By Charles Swanson, The Press Democrat The Tribune Content Agency
With an abundance of fall colors and Instagram-worthy landscapes, Napa Valley is among the top autumn travel destinations in the United States, according to a report out from Heepsy.
The region was listed fifth out of 10 places in the influencer marketing website's recent list of "The Best Fall Destinations in the U.S.," coming in right behind another Northern California haven, Lake Tahoe.
To assemble the top 10 list, the website combed through information on 45 popular tourist destinations and compared data related to the number of Instagram hashtags and Google searches for each location, as well as the annual number of visitors, average fall temperature, and "unique features that set each location apart," according to a news release.
The website sourced its data from Instagram and Google, as well as the World Bank, IQAir and United Nations World Tourism Organization, it said.
According to Heepsy, Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado is the most popular fall destination, with 12.8 million online searches and hashtags combined and over 4.3 million visitors.
Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada and Mount Rainier National Park in Washington took the No. 2 and 3 spots on the list.
In its ranking, Heepsy said Napa Valley was featured in 2.7 million Instagram hashtags and 3.8 million Google searches, and has 3.6 million annual visitors; the second-highest visitor count after Rocky Mountain National Park.
Napa Valley also stands out for its fall landscapes and for having the warmest average fall temperature of any destination on the list at 60.9°F, Heepsy said.
For its part, Lake Tahoe is a popular spot for Instagram users with 3.1 million hashtags on the social media site, according to Heepsy. It also attracts 1.5 million visitors annually.
Another California spot, Mammoth Lakes, rounded out the top 10 locations and matched Napa Valley's warm fall temperature, Heepsy said.