All signs point to autumn

In autumn, our body’s defences are put to the test: it’s the season of colds and sniffles. The mornings feel fresh, even if it’s still warm during the day. And you can say goodbye to the warm summer evenings.

So, what now? What’s good to do in autumn, and how can you stay healthy? We suggest a range of special places where you can make the most of autumn.

Autumn stories

The golden autumn period is now spreading throughout Europe, and it’s time to think about where to go to see the changing leaves to full effect. Experience the best that autumn has to offer in the beautiful region of Thurgau on Lake Constance.

Explore its wonderful landscapes on a variety of bike tours, and why not include an excursion by boat, with the Rhine and Lake Constance offering spectacular backdrops. There is something especially charming about an autumn boat trip with a fisherman explaining his traditional craft.

The picturesque town of Diessenhofen is also ideal for relaxing, either in one of its hotels or innovative campsites.

Enjoy autumn in St. Gallen on Lake Constance

St. Gallen, the cultural capital near Lake Constance, offers a number of opportunities to appreciate the golden time of year with your palate as well as your eyes. Here, culture, top-level cuisine and conviviality come together.

Enjoy carefree days in the eastern Swiss canton at the “St. Galler Genusswochen” gourmet festival and also the Lake Constance “Klostererlebnistage”. The “Klostererlebnistage” are designed to showcase the variety of life in a monastery. It also includes concerts, guided tours and workshops.

In October, the Schlössli restaurant in St.Gallen offers a particularly delicious seminar: guests will learn how fruit, herbs and vegetables from the monastery garden are processed and refined. Participants will learn how to make syrups, ointments, pastes and chutneys. And if you want to be pampered afterwards, you can sample a delicious three-course gourmet dessert using historic types of fruit, as detailed in a monastery menu dating back to the 9th century.

Healthy red-cheeked apples from Thurgau

Visit Lake Constance and follow the trail of the apple’s cultural heritage: the region of Thurgau on Lake Constance, also known as “the apple canton”, invites you to enjoy a relaxing yet eventful tour – all about apples. Enjoy an excursion for the whole family on the “Altnauer Apfelweg” (Altnau apple trail). In Switzerland, a third of dessert apples and half of all cider apples come from here. Apple season lasts from August to November.

Or why not visit MoMö, the Swiss cider and distillery museum in Arbon? And you can also discover how wellness combines with the healing power of apple blossom. All this in Thurgau on Lake Constance.

Apple blossom is also good for your health. The Wellness Hotel Golf Panorama in Lipperswil on Lake Constance offers its guests an in-house range of cosmetics based on Thurgau apple blossom. The hotel’s spa area stretches out overs 2,000 square metres.

Even the spa hotel’s excellent cuisine is centred around the apple – try their apple curry soup or apple-based desserts, for example. Wherever you are in Thurgau, you will feel the power of the apple.

Golden autumn time in Scena, South Tyrol

Take a trip to the wonderful town of Scena in South Tyrol and enjoy entertaining “Törggele” afternoons, farm visits and homemade specialities in the open air! As part of the annual Scena Harvest Festival, the municipality of Meran will be celebrating a range of colourful gourmet harvest and wine-tasting events until the end of October 2019.

Gastronomic highlights include the “Bauernkuchl” (“farmers’ kitchen”) events as well as the traditional autumn market on the centrally located Raiffeisenplatz. If you prefer to stay on the road, why not journey through the South Tyrolean autumn as part of the “South Tyrol Classic Scena Golden Edition” classic car rally. The municipality near Meran invites all classic car fans to attend its annual classic car meet.

In October, the pumpkin season reaches its peak

The Styrian pumpkin is a special fruit thanks to its edible, shell-less seeds. It is considered the green gold of Styria. The extremely delicious oil harvested from the seeds of this pumpkin is dark green in colour, tastes nutty, and has a very pleasant smell. Styrian pumpkin farmers are already waiting impatiently for autumn so they can press the precious, black-green shimmering oil from the pumpkins’ seeds.

This delicious, top quality product is used by Styrian “Ölspurwirten” (“oil hosts”) to refine regional and creative dishes. And the focus will also be on pumpkin oil in May, on the Styrian Oil Trail oil pressing open day. It goes without saying that Austrian pumpkin oil is also extremely healthy.

Pumpkin time in America

Take a look across the pond: October in the holiday resort of Jackson, New Hampshire, is a time when visitors will see a lot of faces carved into pumpkins. According to the New England Tourism Bureau, during the “Return of the Pumpkin People“, 50 hotels, guesthouses and inns carve pumpkins in the most creative of ways.

The Augsburger Allgemeine adds: if you are on a tour of the surrounding White Mountains, you can download a map to visit the carved pumpkins on display and choose your favourites. Prizes are awarded to the funniest, cutest, scariest, and most family-friendly pumpkin creations just in time for Halloween on 31 October.

Pumpkin harvest in Spreewald

You don’t have to travel so far to find pumpkins, however. The pumpkin harvest is also at full tilt in the Spreewald. Here, pumpkins are harvested and brought from the field to the yard by barge. The time of the Spreewald pumpkin harvest is a real highlight. Here, the pumpkin is affectionately know as the “Spreewald pineapple”.

Technically, the pumpkin is not a vegetable, as people often believe; it is, in fact, a variety of fruit, hence the “Spreewald pineapple” nickname. It can be used in a wide range of liquid recipes: soups, oils, creams, punches, smoothies, and even to make pumpkin liqueur.

It can also be used for a variety of gourmet recipes and meals. Pumpkin can be steamed, roasted, or stewed, and the number of available pumpkin recipes continues to rise. What’s more, you will find them all on offer in the Spreewald. The pumpkin season in Spreewald, one of the most beautiful regions in Germany, lasts until 31 October.

The pumpkin is also now recognised as a spa product. Pumpkin is great for your skin, and you can now find a variety of pumpkin-based scrubs, creams and natural cosmetics.

Make it through the autumn in fine fettle, and enjoy a colourful excursion in the season of changing leaves!