Discover why this season is the best time to visit Jersey City

As the days shorten, the sun’s rays lengthen and a slight chill enters the air, so begins a special time for Jersey City. Just across the Hudson River from Manhattan, a 10-minute metro ride away, this charismatic US city exudes fall charm at its finest. As you wander the city’s streets, the smell of ingredients like cinnamon, pumpkin and clove pours out of cafes and bakeries, themselves overlooked by trees transitioning through shades of red and orange. Catch the best of these changing colours at Liberty State Park, where winding paths hug the Hudson River. In autumn, the park’s maple, oak, birch and sycamore trees shine with orange and yellow leaves.

“The parks in Jersey City are incredible, especially in autumn,” says Melissa McCart, longtime Jersey City resident and food journalist. “I love Riverview-Fisk Park in Jersey City Heights. You get beautiful fall foliage there, and a view of the New York skyline so crisp and close you feel like you can reach out and touch it. Jersey City has a similar energy to that of the metropolis across the river,” she says, “but with a lot more breathing room.”

Jersey City embraces autumn with an emphatic energy: new seasonal menus appear in restaurants, autumnal ingredients end up in both cocktails and beer, and fairs and festivals grace the streets. The annual All About Downtown Street Fair kicks off the season on 21 September. At this event on Newark Avenue, vendors sell homemade crafts and candles, beer gardens fill with groups enjoying local brews and live bands provide welcome entertainment.

Two weeks later, on 4-6 October, the 35th iteration of the Jersey City Art and Studio Tour (also known as JCAST) gets underway. This engaging artistic event allows visitors to spend a weekend exploring local artists’ studios to get an up close look at the most creative corners of the city. And for the most exciting autumnal extravaganza, visit Jersey City in the first week of November when the Autumn Festival takes place in Bethune Park. Expect seasonally inspired food as well as drinks, games, live music and an enormous labyrinth made of hay.

For those who prefer to welcome autumn via their taste buds, local bakery Froth on Franklin gets into the spirit of the season by crafting the area’s best apple cider doughnuts — a tradition on the East Coast. Next, head over to The Hutton, a popular haunt for classic American comfort food and cocktails. Order a Jersey Lightning, a seasonally-inspired drink that blends apple brandy, amaro, lemon juice and demerara syrup.

For beer-lovers, Jersey City's 902 Brewing Company adds an Oktoberfest-inspired offering to its taps every autumn. Departed Soles, another local favourite brewery, introduces a gluten-free pumpkin-spiced ale, as well as a few Oktoberfest brews. And to go full-on fall, the popular Zeppelin Hall hosts Teutonic celebrations of the season every weekend from late September until late October.

To sample something more substantial, point yourself to Bread and Salt, an acclaimed bakery that arguably makes the best pizza in New Jersey. “In the early part of the season, we can still get all of the best summer vegetables — tomatoes, eggplant, peppers and more. Then, as the season progresses and gets a little cooler, squashes and pumpkins start coming in, as well as all of the chicories,” says baker and co-owner Rick Easton. Those who make the journey to this Riverview-Fisk Park establishment can sample all these seasonal vegetables on top of a crispy, Roman-style pizza.