When do the leaves change in Philadelphia?
Philadelphia hides a surprising amount of forest inside the city line. The Wissahickon gorge turns gold and copper above its creekside gravel trail, Fairmount Park's old hardwoods line the Schuylkill, and ginkgos light up the colonial squares. The Brandywine Valley and the Poconos are within easy reach when you want bigger color.
Peak: October 28–November 2
Color builds from October 19 · mostly bare by November 21
Sampled at Philadelphia’s own coordinates rather than a regional average. Dates are computed for Philadelphia itself at 32 m elevation. Street trees vary block to block, so check locally before you plan a weekend around it.
Pennsylvania is sampled at 22 weather points, then moved 3 days later so the model agrees with 2 published peak dates from almanac.com and smokymountains.com. Pennsylvania is running 4 days earlier than its own average this year. Peak dates spread about 9 days inside Pennsylvania, so the high ground turns well before the valleys. How the forecast works
Fall activities in Philadelphia
Drag the date slider to see when color moves through the country around Philadelphia, or tap a pin for that stop’s own peak window.
Winterthur
25 miGarden
Peak October 29
Henry Francis du Pont's 979-acre former estate near Wilmington, opened as a museum in 1951, pairs a renowned American decorative-arts…
in Delaware
Mount Tammany
70 miTrail
Peak October 19
From the Dunnfield Creek lot in Worthington State Forest, a 3.5-mile loop climbs Mount Tammany for New Jersey's classic view of the…
in New Jersey
Where locals go
Things to do in fall in Philadelphia
Orchards, cider, haunts, and harvest season. These are the iconic fall stops within a day trip of Philadelphia.
Eastern State Penitentiary
Haunted attractionColor nearby peaks October 30
Philadelphia's crumbling 1829 penitentiary (one of the first true prisons in the world, abandoned in 1971) turns its cellblocks into…
Linvilla Orchards
OrchardColor nearby peaks October 29
Halfway between Philadelphia and Wilmington, Linvilla Orchards turns part of its grounds into Pumpkinland each fall, with pick-your-own…
Valley of Fear & Original Haunted Hayride
Haunted attractionColor nearby peaks October 29
Running for 36 years, Valley of Fear puts on three separate scares in Feasterville: a haunted hayride through the woods, a walk-through…
Ramsey's Farm
23 miFarm
Color nearby peaks October 29
Family-run outside Wilmington since 1860, Ramsey's Farm still centers on a pumpkin patch and corn maze each fall, alongside a produce stand…
in Delaware
Highland Orchards
28 miOrchard
Color nearby peaks October 27
West Chester's go-to orchard for pick-your-own fruit, with a corn maze, apple cannons, and hayrides filling out the fall lineup alongside a…
in Pennsylvania
Fall festival
Color nearby peaks October 27
Every September, more than 150 handmade scarecrows take over this Bucks County shopping village, staying on display from September 7…
in Pennsylvania
Guides
Frequently asked
- When do leaves peak in Philadelphia in 2026?
- Peak color is predicted for October 28–November 2 (best estimate October 30). Color starts around October 19 and trees are mostly bare by November 21. These dates are computed for Philadelphia itself, at 32 m elevation, using the same weather model as the tracker.
- When is fall foliage season in Philadelphia?
- Philadelphia colors during autumn (September to November). Counting from the first turn to bare branches that is about 33 days, and the best of it falls in the week either side of October 30.
- What's the best foliage near Philadelphia?
- Winterthur (25 mi); Longwood Gardens (28 mi); Mount Tammany (70 mi). For a longer trip: Pennsylvania (138 mi, peak ~October 14); New Jersey (27 mi, peak ~November 3); Delaware (68 mi, peak ~November 4).
- What are the best things to do in fall in Philadelphia?
- Beyond the leaves: Eastern State Penitentiary (1 mi); Linvilla Orchards (14 mi); Valley of Fear & Original Haunted Hayride (17 mi); Ramsey's Farm (23 mi); Highland Orchards (28 mi). All of them are mapped on this page.