Yakima Valley among the many nation’s prime fall journey locations | Enterprise

“Crisp air, vibrant leaves, and a bountiful harvest put Washington’s Yakima Valley on fall bucket lists.” That’s the opening sentence of a list for our group within the USA Today’s “10 Best Destinations for Fall Travel in 2025.”

As I write this column, the Yakima Valley is within the prime 10 of the 20 communities supplied.

The USA Today’s 10Best is a journey and life-style part of USA Today, specializing in reader-voted and editor-recommended lists. It gives suggestions for journey locations, foods and drinks experiences and extra, with a robust emphasis on reader participation in choosing the ten finest in numerous classes.

For the previous two years, the Yakima Valley has been featured as a prime wine vacation spot, rating No. 4 this yr and because the winner in 2024.

Why is that this vital? USA Today’s print and on-line shops attain seven million readers each day. USA Today is a frontrunner in cell purposes with greater than 21 million downloads on cell gadgets. In addition, it’s the fifth largest newspaper within the U.S.

When a vacation spot is ranked on considered one of their 10 Best lists, different media and on-line sources could take word, resulting in new protection for the Yakima Valley. In flip, this publicity might result in guests coming to take a look at our group.

In addition, with on-line engines like google and AI sourcing, the profile of the Yakima Valley might get further publicity, which might additionally generate new visits.

The fall months are a good time to go to our area. As the nomination highlighted, we’ve got a number of seasonal celebrations and occasions together with the Fresh Hop Ale Festival, the Central Washington State Fair plus the Yakima Valley Crush which celebrates the wine grape harvest.

In addition to these featured occasions, our valley has dozens of different festivals and cultural choices throughout this season together with the debut of the brand new Capitol Best Season on the Capitol Theatre in Yakima, the Great Prosser Balloon Rally, Día de los Muertos celebrations plus quite a few lighted parades and occasions just like the well-known Lighted Farm Implement Parade in Sunnyside.

The characteristic additionally mentions the numerous farms bringing within the harvest with u-pick apples, pumpkins, and different fall crops. The choice on the farmers markets is at its peak this season.

For those that’d wish to discover the outside, the Tieton River rages in September, making it one of many few rafting runs working this time of yr. Cooler temperatures make hikes and biking extra fulfilling and the autumn foliage is in its prime alongside the Yakima River Canyon. Cowiche Canyon and within the Cascade Range corridors. Plus, the lighting within the early morning and late afternoon throughout autumn is gorgeous and makes for excellent pictures alternatives.

Other the reason why fall is a superb time to journey to the Yakima Valley is that journey prices are usually much less, summer time crowds are gone and native eating places are infusing their menus with domestically harvested crops and craft drinks.

Let’s hold the Yakima Valley within the prime 10 for the USA Today 10 Best Places to Visit for Fall. Vote each day via 9 a.m. Sept. 6. Go to www.visityakima.com/vote

John Cooper is the president and CEO of Yakima Valley Tourism.