How to Make the Most of Off-Peak Fall Travel
Euro summer may look fun on Instagram, but fall is the thinking person’s time to travel. If you stick to the Northern Hemisphere, flights and hotels are cheaper, crowds are thinner, and some places even have pleasant, non-sunstroke-inducing beach weather. (The summer of 2026 broke heat records in Europe, a continent not known for its air-conditioning.)
The real hack is to spend July and August enjoying a slower-paced workday while your colleagues are out of office, then take time off in October or November when prices drop far more dramatically than local temperatures. “As a travel adviser, I’ve noticed many of my clients fixate on experiencing peak European summer, causing them to miss the actual sweet spot,” says The Souvenirist’s Jenn Barger. “When I steer clients toward booking their Roman holidays in October or November instead, they’re shocked to find out that fall rates on the same hotels they were eyeing in July can run 30 to 40 percent lower.”
Shorter, cooler days do require a slightly more careful packing strategy, and you’ll want to build out an itinerary that includes a mix of indoor and outdoor activities. Here’s how to plan.
Swap the beach for museums, restaurants, and festivals
“I’ve recently fallen in love with the idea of traveling for a local ritual rather than a destination,” says Barger, who is flying to Mexico City this November for Día de los Muertos. “This allows me to think beyond maximizing for good weather when picking a location, and it means that hopefully I’ll end up participating in local traditions alongside residents, rather than queuing in line with tourists.” If you’re visiting Europe, she recommends partaking in regional truffle- and olive-harvesting rituals in Italy and Greece while making pit stops at ancient sites (“The Parthenon is a much more enjoyable sight to see when sweat isn’t dripping down your back”).
Gillian Longworth McGuire, the Rome-based writer of Gillian Knows Best, vouches for Venice in the fall, whether to catch the end of the Biennale, the Veleziana sailing regatta, or the Festa della Salute, which commemorates the end of the 1631 Italian plague. The weather in Northern Italy “can change fast, with both soft warm days and the chance of a biting bora wind coming in from the nearby Alps,” she says. “I don’t love carrying an umbrella, so I always have a rain hat from Rains. The brand also makes stylish, very light rain jackets that, along with a cashmere sweater, will keep you warm and dry.”
If you’re hungry after all those cultural activities, fall is also an ideal travel season for foodies. Hot reservations are way easier to get, points out Shortlisted food and travel writer Rebekah Peppler, who is headed to Italy, Egypt, Mexico, and Botswana in the next few months. “Plus fall ingredients are just so good.”
Or if you do want to swim, head to Greece
“October is the perfect time to visit Greece,” says Barger. “Depending on where you go, the weather is still mild and sunny, prices drop, and you can actually begin to conceptualize what it’s like to be a local.” Take the ferry southeast of Athens to islands such as Crete, Patmos, and Rhodes in the first half of the month for the best beach weather. “Just note that the sea cools down quickly,” Barger adds. “By late October, it’s less swimmable.”
Beach weather is a state of mind, and heated pools and saunas can be found almost everywhere. I personally bring swimwear on every trip regardless of destination or season, and Peppler is the same: “No matter where I’m headed, I always pack my Eres swimsuit just in case.”
Swap your trench for a packable puffer
Fall’s changeable weather brings to mind one wardrobe item in particular: the long, swishy trench coat. But everyone I spoke with recommended swapping it for something with a better warmth-to-weight ratio. Barger swears by the Nellie Packable Puffer from Halfdays because it’s “genuinely warm yet lightweight, and it folds into a travel pillow with a trolley sleeve.” It recently saved her on a recent trip to Peru when temperatures fluctuated between 30 and 70 degrees. Peppler prefers a more formal transitional jacket — this season she has ordered a leather bomber from Sézane.
If you’re a runner or are planning to spend a lot of time outside during your fall vacation, midweight layers are essential. “I don’t leave home without the Jack and Sage Evergreen UV Tech Hoodie,” says travel and aviation journalist Edward Russell. “As someone who tends to run hot, I find it is the perfect weight for being outdoors on those chilly fall mornings and evenings but also great for flights and the other in-between places of modern travel.” Still, it is autumn, and people packed those trench coats for a reason, so for the “inevitable rainy days,” he likes bringing along the Janji Rainrunner Pack Jacket, which stows into its own pocketand is even more packable than the Rains jacket above.
It’s your trendy triangle scarf’s time to shine
Travel writer Riyanka Roy is planning a trip to Copenhagen this autumn because “from everything I’ve seen, the city looks especially beautiful this time of year, with its gardens and parks taking on those lovely fall colors.” It does look chilly, though, so a “scarf is absolutely nonnegotiable.” “You always need a scarf in Italy,” agrees McGuire. “This season, mine is an enormous superthin cashmere stole.” Peppler will be tucking a cashmere triangle scarf from Linnea Lund into her tote.
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Bring closed-toe shoes and sandals you can wear socks with
Peppler says her fall-travel shoe wardrobe includes a pair of Blundstones or Salomons as well as “a pair of loafers from Lemaire I’ve beaten into the ground and have had resoled at least three times at this point.” And while waterproof footwear is essential during inclement weather, that doesn’t mean sandals can’t enter the mix. Barger is visiting Rome after her Mexico City trip and will be wearing clear brown Melissa Possession jelly sandals, which she says are surprisingly comfortable and versatile. “If it’s chilly, I plan on wearing them with red wool socks,” she says. “I might tack on a beach moment at the end of my trip, and it’s nice knowing I’ll have a pair of close-toed sandals that can do the heavy lifting no matter where I land.”
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