What You’ll Discover in This Blog
- Why autumn is the best season for cultural travel
- The most inspiring fall destinations: Dublin, Florence, Kyoto, Prague & Barcelona
- Unique seasonal highlights like autumn festivals, grape harvests, and illuminated temples
- Where to stay for a truly immersive experience in each city
- How to enjoy fall foliage, architecture, and culture at a slower, more meaningful pace
As a meteor shower is to an astronomer, so autumn is to travel. An unforgettable experience. If you are searching for respite from the scorching heat-filled months like us, then don’t fret because autumn is falling in. With the turn of the season, you can indulge freely in outdoor activities as the world calls you in. Wondering where to set off to? We have got you with our list of the best places to visit in autumn this year for immersing yourself in art, culture, and architecture.
Losing the chance to travel this fall will make you miss out on some of the most picture-perfect scenery, autumn-kissed surroundings, and a culture-rich experience. Autumn turns museums, cobblestones, and monuments into honeyed treasure. With fewer crowds, serene travel comes into play, and no heat lets you take on adventures with no worry of sweat or fatigue. And for perfecting your autumn travel plans, TheSquare is the only partner you need.
Why Autumn is the Perfect Season for Cultural Travel
Those who know travel know Autumn is the perfect season for it. Autumn is the insider secret we are letting you in on. It strikes the ideal balance between the frenzy of summer and the chills of winter, with a slower yet mesmerising pace.
When you travel in the fall season, you stray away from heavy crowds and truly enjoy the sights. Festivals, celebrations, and cultural fairs paint the major cities in a new light. With no sweaty weather, walking and exploring become the choice. Architecture shines anew in the foliage as every traveler gets to immerse themselves in history and culture in the most unhurried way in autumn.
By choosing autumn, you get to touch the history truly seeped in through the crevices of monuments, take in culture, and appreciate art with no rush. From literary winds in Dublin to autumn festivals and events in Kyoto, let us take you through the best places to visit in the fall.
Cultural Journeys to Inspire Your Fall Travels
To set you off on your journey, we have collected the best fall cultural experiences for you to choose from.
Dublin, Ireland: Literary Streets and Georgian Charm
Dublin, Ireland, reminds you of iconic authors like James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, W. B. Yeats, and more. With autumn in the air, the literary magic in Dublin’s air feels more tangible than at any other time of the year. With golden hues, the Georgian townhouses gleam anew, a picture-perfect setting, so beautiful to even believe. You can stop to click pictures or just take in their beauty.
A walk through Merrion Square puts it in a stunning autumn setting with bleeding amber on trees and leaves covering paths. You can also turn to the gorgeous foliage on display in the Phoenix Park. With deer slowly pacing through the park, your calm is shared with a beautiful creature as well.
You can not truly experience Dublin without being part of its literary life and history. In autumn, Trinity College’s Long Room is at its best, with the detailed architecture, barrel-vaulted ceiling, dark oak shelves, and the coveted Book of Kells experience. Book lovers would enjoy imagining writers Keats, Joyce lingering in its corners, working on their masterpieces.
Dublin surprises you with a cosy and snug feel in autumn, multiplying its beauty by infinite times. Undoubtedly, Dublin is one of the best places to visit in autumn, and if you were planning to go, the time has come.
Florence, Italy: Renaissance Glow
Florence is a magnificent symbol of how architecture can turn a place into something unbelievably beautiful. In the fall hues, the Italian city becomes a live oil painting– Brunelleschi’s Dome, terracotta tiles, marble façades, and quiet corners reveal unseen details. Palazzos and piazzas glow in a new shine with the golden season falling over them.
Renaissance truly can be felt in every nook and corner of the city in the fall. Mixed with the hushed tones that fall, Florence turns into one of the leading fall vacation spots. To truly appreciate the beauty, stop and enjoy Florence during sunset, and you will never be the same again. The pleasant weather and fewer crowds will let you sink in the beauty with no rush.
Autumn also brings the grape and olive harvest season into full swing, turning the Tuscany valley into a gold escape. The ideal time to take a Chianti trip would be now, to enjoy the early wine tastings and cellar tours. You can choose to venture to Florence in late autumn and plan a food-focused day to explore truffles, porcini, and newly pressed olive oil.
Kyoto, Japan: Tradition in Color
The culturally rich and breathtaking natural landscape of Japan turns into a more serene and ceremonial place in a never-before-seen way. Kyoto in Japan particularly shines as one of the unmissable places to go in the fall.
Magic is what would define Kyoto in the fall, a brilliant foliage of red maple and golden ginkgo leaves covers the paths. You can take the road to Kinkaku-ji to see the gold leaf mirrored in the pond with silhouettes of red, ochre, and orange of the surroundings. Autumn brings forth a new beauty in shrines and temples. You can make a stop at Kiyomizu-dera Temple, Adashino Nenbutsuji Temple, and Fushimi Inari Shrine for irresistibly beautiful scenery.
To deep dive into Kyoto’s autumnal haiku, take a stroll through the Philosopher’s Path (Tetsugaku-no-michi) to experience something out of the ordinary. The canopied, curving path transforms into a fall corridor with golden leaves overhead and scattered on the floor.
With nightfall, many temples illuminate trees for a nighttime viewing, turning the foliage into lanterns. You can check the temple schedules to know the special illuminations. Festival season also arrives with autumn. Jidai Matsuri brings a historical parade to the city, while the Kurama Fire Festival is a treat for the eyes. Riverside and temple grounds become stages for traditional music and dance and boat processions for Momji celebrations.
In the fall, discover Kyoto intimately at a slow pace, unraveled by pausing to explore the cafes, small shrines, and long sightseeing.
Prague, Czech Republic: Fairytale Season
Prague ensnares the travelers in autumn like a fairytale written across its historical buildings. Being one of the top autumn travel destinations, Prague takes your breath away with its open-air museum-like architecture, which glows especially beautifully in the fall.
The Vltava River is shaded under low mist, which, combined with the iconic Charles Bridge in the golden hues, creates an unforgettable idyllic fall scenery. The terracotta tiles, Gothic silhouette, and Baroque castles in the fall take on a new veil, seizing you middle step to stop and get inspired by their eternal beauty.
In autumn, Prague becomes quieter and calmer, letting go of the heavy crowds for a handful of strollers. It becomes easy to appreciate this gorgeous city’s beauty, architecture, and culture in the fall with no horde of tourists or guides rushing you ahead. The Signal Festival transforms the streets into spectacles of digital art with video mapping installations across the city.
With traditional artists and art exhibitions, the Signal Festival poses a seamless blend of Prague’s tradition and invention.
You can enjoy a slow cup of coffee in Nouveau rooms in cafes and boîtes, converse while autumn leaves whisper outside. Letná and Stromovka offer panoramic views of the Prague castles and the city’s red roofs laden with the maples and poplars. The harvest season is in full swing, and you can taste roasted chestnuts, mulled wine, and shop at small artisan stalls in the local fairs. Take the time to visit Prague this autumn.
Barcelona, Spain: Gaudí Meets Autumn Light
Barcelona, Spain, transforms into a quieter heaven with the usual heavy crowds nowhere to be found. Barcelona becomes one of the best autumn destinations with subtle weather, warm orange and red hues bubbling from corners.
The city’s charm is undeniable in autumn as Gaudí’s art, carved deep in the city’s architecture, softens under the warm hues of the fall. The symbolic Catalan stone and the city’s magnificent façades and plazas glow in a new fall color. The cool air will further make it easy for you to stop and enjoy the city’s museum-like atmosphere with no rush of overcrowded lanes.
Gaudí’s iconic Sagrada Família’s stained glass windows and colored panes shine in the bands of warm autumn light. You can also go during sunset to watch the stained glass turn from amber to jewel tones. Gaudí’s modernism, Casa Batlló, La Pedrera, tiled terraces of Park Güell, The Picasso Museum, and many other galleries warm to the fall and can be enjoyed with unlimited time on hand.
Take the time to enjoy the sunset from viewpoints like Bunkers del Carmel or the terraces near Montjuïc. Don’t miss out on the street art painted across the walls of Raval and Pobleno, especially beautiful during the golden hour.
Festivals and Catalan autumn rituals also welcome you when you visit Barcelona at this time, like La Mercè and La Castanyada. Visiting during these festivals lets you taste the Catalan culture like a local.
Where You Stay Shapes the Journey
Choosing where to stay will shape your journey, and TheSquare can take care of it for you. Turning your journey into something out of a dream, we take finding your ideal stay more seriously than anything else. We personalize the stay to uniquely fit you.
From the Gothic stays in Prague, the beautiful terraces in Florence, Georgian interiors in Dublin, to the artistic rooftops in Barcelona, we will take you on an immersive journey in these autumn destinations.
Choosing accommodations that echo the local feel is the key to enjoying your autumn journey from beginning to end. And we at TheSquare take care of it for you. Offering truly immersive experiences at our serviced apartments, we let you be a part of the city you choose to travel to.
Final Travel Thoughts
Losing the chance to travel in autumn would be the biggest mistake. The chance to successfully dodge a heavy crowd and scorching heat is hidden in the magic of traveling during the fall. Autumn will allow you to take the time and take in the beauty of the maple in Tokyo, or literary inspiration from Dublin, or the magic in the palazzos of Florence.
Traveling in autumn lets you feel the culture and not only see it when you travel. So, don’t miss out and pack your bags to tick off a beautiful city from your bucket list this autumn. And when you travel to these best fall foliage destinations, let TheSquare turn your trip into an unforgettable experience.
