New York. The waterfront fair attracts more than 200,000 foodies coming to feast on the catch of the day. Stay for the entertainment, including fireworks, thrill rides and dock-jumping pooches.

Pumpkin Harvest
Squash aficionados trek to Half Moon Bay, California each October to witness the World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off during the Annual Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival (October 18-19; miramarevents.com). It's an emotional event, especially as some of the giant gourds collapse en route to the contest’s platform. Last year's winner hailed from Oregon, weighing in at a respectable 1,524 pounds.

Foliage Tours

Leaf peepers have plenty of options but little time to catch autumn's vibrant yellows, oranges, reds and purples. Go to Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Gatlinburg, Tennessee to observe 100 diverse plant species, including dogwood and scarlet oak, explode with color all in one concentrated area. Peak time in this dense forest is mid-October.

Indian Summer
Make the most of the warm weather before winter kicks in by getting away to sunny Cape Cod, Mass. The New England town is more appealing during the off-season (September and October) when traffic is nonexistent, hotels lower their rates, and beaches are far less crowded.