Every fall, travelers point their cars toward the same handful of famous foliage corridors. This year, booking and search data from two major travel platforms shows travelers searching for fall color in gorge towns, along lakeshore drives and on mountain byways far outside the standard New England-and-Smokies itinerary. The places gaining attention from travelers this fall look nothing like the usual road trip list.
Fall outpaced summer for weekend trips last year, and travelers are building their autumn getaways around a specific kind of destination. They want a small town with a scenic drive, fall color on terrain that feels undiscovered and a walkable downtown to come back to at the end of the day. That combination is exactly what travelers are searching for, and the places that fit the profile have had the goods for years but never had the attention.
Gen Z is booking small towns this fall
Airbnb’s Fall Travel Trends Report found that 60% of travelers are planning a fall weekend getaway this season, and fall-themed wishlists grew year over year around searches including fall getaway, fall foliage, leaf peeping, apple picking and fall road trip.
Among Gen Z travelers surveyed, 90% said small towns and under-the-radar destinations appeal to them this fall, with half citing affordability, authentic local culture and offbeat attractions among the biggest draws. Nearly half of the trending fall destinations booked by Gen Z travelers this fall are small towns, which helps explain why the platform’s top destinations have little in common with the standard leaf-peeping lineup.
Jim Thorpe and the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway
Jim Thorpe sits at the mouth of the Lehigh Gorge in eastern Pennsylvania, a former coal-shipping town that Airbnb now lists among its trending fall weekend destinations. A scenic railroad follows the river through the gorge, where the canyon’s steep terrain and exposed rock walls give the surrounding hardwood forests a dramatic vertical frame.
The town itself is walkable, with a downtown located close to trailheads along the gorge. It is roughly two hours from both Philadelphia and New York by car, close enough for the kind of short weekend trip Airbnb says travelers are booking most this fall.
New River Gorge at almost 6 years old
Fayetteville is the gateway to New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, signed into law as the country’s 63rd national park in December 2020. The New River Gorge Bridge rises 876 feet above the New River, the longest single-span steel arch bridge in the United States, with overlooks accessible by car. Dense Appalachian forest covers the canyon walls, and exposed rock faces break through the canopy along the gorge’s upper reaches.
The Tunnel of Trees has no centerline
The Tunnel of Trees is a 20-mile section of M-119 running north from Harbor Springs to Cross Village along the Lake Michigan shoreline and wooded bluffs. The road is narrow enough that it has no painted centerline, and the hardwood canopy of maples, oaks and birches closes overhead to form the corridor the route is named for. In fall, that canopy turns against the deep blue of the lake, a visual pairing distinct from anything along the Appalachian or Rocky Mountain foliage corridors.
Oregon’s Cascades have their own color season
Bend, Oregon, appeared on Airbnb’s trending fall destinations list, and the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway is the reason to make it a road trip. The 66-mile route runs from Bend through the Deschutes National Forest, past alpine lakes, volcanic terrain and views of Mount Bachelor and the Three Sisters.
Aspens and larches produce gold and amber along the route as it climbs from Central Oregon’s high desert into the mountains, a color season the Pacific Northwest is rarely associated with. The byway closes seasonally for winter, with timing dependent on snowfall. Travelers planning a late-season drive should check Deschutes County road conditions before going.
The foliage map is wider than expected
A separate analysis of hotel search interest for fall foliage trips ranked U.S. destinations by where travelers are actually searching, and the results point in a similar direction from a completely different booking platform. The Columbia River Gorge placed second nationally, Michigan’s Tunnel of Trees sixth and French Lick, Indiana, 10th.
The traditional names appear too, but the breadth of where travelers are actually searching extends well beyond the usual suspects. The two datasets measure different kinds of travel interest, but both suggest the foliage map is wider than the familiar circuit.
Fall color has always existed on more roads than the ones that get written about. What two major booking platforms are showing in 2026 is that travelers already know that, and they’re planning their weekends around it.
Jennifer Allen is a retired chef turned traveler, cookbook author and nationally syndicated journalist; she’s also a co-founder of Food Drink Life, where she shares expert travel tips, cruise insights and luxury destination guides. A recognized cruise expert with a deep passion for high-end experiences and off-the-beaten-path destinations, Jennifer explores the world with curiosity, depth and a storyteller’s perspective. Her articles are regularly featured on the Associated Press Wire, The Washington Post, Seattle Times, MSN and more.
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