Fall color in Southwest Ohio runs on a tight schedule. You get a handful of good weekends between the first orange maples and the morning you wake up to bare branches, so it helps to have a plan. These 12 day trips are listed from closest to farthest from downtown Cincinnati, with approximate drive times from Cincinnati and Dayton. For more ideas, we also keep lists of fall festivals around Cincinnati, where to see fall colors in Cincinnati and kid-friendly hikes.
1. Miami Whitewater Forest
9001 Mt. Hope Road, Harrison, OH 45030 | About 30 minutes from Cincinnati, 1 hour from Dayton | Miami Whitewater Forest website
Miami Whitewater is the largest park in the Great Parks of Hamilton County system and the easiest trip on this list to pull off on short notice. The paved 7.8-mile Shaker Trace loop works for bikes and strollers. The 1.7-mile Badlands Trail heads into the woods, where streams disappear underground and pop back up farther along. There is also a visitor center with nature displays, a lake and a playground. The park is open dawn to dusk, and you need a Great Parks Motor Vehicle Permit to park.
2. East Fork State Park
3294 Elklick Road, Bethel, OH 45106 | About 40 minutes from Cincinnati, 1 hour 10 minutes from Dayton | East Fork State Park website
East Fork is one of the largest state parks in Ohio, built around 2,160-acre William H. Harsha Lake, and it has more trails than any other park in the state system. Most of them are long. With kids, start with the half-mile Storybook Trail near the main beach, which posts a children’s book page by page along the route and has a sitting area by a small pond. It has an incline and is not stroller-friendly. The gravel, 0.4-mile Heritage of Freedom Trail is flatter and tells the story of the Underground Railroad in Clermont County. Leashed dogs are welcome everywhere except the beach sand.
3. Fort Ancient Earthworks & Nature Preserve
6123 State Route 350, Oregonia, OH | About 45 minutes from Cincinnati, 45 minutes from Dayton | Fort Ancient website
About 2,000 years ago, people built earthen walls up to 23 feet high on a bluff above the Little Miami River, one basket of dirt at a time. Fort Ancient is the largest ancient hilltop enclosure in North America and part of the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks UNESCO World Heritage Site. Despite the name, it was a ceremonial gathering place, not a fort, and its builders lined up mounds with the summer and winter solstice sunrises. Three miles of trails lead to overlooks above the river valley, which is where you want to be in October. Keep the kids off the walls. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, with last admission at 4 p.m. Admission is $7 for adults, $6 for ages 6 to 17 and free for kids under 6.
4. Caesar Creek State Park & Pioneer Village
8570 E. State Route 73, Waynesville, OH 45068 | About 50 minutes from Cincinnati, 40 minutes from Dayton | Caesar Creek State Park website
Caesar Creek covers 3,741 acres around a 2,830-acre lake, the deepest in Ohio. Its hiking trails lead to waterfalls, a swinging bridge and views of the water. The nature center has hands-on exhibits on fossils, wildlife and water quality, and it sits across the street from Caesar’s Creek Pioneer Village, a collection of relocated log buildings that includes a Quaker meetinghouse, a schoolhouse and a blacksmith shop. You can walk the village grounds on your own anytime. The buildings open during special events such as harvest festivals.
5. Hueston Woods State Park
6301 Park Office Road, College Corner, OH 45003 | About 1 hour from Cincinnati, 1 hour from Dayton | Hueston Woods State Park website
Just north of Oxford, Hueston Woods wraps around 625-acre Acton Lake and includes the Big Woods, a 200-acre stand of old-growth beech and maple that is a state nature preserve and a National Natural Landmark. The nature center is free and open daily, and the raptor enclosure behind it has permanent residents including a bald eagle and great horned owls. The park is also known for its fossils.
6. Sugarcreek MetroPark
4178 Conference Road, Bellbrook, OH 45305 | About 1 hour from Cincinnati, 20 minutes from Dayton | Sugarcreek MetroPark website
Walk 0.7 mile along the Orange Trail and you reach the Three Sisters, white oaks Five Rivers MetroParks estimates at about 580 years old. Two are still standing, and the biggest, Big Sister, measures 226 inches around, which takes a few kids holding hands to circle. The rest of the park mixes woods, a tallgrass prairie and trails along Sugar Creek, and older kids with energy to spare can take on the 5K Green Trail loop.
7. John Bryan State Park & Clifton Gorge
3790 State Route 370, Yellow Springs, OH 45387 | About 1 hour 10 minutes from Cincinnati, 30 minutes from Dayton | John Bryan State Park website
The Little Miami River cuts a limestone gorge through John Bryan State Park and the adjoining Clifton Gorge State Nature Preserve, which together are a National Natural Landmark. Trails connect the park and the preserve along the river, past cliffs and small waterfalls. The village of Yellow Springs is about a mile away when everyone is ready for lunch.
8. Clifty Falls State Park
2221 Clifty Drive, Madison, IN 47250 | About 1 hour 30 minutes from Cincinnati, 2 hours 15 minutes from Dayton | Clifty Falls State Park website
Clifty Falls is worth crossing into Indiana for: a canyon with cliffs and waterfalls including Big Clifty, Little Clifty, Hoffman and Tunnel falls. Families with strong hikers can take on the park’s Four Falls Challenge, a rugged 4-mile route that takes two to three hours. Start at Big Clifty Falls on Trail 7, photograph the marked waypoints and show the photos to nature center or park office staff. The old railroad tunnel along the route is closed, so the challenge detours around it on Trail 5. Little kids do better on the paved walking loop at the Trail 7 trailhead near Clifty Shelter, which has a StoryWalk. Indiana state park entrance fees apply. The historic river town of Madison, Ind., is right next door.
9. Adena Mansion & Gardens
847 Adena Road, Chillicothe, OH 45601 | About 1 hour 45 minutes from Cincinnati, 1 hour 30 minutes from Dayton | Adena Mansion & Gardens website
Adena is open through Oct. 25, then closes until April 1. The 1807 hilltop home of Thomas Worthington, Ohio’s sixth governor, was designed by Benjamin Latrobe. Guided mansion tours run at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and at 1 and 3 p.m. Sunday. Between tours, walk the terraced gardens, the grounds and the visitor center. The site is open 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $12 for adults, $6 for ages 6 to 12 and free for kids under 6. Plan on at least two hours.
10. Circleville Pumpkin Show
159 E. Franklin St., Circleville, OH 43113 | About 1 hour 50 minutes from Cincinnati, 1 hour 30 minutes from Dayton | Circleville Pumpkin Show website
The Circleville Pumpkin Show runs Oct. 21 through 24 in downtown Circleville, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, and admission is free. It is Ohio’s oldest festival, held every year since 1903, and it takes over the whole downtown: more than 100,000 pounds of pumpkins, squash and gourds on display, a giant pumpkin contest, seven parades in four days and 25 to 30 amusement rides in the streets. Rides cost extra. Come hungry: the show sells about 23,000 pumpkin pies and more than 100,000 pumpkin doughnuts. The show draws about 100,000 people a day, so arrive early or use the park-and-ride shuttle.
11. Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill
3501 Lexington Road, Harrodsburg, KY 40330 | About 1 hour 50 minutes from Cincinnati, 2 hours 45 minutes from Dayton | Shaker Village website
From 1805 to 1910, Pleasant Hill was home to the third-largest Shaker community in the country. Today it is the largest National Historic Landmark in Kentucky, with original 19th-century buildings on 3,000 acres of farmland, prairie and woods. Admission covers the Historic Centre, the farm and the nature preserve, plus self-guided and staff-led tours, talks and hands-on activities that change with the season. Exhibits are open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Admission is $20 for ages 13 to 61.
12. Hocking Hills State Park
19852 State Route 664 S, Logan, OH 43138 | About 2 hours 30 minutes from Cincinnati, 2 hours 15 minutes from Dayton | Hocking Hills State Park website
The longest drive on this list gets you sandstone cliffs, recess caves, waterfalls and hemlock-shaded gorges. With little kids, start at Ash Cave, where a quarter-mile gorge trail is easy and wheelchair accessible. Old Man’s Cave and Cedar Falls are each about a mile and rated moderate. Many trails run one way, so follow the signs. The visitor center at the Old Man’s Cave parking lot is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and has resident hawks and owls out back. Trails open a half hour before sunrise and close a half hour after sunset. On fall weekends, get there early.
