Best Beaches For An Autumn Vacation

Vacation, in English-speaking North America, describes recreational travel, such as a short pleasure trip, or a journey abroad. People in Commonwealth countries use the term holiday to describe absence from work as well as to describe a vacation or journey. Vacation can mean either staying home or going somewhere.

Canadians often use vacation and holiday interchangeably referring to a trip away from home or time off work. In Australia and the UK, holiday can refer to a vacation or a public holiday.

Huntington Beach: South Carolina

If anything, this three mile–long beach, and the state park of which it’s a part, just get better once summer is in the rearview mirror. That’s because with the warm weather crowds gone, visitors have a better chance of spotting the many varieties of bird that make this area their home. There’s also a 2,500-square-foot education center nearby that features a saltwater touch tank and a live alligator, and for architecture buffs, the wonderfully wacky Atalaya, the Moorish-style winter home that prominent local couple Anna Hyatt and Archer Huntington built on the oceanfront in the 1930s. Check in at Wild Dunes Resort in nearby Isle of Palms, with its Tom Fazio–designed golf course, four pools and miles of beachfront.

North Fork: Long Island, NY

If the Hamptons isn’t your scene but you dig the area’s wild coastal landscapes, head to the North Fork, where autumn brings cooler nights, smaller crowds and harvest season. Embark on a pilgrimage to some of the state’s best wineries, from the Normandy-style chateau of Duck Walk Vineyards, which offers seasonal wine and cheese pairings, to the artisanal whole bunch–pressed winery of Channing Daughters, where the owners experiment with unusual varieties like Malvasia and Blaufrankisch. For an unusual twist on vineyard hopping, join a “Pour and Pedal”, leisurely daylong bicycle tours that go from winery to winery. Finish the day with a long sunset walk along one of the North Fork’s public beaches, where you’ll encounter miles of fine white sand, secluded dunes and lighthouses.

Sachuest Beach: Newport, RI

While all those leaf-peepers are sitting in traffic on New England’s highways, you should make for the coast. Beaches like Newport’s Sachuest (known by locals as Second Beach) become peaceful havens of autumnal atmosphere. Just a mile and a half long, this beach is popular with surfers thanks to its clean, seaweed-free water and good wave action. Norman Bird Sanctuary , a 325-acre wildlife preserve overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, is right next door. When you’ve had your fill of birds and beaches, warm up at Forty 1 North, a swell boutique hotel overlooking Narragansett Bay with a restaurant that serves classic New England grub like lobster rolls and clam chowder.

The Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, Carnegies, Huntingtons and other fabulously wealthy industrialists built their own spectacular “great camps” in the Adirondacks of upstate NY where they could disport with their families in private luxury. The American vacation was born—quite literally. The scions of New York City took to declaring that they would “vacate” their city homes for their lakeside summer retreats, and the term “vacation” replaced the British “holiday” in common parlance.

In Hungarian, the word vakáció can mean both a recreational trip, an officially granted absence from work (generally in warmer months), and the summer (longest) school break. For absence from work, the word szabadság (freedom/liberty) can be used, possibly as betegszabadság (sickness freedom/sickness liberty) when the reason of absence is medical in nature.