America’s best cities for fall travel

Music City lives up to its nickname particularly well in fall, when it hosts the Independent Music Festival and the Americana Festival. The Music City Food & Wine Festival features cooking demos from Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto and musical multitasker Trisha Yearwood.

To see the best local foliage, hike up Bradbury Mountain, just outside of town. Dig in at October’s acclaimed foodie-palooza, Harvest on the Harbor. Highlights include the showcase of samples at the Grand Tasting on the Harbor, and the Maine Lobster Chef of the Year competition — where, happily, audience members get to taste and vote alongside the professional judges.

Head to the meadow by Belvedere Castle, which gets covered with red leaves from the black tupelo trees, or book a Central Park-facing room at the Mandarin Oriental New York. Heading downtown, explore the latest stretch of the High Line — the park space where there once were elevated rail tracks — between 30th and 34th streets.

Come fall, hotel prices plummet. Weekend rates at the legendary Four Seasons Biltmore, for instance, drop by nearly 50 percent in September. Given its proximity to the Santa Ynez Valley wineries, Santa Barbara also has an increasing number of grape-harvest-friendly tasting rooms.

The autumn months generally mean the lowest prices, thin crowds, and the chance to see bright foliage while hiking or driving along Big or Little Cottonwood canyons. The Utah State Fair happens in SLC in September with a rodeo and Western Music Festival.

The party comes in the fall to New Orleans with events such as September’s New Orleans Burlesque Festival, the Voodoo Music Experience in October and the Oak Street Po-Boy Festival in November.

One high point in September is Minneapolis Bike Tour, which offers routes of varying lengths around the Grand Rounds Scenic Byway; another is October’s Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon, which has been called the prettiest urban marathon, thanks to its tree-canopied route along parkways, lakes and the Mississippi River.

To catch the best of the local foliage in the early fall, walk through Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum, in Jamaica Plain; by late fall, you can go ice skating at Boston Common’s Frog Pond, which opens in mid-November.

September kicks things off with the World Music Festival, the punk-powered Riot Fest and the Hyde Park Jazz Festival. The newest addition to Chicago’s festive lineup is the quirky Great Chicago Fire Festival, features flaming sculptures, acrobatics and music to commemorate the city’s revival after the epic fire of 1871.

While the actual summer months are chilly and foggy, fall tends to be warm and sunny. That makes it all the better for enjoying the diverse mix of events, from the irresistible Ghiradelli Chocolate Festival to the races at the San Francisco International Dragon Boat Festival.

The big fish are biting in droves in the Chesapeake Bay during the fall, and the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge offers a perch for watching migrating ducks and snow geese.

Come fall, the Rhode Island capital turns on the perfect mix of pastoral and urbane charms: While blazing foliage lights up the daytime, WaterFire — the bonfires that line the city’s rivers — illuminates the evenings through October.

Fall is good news for Portland’s locavore menus: Plenty of salmon are swimming in the Columbia River, and butternut squash and heirloom tomatoes are falling off the vines. Try any of the dishes from the regularly changing menu at the all-wood-fired kitchen at Ned Ludd.

In late October, the Del Mar Racetrack opens its annual horse-racing season with a Hollywood Fashion Contest. That same month, you can sample acclaimed local craft brews at San Diego Beer Week, which includes a beer garden at The Lodge at Torrey Pines.

In early October, it’s a quick drive to hike the foliage-lined Aspen Vista trail, about 14 miles from downtown, or take in the “hot air” at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.