Where are the best fall travel destinations?

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The leaves will start to change soon, and many travelers are excited to get out to see the foliage. Expedia travel expert Melanie Fish shares popular fall travel destinations.

Transcript

00:00 and folks, here it is.

00:01 The leaves are gonna start to change soon,

00:03 and so many people, understandably so,

00:06 and including Bernie and myself,

00:07 wanna get out and about and see all the foliage.

00:09 Yeah, fall is here, and travelers are excited

00:12 about the cooler weather,

00:13 and changing leaf colors are in luck.

00:16 Joining us live from Austin to talk about

00:18 popular traditional fall destinations

00:20 is our Expedia travel expert, Melanie Fish.

00:23 Melanie, good morning.

00:23 Always lovely to have you on.

00:26 Happy fall.

00:27 It's like 97 degrees in Texas today.

00:30 Don't worry, it's coming.

00:31 Yeah, one step at a time, but you know what?

00:34 Maybe that's some inspiration for people

00:36 who are dealing with the heat to do some traveling,

00:38 get out of the heat and go experience some fall.

00:40 So what are those traditional destinations

00:42 that you hear about so often?

00:45 I love that we're talking about traditional fall travel.

00:48 Leaf peeping, going to see the trees

00:50 in all their autumnal glory,

00:52 and of course, when we think about that,

00:54 we think about New England,

00:56 and I think about private vacation homes

01:00 nestled in the mountains.

01:01 It's peak season, though, in New England,

01:03 so let's think about some other destinations.

01:05 Gatlinburg, Tennessee, hugely popular destination

01:09 on the Vrbo app, lots and lots of places to stay.

01:12 I just looked up a five-bedroom cabin

01:15 where you're looking out at the leaves,

01:17 and what I really like about these big mountain cabins

01:20 is that if you split the cost

01:23 between the people that you're going with,

01:25 you can really get some value there.

01:26 So even though some of these destinations,

01:29 leaf peeping is peak season,

01:32 you can get easily a place for the weekend

01:35 for $100 a night, but if you haven't planned yet,

01:38 I'm gonna go ahead and recommend you

01:41 maybe skip some of those more popular

01:44 leaf peeping destinations like New England

01:47 and go someplace like Colorado,

01:49 where the leaves are starting to peak now,

01:51 and there's a ton of places to stay.

01:54 A lot of those private vacation rentals,

01:57 and this is truly the off-season there,

01:59 and so you can really get some value

02:02 in choosing a place to stay.

02:04 - And of course, many would like to travel

02:05 with their pets, it's very popular.

02:08 Are there some pet-friendly destinations for drivers?

02:11 - Look, there is a filter in the Vrbo app

02:16 so you can see where you wanna go

02:19 and only see pet-friendly properties.

02:21 I just used it.

02:22 I just actually booked a week in Arkansas,

02:25 great fall colors in Arkansas,

02:27 and I needed a pet-friendly property.

02:29 Here's the tip there, is that each homeowner

02:33 sets their own rules, and so there might be

02:36 an additional pet fee or a weight limit,

02:38 there was a weight limit for the pets

02:41 in the house that I booked.

02:42 So just make sure you're following the homeowner rules

02:45 and plenty of options for your four-legged family members.

02:49 - Okay, maybe for the people who can't drive

02:51 but are looking to fly, are there any affordable times

02:55 people need to know about when it comes to booking flights?

02:58 - Yeah, great time to fly.

03:00 We crunched the data though and found that actually

03:03 the cheapest time to fly this fall

03:06 is going to be around October 24th.

03:09 I mean, that's a general rule.

03:10 Go ahead and set your flight price tracker

03:12 to make sure that you know when the best time to book is

03:16 for your destination.

03:17 - And really quick, Melanie, we have about 30 seconds here.

03:20 What are some of the ways travelers

03:22 can score the best deals?

03:24 - Oh yeah, I'm gonna say bundle your trip

03:27 if you are flying, book your accommodations

03:30 and your flight at the same time.

03:33 And a little self-promotion here,

03:36 but you really should take advantage

03:37 of the new rewards program, OneKey,

03:40 that allows you to earn and spend cash, OneKey cash,

03:44 whether you're renting a private vacation rental on Vrbo,

03:47 a hotel on hotels.com or anything on Expedia.

03:52 So that's a good tip for the fall and beyond.

03:55 - Love it, you love to hear it.

03:56 Melanie Fish, always lovely to have you on the Talk Travel

03:59 and you know what, especially looking forward

04:01 to traveling this fall.

04:02 Melanie, thank you so much for the expertise.

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