Julie Schwietert Collazo - Moon New York State

Manhattan

This dazzling, shape-shifting metropolis belongs more to the world than the state. Great art, theaters, restaurants, nightlife, shopping, hotels, peopleand, therefore, people-watchingare all here.

This thin ribbon of land east of the city is home to popular beaches that stretch for miles along its southern coast. Jones Beach is the most popular, while Fire Island seashore may be the most unusual. The Hamptons are the summer playground of the rich and famous, while other seaside villages are filled with restaurants, inns, and B&Bs. The northern Gold Coast is lined with grand turn-of-the-20th-century mansions. There are also wineries and, in summer, roadside farm stands to be enjoyed here.

North of the City, the Hudson Valley is rich with historical, cultural, and scenic sites, including sumptuous Hudson River estates, world-class art and history museums, Revolutionary War sites, and plenty of farm-to-table restaurants, resorts, and B&Bs. To the west rise the romantic and mysterious Catskills, where youll find the fabled villages of Woodstock, Saugerties, and Cooperstown, home to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

New Yorks New England neighbors tend to grab more fall foliage headlines, but New Yorks autumn leaves are equally spectacular, and its backdrops even more magnificent.

Between late September and late October, the Catskills and Adirondacks are ablaze with flame-colored leaves, making these regions the obvious destinations to visit. But many other areas of the state offer leaf-peeping opportunities, too, including the Hudson Valleys Bear Mountain State Park; the Erie Canal, which cuts through western and central New York and the Capital-Saratoga region, and the Finger Lakes vineyards and state parks, including Letchworth State Park, the Grand Canyon of the East, and Taughannock Falls State Park, home to the states tallest waterfall.

What really sets New York States leaf-peeping apart is the fact that youre not limited to road trips through these regions. In fact, name a mode of transportation, and you can probably find a fall foliage tour that will offer you a special view, the kind that cant be seen from the car. Possibilities include Erie Canal boat rides, either guided or self-piloted; aerial leaf-peeping from the Whiteface Mountain Cloudsplitter Gondola in Lake Placid; and glider and biplane rides at the Harris Hill Soaring Center in Elmira or the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome in the Hudson Valley.

The New York State tourism website, www.iloveny.com, offers tips about prime fall foliage spots, as well as information about discounts, deals, and fall foliage packages.

Filled with tales of political intrigue, both historical and contemporary, the capital city of Albany is also host to the ambitious Empire State Plaza, as well as the Albany Institute of History & Art and the New York State Museum. This region is also famous for Victorian-era Saratoga Springs, host to the countrys finest horse racing and home to natural springs. The small towns of central New York have interesting pasts matched by hopeful futures and robust revitalization movements.

North of Saratoga sprawls Adirondack Park, the Easts greatest wilderness. Summer vacationers flock to its vast forests, rugged peaks, gleaming lakes and ponds, and rushing rivers and streams. Near the parks center is Lake Placid, site of the 1932 and 1980 Olympics. To the parks east is magnificent Lake Champlain.

The long, narrow Finger Lakes are flanked by vineyards,