AUTUMN VISTAS LESS THAN FIVE HOURS AWAY

You don’t have to plan a trip to New England, Japan or Nova Scotia to see autumn foliage in all its blazing brilliance. Here are three destinations you can take off to over a weekend and see leaves of deciduous forests turn colour, walk through crunchy leaves, pumpkin-spiced latte in hand and fall in love with fall.

BELGRADFOREST,TURKEY

Flight time:

4 hours and 24 minutes Skip the old city and the Bosporus and head straight for Istanbul’s famed Ataturk Arboretum (below); the 94-acre botanical garden created for the Istanbul University’s Forestry department has a collection of oak trees from around the world that turn a fiery orange and crimson as chilly October creeps up on the city. Walking trails wind around the arboretum and wooden seats dot the banks of a large pond that’s home to white swans; a stark contrast against the golden landscape. Open Monday-Friday 8am-5.30pm; visit orman.istanbul.edu.tr.

KAKHETIREGION,GEORGIA

Flight time:

3 hours and 30 minutes Georgia offers more than just glorious art nouveau architecture. The dense foliage of the Caucusus mountains discards its verdant greens for shades of flame in autumn, best see in Kakheti region, just a two-hour drive from the capital Tbilisi. The region’s lakes have plenty of resorts from which to enjoy the sights as autumn turns vineyards of the surrounding areas into copper and rust. Kvareli and Lopota lakes are hotbeds of autumn colours, and the Lopota Lake Resort and Spa (top) is a great vantage point. Standard double rooms from Dh808; lopota.ge/en.

AKKARDISTRICT,LEBANON

Flight time:

3 hours and 50 minutes The Middle East is dressed in the transitional season’s golden best in the forests of the Kamouaa plain in Lebanon in the northern district of Akkar. Two varieties of oak trees – the iron oak and the hair oak – that are thousands of years old prosper in the valley and in the surrounding rustic villages. 33 North, a tour company, organises treks and hikes in the area; visit 33-north.com.