A season of holidays, festivals, tailgate parties, and new beginnings, fall is best celebrated outside on a blanket amid nature with a sumptuous repast laid out in delectable glory. In that well-worn sweater plucked from the back of the closet, you can roll around in multi-colored leaves, pick apples, jog through the chilly air to kick a soccer ball, then gather with family and best friends to tipple and nibble food that somehow tastes better outdoors. Redolent with sun-dappled skies beneath a canopy of pink, orange, and golden leaves, autumn is a time of abundance and nostalgia, a season to celebrate rituals and traditions. Unfurl your linen tablecloth (or oriental carpet or plaid felt blanket), and unpack that wicker picnic basket. Swoon over soaring sandwiches, gourmet salads, roasted chicken, extra-sharp local cheddar cheese, lemon tarts, and homemade cookies as you uncork the wine and mineral water and recline to muse over the shapes of the clouds. Life at an autumn picnic can be very good. But, it can get a lot better . . . when a five-star hotel chef packs your picnic hamper. Following, some of the best fall picnics on earth, curated by the best hotel teams in the world. Hungry? We’ve got you covered.
The Mark
Autumn signals Central Park’s most photogenic time of the year with a majority of its 18,000 trees — elms, oaks, maples — metamorphosing from emerald to a melange of orange, red, and yellow. Pedal a revolutionary N+ Mercedes-Benz Formula E Team e-bike from the doorstep of The Mark, one of New York City’s most luxurious hotels. You’ll coast your way to leaf-peeping pleasure around the park before finding a shady spot to indulge in a gourmet picnic basket prepared by celebrated chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. Pop the cork on an included bottle of Billecart Salmon Brut, as you nibble delicacies as delightful as spicy tuna tartare and Maine lobster roll. A lush branded blanket and a beautifully illustrated map of the park, courtesy of the concierge team, enhance the outing.
Auberge du Soleil
Be like the French en plein air artists who knew that painting in the field — rather than in a studio — engaged the senses. Deepen your connection to nature amid Auberge du Soleil’s 33 vine and olive grove-peppered acres in Napa Valley when you take paint brush to canvas after a toothsome picnic lunch. The hotel’s Picnic and Painting experience, replete with a French-infused packed lunch chock full of artisan charcuterie, house wines, and painting supplies, promises to awaken your inner Monet.
Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts Around the World
With more than 100 locations Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts defines autumn in myriad ways. In some locations, fall means fewer crowds, a plethora of festivals, crisper air, or a bounty of just-harvested vegetables prime for the chefs’ kitchens. At Four Seasons Resort Rancho Encantado in Santa Fe, guests can combine a picnic with a two-hour “Hive Dive” tour of the onsite apiary. Nosh on dishes such as cobb salad or a meat and cheese board in the Chef’s Garden or on the Stargazing Terrace after changing out of your beekeeper’s gear. In Austin, guests can take their feast to the lake to observe the autumn skyline from the comfort of a vintage boat as organized by the concierge at Four Seasons Hotel Austin. Besides wines and fall comestibles curated by the chef, baskets include a Polaroid camera to showcase the event.
Sheen Falls Lodge
Since Ireland is one of Europe’s least forested countries, autumn arrives less as a blur of changed landscape hues and more as a mantle of otherworldly seasonal light. Buttery sun rays ricochet off the hills and mountaintops, as well as the roiling sea, resulting in a filter of surreal illumination. Add in the County Kerry’s leafless horse chestnuts with their contrasting bare branches and you’ll be delivered to a postcard-like dreamstate. Be part of it when you picnic amid Sheen Falls Lodge’s 300 enchanting acres, all part of the original 17th-century fishing estate. Chef-curated totable banquets include seasonal fare options from Kerry seafood to local cheese.For a romantic waterside meal, seek refuge in the romantic boathouse.
Primland Auberge Resorts Collection
Eased into a haze of emerald landscape in the storied Blue Ridge Mountains, where fall foliage’s glimmering shades of gold and auburn can last for a month or more thanks to the altitude, Primland, Auberge Resorts Collection in Virginia flaunts the beauty of the Appalachian region. Climb aboard an ATV for the hotel’s unique picnic outing and a closer look at the colorful expanse. After surveying the breathtaking region off road, unfurl your blanket in a meadow for a gastronomic picnic, complete with local smoked trout, curated meats, cheeses, wine — and all the accouterments.
Twin Farms
Don’t be fooled. The Green Mountains of Vermont don’t live up to their name in the fall — they surpass it. Indescribably spellbinding in autumn, the landscape that surrounds evocative Twin Farms, a Relais & Châteaux bolthole, glow in an array of hues that take forest bathing to another level — especially when glimpsed over the remains of an irresistible gourmet picnic. Gobble your meal up al fresco-style at one of a slew of fetching picnic sites throughout the grounds, including a treehouse-like deck amongst the trees, a 3-wall Lean-To Adirondack (outfitted with pot belly stove, cow hides, and bean bags), and a modernist glass house that overlooks the gardens.
Coworth Park
Escape to the bucolic backroads of the Berkshire countryside, just 45 minutes from London, where the terrain turns as golden as a gilded frame each fall. At Coworth Park and Spa, a tony country house hotel, you’ll feel your pulse slow and your heart gladden just from the view. It only gets better as you partake in the hideaways amenities, including three restaurants and a luxury spa. Schedule a gastronomic picnic on property packed by an award-winning chef to truly commune with the scenery. Feast anywhere amongst Coworth’s 240 acres or hole up in one of its just-launched Croquet Pod, see-through, stand-alone snugs that provide the ultimate in exclusive seclusion.
Daunt’s Albatross Inn
Come autumn in Montauk, it’s sweater weather. When the bikini-clad crowds flee, you can have the village all to yourself. Plan a festive beach takeover with friends, packed by The Bird, the Daunt’s Albatross Inn’s casual foodie hotspot. Lay out a healthy binge that includes such delights as fresh pastries, a summer salad (think: kale,quinoa, avocado, sunflower seeds), veggie sandwiches with roasted broccolini and romesco sauce, and a phenomenal charcuterie plate with 24-month aged prosciutto, burrata, and parmesan. Afterward, return to rest in the family-owned inn, renovated by Brooklyn-based Home Studios in 2022. Or, take a surf lesson at Ditch Plains with East End Surf Club.
Goldener Hirsch, Auberge Resorts Collection
Some travelers can’t wait to get to Deer Valley for the champagne snow in winter, but the savvy few look forward to fall in Park City when the ski mountain lights up in harvest colors from orange to gold. Prime for hiking, with mostly locals on the trails, the all-aglow area is a secret we shouldn’t share. Check into Goldener Hirsch, Auberge Resorts Collection, designed in the spirit of an Austrian ski chalet, a threshold to more than 100 miles of groomed ski runs. Load up a multi-course meal to eat while you trek (or lazily relax on the peak to photograph the eye-popping Wasatch views). Comfort fare by Executive Chef Senthil might include seasonal specialities such as a trout plate with jalapeno jelly, Heirloom tomato sandwiches with goat feta, or charcuterie sandwich with local cured meats.
Featured image courtesy of Auberge Resorts Collection
