Europe’s Best Countries for an Autumn Foliage Getaway

As summer fades, Europe’s landscapes begin turning red, orange and gold, but the best autumn getaway is about more than simply finding the most forests…

A new study by FLBR Motorsport has ranked European countries based on seven factors linked to autumn travel, including temperature, sunshine, rainfall, native tree diversity, TripAdvisor reviews, urban tree cover and overall forest area.

Croatia takes first place with a score of 55.00, narrowly ahead of the United Kingdom at 54.66. Portugal, Spain and Bulgaria complete the top five.

Top 10

1. Croatia — 55.00  

2. United Kingdom — 54.66  

3. Portugal — 51.62  

4. Spain — 51.57  

5. Bulgaria — 51.11  

6. Slovenia — 49.88  

7. Greece — 49.56  

8. Finland — 48.31  

9. Italy — 47.31  

10. Switzerland — 47.21

Why the leaders ranked high

Croatia takes first place thanks to a strong performance across several measures. It records the strongest TripAdvisor result in the study while also performing well for urban tree cover and native tree diversity, giving visitors plenty of opportunities to see autumn colors both in cities and further into the countryside. 

The United Kingdom comes second, combining strong native tree diversity with favorable precipitation levels and plenty of greenery.

Portugal ranks third and offers a sunnier take on the traditional autumn break. It performs particularly well for sunshine while also recording strong urban tree cover and tree diversity.

Spain follows closely in fourth, helped by autumn sunshine and one of the strongest native tree diversity results in the study.

Bulgaria rounds out the top five, performing consistently across sunshine, tree diversity and urban tree cover.

Further down the Top 10, Slovenia stands out for greenery and forest coverage, while Greece combines warmer autumn temperatures with sunshine and tree diversity.

Finland ranks eighth and records the strongest overall forest-area result in the study, while Italy benefits from particularly strong native tree diversity. Switzerland completes the Top 10 with high urban tree cover and solid overall forest coverage.

What the ranking measured

Researchers compared European countries using seven indicators:

- Average autumn temperature

- Average autumn sunshine

- Average autumn precipitation

- Diversity of native tree species

- TripAdvisor reviews

- Urban area tree cover

- Total forest area

Countries were ranked according to their combined performance across these measures.

Bottom three

39. Ireland — 21.52  

40. Andorra — 17.60  

41. Iceland — 13.51

Iceland ranks last overall, recording the weakest results for both urban tree cover and total forest area, alongside very limited native tree diversity.

Andorra comes second from bottom. Although it performs relatively well for autumn temperature and precipitation, weaker tree diversity and TripAdvisor results pull it down the ranking.

Ireland places 39th, with weaker scores for autumn sunshine, native tree diversity, urban tree cover and overall forest area compared with many of the countries above it.

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