Best autumn movies have a way of making us want to pack a bag almost as much as they make us want to curl up on the sofa. Think golden leaves in Central Park, misty Pacific Northwest forests, historic New England towns and the wild landscapes of the Scottish Highlands.
From the cosy New York romance of When Harry Met Sally… and You’ve Got Mail to the witchy world of Practical Magic and Hocus Pocus, some of the best autumn movies are inseparable from the places in which their stories unfold.
Others take the season in a darker direction, from the Massachusetts mansion of Knives Out to the rain-soaked forests of Twilight and the Halloween streets of Haddonfield. Either way, the best autumn movies prove that the right location can be just as memorable as the characters.
So, if the arrival of September has you dreaming of crisp-weather escapes, these are 12 of the best autumn movies to inspire your next fall getaway – and the real-world destinations behind them.
1. When Harry Met Sally…
- Cast: Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher, Bruno Kirby
Rob Reiner’s classic follows Harry and Sally as their relationship evolves from reluctant acquaintances to close friends – and perhaps something more – over more than a decade.
Few films capture New York in autumn quite as beautifully, with the city’s parks, streets and neighbourhoods providing the backdrop to Harry and Sally’s changing relationship.
2. You’ve Got Mail
- Cast: Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Parker Posey, Greg Kinnear
Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks play rival booksellers who clash in real life while unknowingly falling for one another through an anonymous online correspondence.
The movie is practically a love letter to Manhattan’s Upper West Side, using the neighbourhood’s brownstones, bookshops and leafy streets to create its quintessential cosy New York atmosphere.
3. Practical Magic
- Cast: Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Stockard Channing, Dianne Wiest
Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman star as the Owens sisters, two women born into a family of witches who must contend with love, loss and a centuries-old curse.
Although its story evokes a picture-perfect New England town, much of that magical coastal atmosphere was created in Washington State, including Whidbey Island and San Juan Island. This classic has also spawned a sequel – click here to discover where it was filmed.
4. Hocus Pocus
- Cast: Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy, Omri Katz
Three witches accidentally resurrected on Halloween night set out to regain their youth, leaving a group of kids racing to stop them before sunrise.
It doesn’t get much more autumnal than Salem, Massachusetts, where parts of the Halloween favourite were actually filmed, alongside nearby Marblehead. Hands down, one of the best autumn movies out there!
5. Knives Out
- Cast: Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette
Daniel Craig’s eccentric detective Benoit Blanc investigates the suspicious death of a wealthy novelist, turning his dysfunctional family into a house full of suspects.
Rian Johnson’s murder mystery gets much of its cosy-but-sinister autumn atmosphere from Massachusetts, with filming taking place across Greater Boston and several smaller towns.
6. Twilight
- Cast: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Peter Facinelli
Bella Swan’s move to the perpetually overcast town of Forks leads to a life-changing romance with mysterious classmate – and vampire – Edward Cullen.
While the story is famously set in Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, the first movie was filmed largely across Oregon and Washington, giving Twilight its misty forests and unmistakable Pacific Northwest atmosphere.
7. Good Will Hunting
- Cast: Matt Damon, Robin Williams, Ben Affleck, Minnie Driver
Matt Damon stars as a gifted but troubled young man whose extraordinary mathematical ability is discovered while he works as a janitor at MIT.
Boston and Cambridge are integral to the movie, although filming also crossed the border into Toronto, which doubled for a number of interiors.
8. Sweet Home Alabama
- Cast: Reese Witherspoon, Josh Lucas, Patrick Dempsey, Candice Bergen
Reese Witherspoon plays a successful New York fashion designer whose engagement forces her to return to the South and finally deal with the husband she left behind.
Despite the title, much of Melanie’s Southern homecoming was actually set in Georgia, giving us a warmer take on an autumn escape.
9. Fantastic Mr. Fox
- Cast: George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray
Wes Anderson adapts Roald Dahl’s story of a fox whose return to his thieving ways puts his family and their animal neighbours in danger.
Its stop-motion world channels the English countryside rather than a literal filming destination, but the golden fields, woodland and burnt-orange palette make it one of cinema’s ultimate autumn escapes.
10. Halloween
- Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence, P. J. Soles, Nancy Kyes
John Carpenter’s horror classic follows escaped killer Michael Myers as he returns to his hometown on Halloween night and begins stalking teenager Laurie Strode.
Fictional Haddonfield, Illinois looks convincingly Midwestern, but the movie was actually filmed around Southern California, where filmmakers had to disguise the springtime setting to look like autumn.
11. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Gary Oldman
Harry’s third year at Hogwarts takes a darker turn when notorious prisoner Sirius Black escapes Azkaban and appears to be coming after him.
The film takes us into the Scottish Highlands, with dramatic landscapes around Glencoe, Glenfinnan and several Highland lochs helping create the wild world surrounding Hogwarts. Classic on the list of best autumn movies!
12. The Holdovers
- Cast: Paul Giamatti, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Dominic Sessa
A curmudgeonly teacher is forced to remain at a New England boarding school over the holidays with students who have nowhere else to go, forming an unexpected bond with one of them.
Although it eventually becomes a winter story, its New England boarding-school setting is peak cold-weather travel inspiration, with filming taking place across Massachusetts.
What makes it onto your list of best autumn movies?