Rhine Fall Foliage?

[patrickmoran]

Thinking about mid-October cruise. How are the colors along the river? Thanks

[notamermaid]

The colours are golden yellow, orange, green and brown - with some red thrown in.

 

Depending on year, this transition happens in the second week of October and lasts till the first week in November. It is a bit difficult to say. The trees are very mixed, we do not have many acers and maple that are bright red in Autumn so "avenues of red" are uncommon, more orange and golden, especially the vine-clad hills is what to expect.

 

You could have a look on Google images for Rhine valley Autumn October and see what comes up.

 

Hope this helps.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

This is a good photo taken by a fotocommunity member on 28 October 2020: https://www.fotocommunity.de/photo/rheintal-in-voller-breite-hans-juergen-schmidtjever/44470225

 

This is a photo I took on 25 October 2020 in the Moselle valley which is similar to the Middle Rhine valley:

 

This is from Erpeler Ley, a hill near Remagen on the Rhine, on 1 November 2020

 

This is from Rhens hill on the Rhine on 15 November 2020:

 

It was perhaps a little unusual to have much foliage still on 15 November, it also depends a little on the Autumn storms how much stays. We had a mild November last year.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[gnome12]

You might want to check daylight hours. By late in October it gets dark fairly early.

[knoxclone]

We cruised the Rhine mid Oct 2015 and it was still fairly green. 

[sharkster77]

We sailed Oct. 3-10, 2019, and do not recall seeing much fall color---maybe just the start of it, perhaps.

[Coral]

12 hours ago, sharkster77 said:

We sailed Oct. 3-10, 2019, and do not recall seeing much fall color---maybe just the start of it, perhaps.

I have tried to hit fall foliage several times in YOUR area. Several years, too early. One year - I hit it right on the dollar and it was over Halloween in Boston. So it was late that year. It was stunning in Boston, though we had near blizzard conditions when we started in Quebec City and missed that city all together.

[Second seating]

Fall in New England was a little early last year, the picture is Sept. 25th. 

[sharkster77]

I spent my entire life, almost 7 decades, in southern New England and can attest that New England fall foliage really depends upon where you are.  The "peak" foliage in northern Maine vs. southern RI/CT and Cape Cod can be as much as six weeks apart.  We live between Boston and Providence and our peak is usually about 7-10 days after Columbus Day weekend, sometimes as late as Halloween week.  Northern Maine can peak as early as late September.  It's really a continuum---pre-peak, peak, and post-peak all have their charms. For example, the red maples can be impressive as heck, but the leaves have fallen off those trees before the sugar maples strut their stuff.

 

And as @Second seatingcan attest, it's all dependent on rainfall, temperatures, and other factors.

Edited April 10, 2021 by sharkster77

[Coral]

19 hours ago, sharkster77 said:

I spent my entire life, almost 7 decades, in southern New England and can attest that New England fall foliage really depends upon where you are.  The "peak" foliage in northern Maine vs. southern RI/CT and Cape Cod can be as much as six weeks apart.  We live between Boston and Providence and our peak is usually about 7-10 days after Columbus Day weekend, sometimes as late as Halloween week.  Northern Maine can peak as early as late September.  It's really a continuum---pre-peak, peak, and post-peak all have their charms. For example, the red maples can be impressive as heck, but the leaves have fallen off those trees before the sugar maples strut their stuff.

 

And as @Second seatingcan attest, it's all dependent on rainfall, temperatures, and other factors.

I completely agree! It surprised me so often when people say "Columbus Day" and it seems mainland seems to peak before coastal areas. It is so hard to say one week when one is traveling from Quebec to NYC or on our one trip - down to FL. We went October 14th RT out of NYC on a cruise and we were too early everywhere. This last time, we left October 23 or so out of Quebec and traveled South to FL. We hit snow in Quebec (day before was gorgeous) and we were past peak in in Canada but it was stunning in Newport, Boston, Bar Harbor, etc... I was surprised we hit peak at the end of October that year. Too soon for Norfolk, VA, etc....

 

I love the red maples the best! Where I live, we start to change colors and then we get a really bad storm which causes all the leaves to fall off before they change.

 

I love your area! So much to do, so scenic, lovely area.....

[Coral]

21 hours ago, Second seating said:

Fall in New England was a little early last year, the picture is Sept. 25th. 

It is interesting the weather changes. I was surprised at how early the cherry blossoms were this year in Washington DC. I have tried to hit them properly in DC and also in Japan and have missed them also. They were late both times going. We did catch some cherry blossoms in Kyoto but also snow that day. Sort of a surreal day. Stunning though.