Hotels

Your fall foliage tour begins at 6:15 PM at The Langham Hotel, Boston. Located in the heart of this historic city, your lovely hotel is a national architectural landmark just steps away from Boston’s famous attractions. Meals: Dinner. Lodging: The Langham Hotel, Boston, Massachusetts.

Please join us for our welcome dinner this evening to meet your Tauck Director and the other autumn explorers who will share this memorable journey with you.

Sightseeing

Boston entices on so many levels. History buffs think of the city as the hotbed of the American Revolution while baseball fans associate it with the 2007 World Series champions, the Boston Red Sox. There’s something intriguing everywhere you look. We’ll show you some of Boston’s most famous sights on an orientation tour this morning before turning you loose to further explore the faces of Boston that interest you most at your leisure.

Hotels

Meals: Breakfast. Lodging: The Langham Hotel, Boston, Massachusetts.

Sightseeing

While Salem might be best known for its infamous witch trials, during the Revolutionary War it was the port of choice for 158 privateering vessels. Salem’s privateer fleet helped the American cause by, between them, capturing 445 English ships. You’ll discover more about the ships that plied these waters at the Salem Maritime Museum. Then, it’s off to the coast of Maine, perhaps most often thought of in connection with lobsters. Explore the secret lives of these yummy crustaceans and learn about the lobster-fishing industry at a special presentation in Portland during your fall foliage tour.

Hotels

Meals: Breakfast, dinner. Lodging: The Harraseeket Inn, Freeport, Maine.

Sea Cruises

Clustered along Maine’s rocky coast are several scenic small villages, known as the Boothbays, which were a favorite summer retreat of the rich and famous with saltwater in their veins in the 19th century. Sailors continue to go down to the sea in ships here, just as you will when you board a private schooner for a cruise on beautiful Boothbay Harbor.

Sightseeing

Later, your fall foliage tour includes a guided stroll through the Botanical Gardens to view the outstanding collection of plants and flowers dressed in their autumnal best.

Hotels

Meals: Breakfast, lunch. Lodging: The Harraseeket Inn, Freeport, Maine.

Sightseeing

Your fall foliage tour continues as you take in the charming rural New England landscape while climbing into the stunning White Mountains. You’ll be surrounded by the full glory of autumn during lunch in North Conway, where a RAVEN-series presentation on the wildlife indigenous to the area increases your understanding of this wonderful part of the country. Pause to pay homage to the much-beloved Old Man of the Mountain, a natural rock “profile portrait” that stood guard over Franconia Notch until the forces of nature did him in during 2003. Continue on to the Mount Washington Hotel for a memorable overnight stay. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it has been a favorite getaway of wealthy folks from as far away as Philadelphia for over 100 years.

Hotels

Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner. Lodging: The Mount Washington Hotel, Bretton Woods, New Hampshire.

Sightseeing

A visit to the Mount Washington Observatory, perched at the 6,288-foot summit of the mountain and experiencing some of the most extreme weather on earth, will be a memorable experience during your fall foliage tour. In April of 1934, a wind gust of 231 mph – still the world record for a surface station – was recorded here. You’ll be able to meet the dedicated (and hardy) resident meteorologists and learn about their work during a special lecture.

Hotels

Later, cross into the Green Mountains of Vermont for a two-night stay at a charming inn.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner. Lodging: The Inn at Essex, Essex Junction, Vermont.

Sightseeing

Take an enriching journey through Americana at the Shelburne Museum, where a fascinating array of diverse exhibits includes the SS Ticonderoga sidewheeler as well as American painting and sculpture, folk art, carriages, toys, cigar-store Indians and much, much more. Then continue on to Shelburne Farms. Dedicated to “Cultivating a Conservation Ethic,” Shelburne Farms has been a model agricultural estate since its creation in 1886. Today, this National Historic Site practices environmentally, economically and culturally sustainable rural land use. During your visit, you’ll meet the cheese-makers who turn the milk from a herd of 125 purebred Brown Swiss cows into award-winning farmhouse cheddar cheese, and see the Breeding Barn built to provide Vermont’s farmers with hackney horses at the turn of the 20th century.

You have a very special treat in store tonight as you attend a culinary dinner theatre experience at the New England Culinary Institute.

Hotels

Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner. Lodging: The Inn at Essex, Essex Junction, Vermont.

Sightseeing

You’ve always just poured it on your pancakes without giving it a single thought. Well, no fall foliage tour would be complete without a sweet encounter with the maple syrup that Vermont produces more of than any other state.

Ferries

Later, enjoy a ferry ride across the lake from the Green Mountains to the Adirondack Mountains and the alpine village of Lake Placid in New York State. The glorious autumn scenery surrounding you is an inspiration.

Hotels

Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner. Lodging: Mirror Lake Inn Resort and Spa, Lake Placid, New York.

Sightseeing

You’ll understand why the lake was given its name as you admire the peaceful beauty around you during a cruise on its calm waters. The village of Lake Placid is usually just that – except when the Winter Olympics are in town, as they were in 1932 and 1980. While visiting the Olympic Ski Jumping Complex, try to imagine what it would feel like to be standing way up there at the top of the jump, with the long, thin boards strapped to your feet the only things between you and the ground far below. You’ll gain a new respect for intrepid athletes who dare to even attempt ski jumping. It may surprise you to encounter Civil War history in upstate New York, but you will when you visit the John Brown Farm, home and burial place of the famed abolitionist who lost his life trying to free southern slaves.

Hotels

Meals: Breakfast. Lodging: Mirror Lake Inn Resort and Spa, Lake Placid, New York.

Sightseeing

Saratoga Springs has long been a mecca for devotees of “the sport of kings,” as you’ll see when you tour the National Museum of Racing, devoted to the history and traditions of thoroughbred horse racing, and a take a drive along the famous racetrack. It was also a popular destination for Victorian socialites who came to “take the waters” of its therapeutic mineral springs when not at the races.

As your fall foliage tour comes to an end, please join us for a farewell cocktail reception and dinner at your Vermont country inn this evening.

Hotels

Meals: Breakfast, dinner. Lodging: Jackson Gore Inn, Ludlow, Vermont.

Private Car Services

Although it’s the final day of your fall foliage tour, you’ll still be amidst the glowing red, yellow and orange of autumn in New England as we drive the approximately 163 miles back to Boston.

Airport Transfers

Your tour ends at Boston’s Logan Airport at 3:30 PM or at The Langham Hotel, Boston at 4:30 PM, depending upon traffic. Meals: Breakfast, lunch
Please allow a minimum of two hours for airport check-in formalities. We wish you a safe and pleasant journey home.