Canada and New England

[Canberra forever !]

Hi everyone,

 

We are currently planning a trip for October 2020 and are looking for some advice :

 

We would really like to maximise seeing the fall colours (bucket list tick 😊) and were thinking of travelling in the direction Quebec to New York ( Cruise starting 2nd October ) ?? is that too early /too late or should we be going in the other direction ??

 

We will be flying over from London and thought to fly London to Montreal (4nights Montréal) then train from Montreal to Quebec City (stay Quebec City 3 nights) ?? Any must sees or advice gratefully received 😊 

 

Happy cruising everyone ! 

 

 

 

[Coral]

It is impossible to tell. 

 

You can look at past reports for NE USA. I found that October 15th seems to be a good time for the US. Earlier in Canada. Also, the coast turns later than land parts. Most people on land in the US say Columbus weekend which is around October 6th. On coast, this seems way too early.

 

So by looking historically at many years, both years I went, colors were late. For example, one year we hit peak in Boston on Halloween (October 31st). 

 

Just go and hope for the best. Obviously Quebec City is going to turn much earlier than the Southern ports on your itinerary.

 

Here are the historical records for US: 

https://www.foliagenetwork.com/index.php/foliage-reports/foliage-reports-northeast-us/foliage-reports-northeast-us-archive 

Edited May 18, 2019 by Coral

[TM]

We sailed last year on a 2 week roundtrip sailing on Celebrity out of New Jersey on October 7th.  We also spent the first week of October driving around New England.  On our road trip we saw great colors in Vermont and New Hanpshire and western Massachusetts.  We arrived in Quebec on October 13th and the colors sailing down the St. Lawrence River approaching Quebec were absolutely amazing.

 

However it is important to note that the timing of the fall colors varies from year to year but I think that for our trip last year we hit the absolute peak at all times.

 

Tom

 

[caribill]

Colors cannot be at their peak in every port.

 

If you go early, the more southern ports will have the best color. If you go late, it will be the more northern ports that have the best color.

[skynight]

4 hours ago, caribill said:

Colors cannot be at their peak in every port.

 

If you go early, the more southern ports will have the best color. If you go late, it will be the more northern ports that have the best color.

It's visa versa, north earlier than south. Here in N.E. PA peak color is somewhere between Oct 10 & 20.  Different species turn at different times. Maples give the best colors. Trees like ash just turn yellow, then brown. In 2018 not much color at all due to all the rain.

[Jersey42]

As others have said, you can look at history to get an idea of what might happen, but there are no guarantees of what the colors will be like in October of 2020. Last year we were in Vermont and New Hampshire during the first week of October. There were beautiful colors in some places and everything was green in other nearby places.  Altitude and proximity to the river valleys seemed to make the biggest difference.  We then boarded a cruise from Montreal on October 6, and we saw some nice colors especially outside of Sydney NS, but it had not hit peak colors yet.   

 

About ten years ago in mid October, I was at the Quechee gorge in east/central Vermont.  I ran into a bus tour of people from the UK on a "fall foliage tour".  Unfortunately everything at the gorge was pretty green that year.  One couple  mentioned they had started the tour in Quebec and they had seen some close to peak colors the first day or two.  As they started traveling south, everything was still green and they did not anticipate any more fall colors for the rest of their trip.  They were a little disappointed, but they knew this was a possibility when they booked the tour.

 

Here is a photo from our 2018 cruise taken in Cape Breton, NS.

Edited May 19, 2019 by Jersey42

[Coral]

8 hours ago, caribill said:

Colors cannot be at their peak in every port.

 

If you go early, the more southern ports will have the best color. If you go late, it will be the more northern ports that have the best color.

It is the opposite. Northern ports turn first. Land turns before coast also.

 

I guess it is popular to hit peak at every port if you are driving and hit things at the right time.

[Canberra forever !]

Loving all the wonderful advice 😊 thank you so much for taking the time to reply, and Jersey42 the photo is beautiful 😊

Am now thinking maybe I need to go later than October 2nd ....oh for a crystal ball 😁

[Coral]

Just now, Canberra forever ! said:

Loving all the wonderful advice 😊 thank you so much for taking the time to reply, and Jersey42 the photo is beautiful 😊

Am now thinking maybe I need to go later than October 2nd ....oh for a crystal ball 😁

We went October 22nd or so to Quebec City for a Quebec to FLL cruise. We had white out snow conditions in Quebec City.

 

There are so many factors. I think the earlier you go, you may have better weather assuming you don't hit a hurricane...... Again, so many factors! Just pick a date and go. The ports are amazing even if you miss the colors.

[caribill]

4 hours ago, skynight said:

It's visa versa, north earlier than south. Here in N.E. PA peak color is somewhere between Oct 10 & 20.  Different species turn at different times. Maples give the best colors. Trees like ash just turn yellow, then brown. In 2018 not much color at all due to all the rain.

 

35 minutes ago, Coral said:

It is the opposite. Northern ports turn first. Land turns before coast also.

 

Thanks for the correction. I really need to think better late at night.

[TW6cruiser]

It is hard to predict far ahead what the fall colors will be. A lot depends upon the weather in the summer and the amount of rainfall.  We did a Canada/New England cruise in 2016 starting in NY going to Quebec (10 days) starting around Sept. 20.  We were too early for peak colors but we had sun and dry weather and relatively warmer weather (light jackets needed).  Later in the fall that year it was very rainy and cold.  So we had nice weather for walking around but did not have the beautiful colors. 

[Canberra forever !]

16 hours ago, Coral said:

We went October 22nd or so to Quebec City for a Quebec to FLL cruise. We had white out snow conditions in Quebec City.

 

There are so many factors. I think the earlier you go, you may have better weather assuming you don't hit a hurricane...... Again, so many factors! Just pick a date and go. The ports are amazing even if you miss the colors.

 

Thanks Coral, was contemplating the October 22nd cruise but maybe that’s too late ! 

 

As everyone has said, so many factors to consider and hopefully we’ll be lucky enough to see some fall colours somewhere fingers crossed ‘mother nature’ will oblige ! but whatever happens we’re going to have a fantastic holiday visiting amazing ports on a beautiful ship.....counting my blessings 😊

[satxdiver]

We did the QC to NYC cruise the first of October 2015.  The weather was beautiful with only light coats needed and a beautiful tree canopy all nice and green the entire trip.  This of course means we will have to force ourselves to do the trip again later in October of a future year.  We did have fun however and QC was really interesting.  Mother nature has her own schedule.