The Autumn Bucket List: 10 Things to do This Season

Autumn is the opening stretch of your academic adventure. It’s also a good excuse to get outside and make some memories before the weather starts to turn and the nights get darker. With this in mind, we wanted to bring you our Autumn bucket list. We’ll cover ten outdoor activities worth trying, a few weekend trips further afield, and some things you can do without leaving your new city.

Outdoor Activities to Try

Take a Woodland Walk

Greenery around the UK is beautiful this time of year, so a local park, reserve, or riverside path is worth a visit while the colours hold. Even a short walk can look completely different now from how it will in Winter.

Go Apple Picking

It’s not as common here as it is in the US, but orchards around the country open up over the next few months and let you take home what you pick.

Make a Pumpkin Pie

A seasonal staple that warms the soul and leaves a pumpkin ready for carving nearer to Halloween.

Try a canal or riverside Bike Ride.

Towpaths are flat and easy to navigate, which makes them a good option if you’re new to cycling in a city. The changing trees along the water are worth the ride on their own.

Go Conker Collecting.

It costs nothing and takes an hour, but it’s a genuinely nostalgic way to spend a Sunday afternoon in a local park.

Visit a National Trust Property

Many gardens and estates plan their grounds specifically around autumn colour, so this is one of the better times of year to visit.

Try Geocaching.

All you need is a phone and a nearby park or woodland to get started, and it turns an ordinary walk into something with a bit more purpose.

Go for a Coastal or Country Walk

Cooler weather makes longer walks more comfortable than they are in the height of summer, particularly if you’re covering more than a few miles.

Visit a Farm Trail or Corn Maze

These pop up at farms across the country in October and are usually welcoming to students as well as families.

Mark Bonfire Night

Cities and towns across the UK hold organised firework displays around 5th November, and many are free to attend, which makes them an easy one to add to the calendar.

Weekend Trips

If you fancy getting further afield, autumn suits a weekend away before assignments pick up. The Peak District and Yorkshire Dales are both within a couple of hours of plenty of UK student cities (such as Manchester, Leeds, and Liverpool) and offer walking routes with strong autumn colour, from gentle valley paths to longer moorland routes for anyone after more of a challenge. The Lake District suits a longer weekend rather than a single day, since the lake and fell walks change character almost completely once the leaves turn and the crowds thin out.

The Cotswolds offer a gentler pace, with a string of market towns close enough together that you can walk between several of them in a day. For something further north, Eryri and the Scottish Highlands both deliver dramatic scenery this time of year, though the distance involved makes a two or three-day trip more realistic than a single overnight stay.

Splitting petrol or train costs across a house keeps these trips affordable, and several of these destinations are reachable by train and local bus if nobody in the group drives. Booking transport a few weeks ahead usually brings the price down as well, particularly for longer journeys.

Local Autumn Experiences

You don’t need to leave the city to make the most of the season. Seasonal markets tend to appear from October onward, and they’re a reliable source of autumn produce, street food, and mulled drinks on a weekend afternoon. Local cafes often introduce autumn menus around the same time, so it’s worth checking what’s changed since the summer if you have a regular spot.

Cinemas, theatres, and student unions put on Halloween events through late October, and these are usually advertised well in advance on noticeboards and social media, so it’s worth keeping an eye out a few weeks before. Food and drink events, quiz nights, and themed socials are common too, and they’re a good way to meet people if you’ve recently moved somewhere new.

It’s also worth checking your city’s events calendar directly, since many councils put together autumn festivals or light displays between October and November that don’t always show up in general searches. These are frequently free or low-cost, which makes them an easy addition to a weekend that might otherwise be spent inside.

Making the Most of the Month

Autumn moves quickly once the clocks change and the evenings draw in, so it’s worth getting through some of this list while the weather still allows for it. A mix of local activities and one or two trips further afield is usually enough to make the season feel like more than just the run-up to exam season, without requiring much planning or budget.