As a New Yorker......not the city, just the state.......wife and I like to drive around aimlessly on back roads that take us up on top of hills that let us look down into the valleys below. We try to catch colors when they are "peak" as in sharpest, brightest, fullest, usually only about a week long window, sometime in the September/October time frame depending where you are in the state, north ( Adirondack mts ) or south ( Catskill mts ).
Be advised a wet fall will kill leaf peaking, knock the leaves right out of the trees.