If you’re not into swimming and heat, Fall is the best time to visit the Finger Lakes. It’s warm enough during the day that a hike isn’t out of the question but cool enough at night that a cozy camp fire sounds like a delight. Here’s roughly what you can expect:

Shoutout to the smarties at NOAA for this data. But all personal antidotes about the weather are from my lived experience here! I’ve lived in NY for 29 of my 32 years.

The leaves really start to change mid September and peak towards the end of the month. You’ll see beautiful yellow, orange, and red leaves everywhere you look and truly nothing compares!

When I went to college in the Southern Tier, I loved stepping out of our engineering-tech building to the leaves.

Check out this post on Leaf Peeping and Fall Foliage itineraries.

Here's the thing about fall Central New York: the waterfalls are showing off twice. The gorges fill back up after those September and October rains, so the falls run louder and fuller than they do all dried up in August — and they're doing it framed in gold and rust. It's the best version of themselves.

You could spend a whole season chasing them (there are hundreds of named falls in this region — the glacial geology did us a real solid with that). But here are the ones I'd send you to first, from "quick stop close to home" to "worth the drive."

Fillmore Glen (Moravia) — Our home gorge, about 30 minutes south of Auburn. The walk to Cowsheds Falls is short and easy, exactly the size for an afternoon. I've written a whole guide to Fillmore Glen if you want the full love letter. Just know the gorge trail is seasonal and usually closes in early November — so October is your window.

Carpenter Falls (Skaneateles) — This one's a bit of a secret hiding in plain sight, tucked into the folds of farmland at the southwest end of Skaneateles Lake — and it's technically ours, sitting in Cayuga County. Carpenter Falls drops about 90 feet in a single plunge, and in 2023 the surrounding old-growth forest was inducted into the Old-Growth Forest Network — meaning some of these oaks and hemlocks are well over a century old. Craaaazy to think about!

Taughannock Falls (Trumansburg) — The tallest single-drop waterfall east of the Rockies, and you can see it two ways: a flat, easy three-quarter-mile gorge walk to the base, or the overlook right off the road if you just want the view without the walking. Either way it delivers. Peak color reflecting off that plunge pool is unreal.

Watkins Glen (Watkins Glen) — The headliner, and good news for fall 2026: the new Sentry Bridge opened this past July, so the full Gorge Trail and all 19 waterfalls are back in action after last year's construction. It's a stair-climbing, tunnel-walking, wow-around-every-corner experience — not a quick stop. Two things to know before you go: the Gorge Trail closes for the season mid-to-late October, so time it, and dogs aren't allowed on the Gorge Trail (Bonnie and Potato had to sit this one out). Watkins Glen was a destination for us as a family growing up once a year.

But not every waterfall worth seeing requires a hike…

High Falls (Rochester) — Now for something completely different: a waterfall in the middle of a city. If you grew up in the Rochester area like I did, you might've driven past this a hundred times without stopping — I know I did. High Falls is a 96-foot drop right in downtown Rochester, the tallest of three waterfalls on the Genesee River as it runs through the city. There's no gorge trail to hike here — the whole appeal is the surreal contrast of a real waterfall framed by 19th-century mill buildings and the city skyline. You view it from above: the Pont de Rennes pedestrian bridge is the classic spot, or the rooftop patio at the Genesee Brew House if you'd like a beer with your falls. In peak color it's a genuinely odd and lovely thing — foliage, water, and brick all at once.

A few tips for chasing falls in fall:

If foliage is the view of fall around here, apples are the taste of it. And this is where I'll push back on anyone who thinks you have to leave home for the good stuff — Cayuga County alone is stacked with orchards, and the wider CNY region has more than you could hit in a single season.

Something I learned while sitting down to write this post… According to Tour Cayuga, apples meant something to Harriet Tubman, who lived right here in Auburn for over 50 years. As a child, she was forced to pick apples on the plantation where she was enslaved and forbidden to eat any — so she vowed that one day she'd be free and grow apple trees of her own. And she did — the trees remain on her Auburn property today, and her descendants in the area keep a bowl of apples out in her honor.

Close to home (Cayuga County):

Owen Orchards (Weedsport) — Right on Route 5 between Auburn and Elbridge, so it's an easy one. Old-fashioned orchard with u-pick apples, peaches, pumpkins and gourds, plus their own honey and maple syrup. I personally think they have the best cider donuts in the state! And fun fact it’s the first orchard Greg and I went to when we started dating!

Grisamore Farms (Locke) — You already know this one from the foliage drives post — fifth-generation, farm store in a 19th-century dairy barn.

The Apple Station (Cayuga) — U-pick apples and a winery, with fruit and grape wines, sweet cider, donuts, and local goods in the store. A nice two-in-one if you want a tasting with your picking.

Worth the drive (into greater CNY):

Beak & Skiff (LaFayette) — The big one, about an hour from Auburn and worth it at least once. Growing apples since 1911, now fifth-generation, with u-pick, a bakery famous for apple cider donuts, a general store, and the 1911 Tasting Room where you can sample their hard ciders and spirits. Picking season runs late August through late October, and their own varieties like SnapDragon and RubyFrost. Both of those are NY-exclusive apples developed at Cornell. Fair warning: it's a destination now, so weekends get busy — go early or on a weekday if crowds aren't your thing.

A note on hard cider: If your apple outing skews more "adults enjoying a flight" than "kids on a hayride," the region delivers there too. Beak & Skiff's 1911 label is the big dog here!

You can't write about fall in the Finger Lakes without the wine trails. But I’ll be honest—I’m not much for wine. A wine trail is probably something Greg and I do once every few years and for a special occasion. But fall is a great time to go because the harvest is happening right in front of you, the vineyard rows go gold, and the crowds thin out a little lot from the summer peak. Here's the thing worth knowing if you're new to it: "the Finger Lakes" isn't one wine trail — it's three main ones (Seneca, Cayuga, and Keuka), across more than 100 wineries. You cannot do them all in a day, and you shouldn't try.

Pick one lake and give it a real day. Seneca is the largest and most winery-dense — 35-plus producers — so it's the move if wine is the whole mission. Keuka is quieter and more intimate, better for depth over breadth. And Cayuga was the very first organized wine trail in the country, back in 1983, with a strong food-and-farm streak running through it.

Sometimes there are events and festivities going on at the wineries so be sure to watch their calendars. For example some wineries do Grape Stomps which are exactly what they sound like! You get a barrel and stomp some grapes. Truly a cultural experience if I do say so!

Here's where I get to make my favorite argument. You don't have to point the car toward the wine country at all. Some of the best fall days I've had start and end within twenty minutes of my own front door — and if you're an Auburn or CNY local, yours can too.

Skaneateles — The postcard village, and never more so than in October. I LOVE to walk through the village and see the lake! We always end our Skaneateles days by picking up stretch bread at the Patisserie.

Emerson Park & Owasco Lake (Auburn) — Our lake, our park, right at the northern tip of Owasco. It’s a great spot to stop and breath and the park itself is so spacious you’re never right on top of each other. There are benches overlooking our beautiful lake. You can also play disc golf right here which is great to do in the fall!

Auburn itself — To be honest, you don't need a destination, you need to notice where you already are. Back in college I’d love stepping out of the dorm and seeing the fall colors. Now I love stepping out of the coffee shop and seeing the leaves on the trees and sidewalk as they’ve fallen.