Go visit the biggest pumpkin festival in Germany, which changes theme every year. — Bluhendes Barock Ludwigsburg website
Orange, red, yellow and brown, these are colours often associated with autumn. It is a season when nature is changing its colours, bringing an earthy warmth that beckons us to the outdoors.
Perhaps even more so if you’re Malaysian, who typically only experience “summer” year-round. Travelling to four-season countries in autumn, or fall as it may also be referred to, is a great time for you to join activities that can really only be done during this particular season.
Autumn takes place from September to November (or March to May in southern hemisphere countries like New Zealand and Australia), and there are plenty of Asian and Western countries to visit for it.
Nature-related activities will make you appreciate autumn more; here are a few that you can do while admiring the season’s various shades of earthy colours.
Autumn is a great time for collecting acorns in Japan. — Photos: Pexels
Collect some acorns
Channel your inner Scrat and chase some acorns. Much like the beloved cartoon pre-historic squirrel from the Ice Age movies, you can spend your time chasing – well, collecting – acorns this autumn season.
Not as commercialised as fruit picking, looking for a place to (legally) collect acorns can be tricky. Japan is perhaps one of the best countries to try your hand at this fun fall activity, which has long been a tradition of sorts for the Japanese people.
Kids collect donguri (acorn in Japanese) for play; adults collect them for consumption.
While oak trees can be found dispersed throughout Japan, you’ll want to go to the Okinawa prefecture for the country’s largest acorns.
Okinawa urajirogashi – an oak species native to the island paradise – can be found in abundance in Kunigami Village. The trees here are hundreds of years old, and also produce the biggest acorns in Japan.
So, while enjoying your hike through the oaky forest, have fun picking pocketfuls of the large freshly fallen nuts. (Maybe you’ll find magical ones like in Studio Ghibli’s popular animated film My Neighbour Totoro.)
In South Korea, you can’t do this as freely. You’ll see signs prohibiting the collection of acorns, due to environmental reasons. But what you can do is feast on dotorimuk (acorn jelly in Korean). Even though now available year-round, traditionally this gelatinous treat used to be more common during autumn, when dotori (acorn) is aplenty.
South Korea’s marinated blue crab is a popular seasonal dish. — Visit Korea
Savour seasonal food
Speaking of food, with advancement in preservation and cultivation turning most seasonal foods into year-long products now, it’s getting increasingly harder to find ones that truly signal the coming of autumn.
That said, there are still certain foods that gain more visibility during autumn than any other seasons. (No, not pumpkin spice latte.)
Taking South Korea as an example again, blue crab is its delicacy that can presently be consumed anytime, but autumn is peak season for this – particularly, for the male crabs (female ones are highly favoured in spring for their roe). As these crabs have been fattening up for winter, their meat is rich and nutritious.
Whether you go for the Michelin-starred restaurants in Seoul or the traditional restaurants in Incheon, as long as they use blue crabs from Yeonpyeong Island, you are definitely getting the creme de la creme.
Germany’s pumpkin cream soup is made with fresh pumpkins in autumn.
Of course, it’s inevitable to come across pumpkin-based menu items during autumn. One such item that shouldn’t be missed is – (no, still not the latte) – kurbiscremesuppe. That’s German for “pumpkin cream soup”, and, you guessed it, this is a dish popular in Germany.
Traditionally served only in autumn, it is now also available in canned form, so it can be consumed anytime.
But since substitutes often pale in comparison to originals, you might want to head to a German restaurant for the authentic dish in autumn.
The city of Munster in western Germany is a good place for this seasonal soup, as many of the restaurants here serve it once fresh pumpkins are available.
Kids and grown-ups alike can have fun at pumpkin patches. — Fattoria della Zucca website
Play with pumpkins
Germany also happens to be home to the largest pumpkin festival in the world: The Ludwigsburg Pumpkin Festival.
Typically held from August to November annually, this year the 26th edition runs from Aug 23 to Nov 2.
Ludwigsburg, a city in southwest Germany, is described as the country’s “baroque gem”. A moniker evidenced by its beautiful baroque architecture. This means your visit to its pumpkin festival would be nothing short of fairytale-like.
Held at Bluhendes Barock, the baroque botanical garden located on the Ludwigsburg Palace grounds, the pumpkin festival features over 450,000 pumpkins.
Here, you can admire elaborately-carved pumpkin sculptures, take part in pumpkin carving and marvel at the size of the giant pumpkins entered into the weighing competition.
You can feast on various pumpkin dishes, such as pumpkin spatzle (dumplings) and pumpkin bratwurst (sausages).
And yes, you can find kurbiscremesuppe here too.
Meanwhile, pumpkin patches, which are more often associated with the United States, are starting to gain prominence in Italy in recent years.
From Rome to Pavia, you can find this popular autumn attraction cropping up when the season rolls around. Visitors are loving the chance to experience an “American pumpkin patch” without the need to travel all the way to the US.
Fattoria della Zucca in the capital Rome is a pumpkin patch that opens annually for a limited time. This year, it runs from Sept 27 to Nov 2. You can pick the perfect pumpkin to carve, decorate it and take it home as your customised autumn or even Halloween ornament.
Another pumpkin patch running until Nov 2 is the Villaggio delle Zucche in Treviso. Held at the Nonno Andrea farm, it offers more than pumpkin picking as the village is divided into several zones for activities such as games, showcooking and corn maze.
Villaggio delle Zucche meanwhile can be found in Pavia. Now in its sixth edition, it is held once again at Puravida Farm. Open until Nov 9, this pumpkin patch has weekend workshops and shows.
Bright trees bloom in Hanoi, Vietnam during autumn.
Enjoy fall foliage
What is autumn without the golden glow of deciduous trees? Their leaves turning shades of flaming red, orange and brown lend a touch of warmth amid the autumn chill.
You don’t even have to travel far to find fall foliage, there’s one place for it that you can fly to in less than four hours from Kuala Lumpur.
Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, often drew tourists in with its famous train street and historical Old Quarter. Come autumn, however, the city transforms into a wonderland for those who enjoy the sight of autumn leaves. (Let’s not use the term “leaf-peeping” to describe this activity.)
While you won’t see a sea of bright-topped trees, it’s just as interesting to see rows of them lining the streets. They make strolling along Hoan Kiem Lake even more relaxing, and serve as interesting foreground when you’re capturing photos of the city’s modern and traditional buildings.
October is usually the best month to experience autumn in Hanoi. But if you don’t have time to travel during the year’s final quarter, perhaps you’re better suited for autumn travels in the earlier months.
Australia makes this possible since it is one of the countries where autumn arrives during a different time of the year, namely March to May.
Golden Valley Tree Park in Balingup, Mount Lofty Botanic Garden in Adelaide Hills, and Mount Wilson in the Blue Mountains are some of the popular places across Australia that you can go for fall foliage.
Go apple-picking in the world’s largest apple producer, China. — Beijing Tourism/Facebook
Pick some apples
New Zealand is another country where autumn doesn’t take place toward the end of the year. The beauty of this is you can experience autumn without waiting for the later months.
Visiting during March to May also means you get to go apple picking, a popular autumn activity, earlier in the year. Windmill Orchard in Auckland is a good place for this, where you can pick fresh apples off the trees and bring a bucketful home.
Molewood Orchard in Greytown also has the pick-your-own activity, and allows you to spend a day picnicking among the apple trees. You can pack a picnic lunch and enjoy the apples you’ve picked as dessert afterward.
If September to November are the only months when you can go for apple-picking fun, then head to the world’s largest apple producer: China.
Accounting for around half of the global apple production, China even has fruit picking tours if you want to visit more than just one apple orchard in one go. The country’s northern provinces, such as Shandong and Shaanxi, are well known for their apples.
Closer to the capital city Beijing is Cuicun Town, reportedly known as the number one “apple town” in the Beijing suburbs. The town has an orchard where you can visit at dawn, with a bamboo basket in hand and plenty of the sweet, rotund red fruit ready for picking.
