From the Berkshires to the woods beyond the city of Tokyo, the whole planet’s about to turn red and gold! If you want to experience it for yourself, we’ve got a few of the perfect spots to recommend. Argentina and the Croatian coast might be hot as can be, but for this brief window of changing seasons, we’d love to find ourselves immersed in fall foliage. Here’s how to make it happen…
One of the great pleasures of fall is to pack a pile of sweaters, head to the countryside and take in the season’s blazing colors. Naturally, a cozy hotel amidst the foliage is an essential part of the experience. Here we’ve gathered some of our favorite hotels for fall color in the world’s dual capitals of leaf-peeping, New England and Japan.
Tablet Hotels: 7 HOTELS FOR FALL FOLIAGE
Wheatleigh
Lennox, Massachusetts — Set on a twenty-two-acre Frederick Law Olmsted park in the Berkshires, this immaculate château-style hotel is spectacular any time of year — and all the more so when the mountains are dappled with color.
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Stowe Mountain Lodge
Stowe, Vermont — Snowy slopes may come to mind first when we think of Stowe, one of the Northeast’s most famous winter resort areas, but it’s when the leaves turn that Stowe is really at its prettiest. Coming indoors from the crisp fall air, sinking into one of the rustic leather couches beside the stone fireplace of the lodge — it’s the very essence of coziness.
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The White Barn Inn
Kennebunkport, Maine — At the White Barn Inn, one of America’s finest country house hotels, even the pool takes on some reds and yellows in the fall, reflecting the autumn colors from the canopy overhead.
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Gosho Bessho
Kobe, Japan — This tranquil ten-room hotel in the foothills of the Rokko mountain range puts guests right in the thick of the fall foliage, with beautifully designed, traditionally minimalist spaces that bring the outdoors in.
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Niki Club
Nasu, Japan — Set along a stream in the wooded countryside north of Tokyo, Niki Club is one part classic Japanese country inn and two parts modern design, with interiors by Sir Terence Conran. In fall, the woodland baths and outdoor hot springs along the river are not to be missed.
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Asaba
Izu Peninsula, Japan — With three hundred and fifty years of unbroken history behind it, Asaba is pretty much the prototype of the traditional ryokan, set amidst the trees on the Izu Peninsula. To watch the leaves fall from the comfort of a steaming wooden bath is about as timeless a ryokan experience — or simply a hotel-going experience — as you’ll find anywhere.
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Bettei Otozure
Nagato, Japan — All the way at the extreme western end of Honshu island, in the mountains near Nagato City, Bettei Otozure is secluded even by the standards of a ryokan. Autumn views of the blazing Japanese countryside — whether through floor-to-ceiling windows or from the open-air baths — are sublime.
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