Fall Around Woodstock, NY

Color usually peaks in the Catskills in early to mid October, and on the valley floor later. Listings below cover September 20 through November 10.

Fall around Woodstock, New York: when the color actually peaks, where to get above the valley to see it, and what is on while you are up here.

When the color actually peaks

Woodstock sits at the point where two different timetables meet. The high Catskills historically peak early to mid October, the Hudson Valley floor mid October into early November, and the village is low while Overlook Mountain directly above it is not. Color moves downhill as much as it moves south. Any one spot takes about two weeks to turn and holds peak for only three or four days, which is the part people get wrong when they book a weekend in August around a date they read somewhere.

So do not plan around a fixed date. New York State publishes a weekly fall foliage report from September onward, and it is the only thing worth trusting in a given year. Book the room early, pick the drive late.

Where to look from here

The short answer is up. Meads Mountain Road climbs straight out of the village and is the fastest way to get above the valley floor, with the Overlook Mountain trailhead at the top of it. The trail is a steady fire-road walk to a fire tower and the ruins of the old Overlook Mountain House, and the view from the tower takes in the Ashokan Reservoir and the Hudson. The Karma Triyana Dharmachakra monastery sits on the same road on the way up. Byrdcliffe, the 1902 arts colony that made Woodstock an art town in the first place, is on the mountain's flank below it.

If you would rather not climb anything, the roads themselves are the attraction. Everything within half an hour of the Green is worth driving in October, and the wide map is a reasonable way to pick a loop.

Fall weekends book out

October is the single busiest month in this part of the Catskills, and the good rooms go early. Woodstock Way and Hotel Dylan are the closest to the village, with the rest on the lodging page. The Phoenicia Diner is the classic stop on the way into the mountains, and the dining page covers the rest. Things to do is the daylight half, and the Woodstock town guide the whole picture.

Fall 2027

September 20 through november 10. The listings and everything above land on this same page when the time comes, so there is nothing new to find and nothing to bookmark again.

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