Foliage road trip · Burlington, VT

A Vermont Fall Foliage Road Trip for Two

Vermont is the state fall foliage trips are measured against, and the reason is geography as much as maple trees…

3-day plan6 stopsCouples weekendBurlingtonPeak color late Sept-mid Oct

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The shape of the trip

Vermont is the state fall foliage trips are measured against, and the reason is geography as much as maple trees: the Green Mountains run down the middle, Lake Champlain sits to the west, and a short drive on Route 100 or up through Smugglers' Notch puts you inside the color rather than just looking at it from a scenic overlook. This is a loop built around that geography — a night in Burlington on the lake, a night in Stowe up in the valley, and the drive between them as its own destination.

Color moves through Vermont from north to south and high to low: the Northeast Kingdom and the higher elevations around Stowe and Smugglers' Notch usually turn first, in the last week of September, with the Champlain Valley and lower Burlington following a week or two behind. That means a single long weekend here can catch two different stages of the same season depending on which way you drive — climb toward Smugglers' Notch on a green-going-orange day in town and the color can be a week further along at the top.

Good to know

Vermont 108 through Smugglers' Notch is a real mountain pass with hairpin turns and no guardrail in places, and it closes for the winter every year — usually in November, sometimes as early as the first week if a storm arrives early. It is one of the best foliage drives in New England and it is genuinely not usable once it shuts, so check road status before you build a day around it.

How to use this

Three days, one anchor each, with an easy backup for a rainy or a tired afternoon. Peak color is not the same date every year — Vermont's state foliage report (the source most local businesses point to) updates weekly from early September, and it is worth a look a few days before you drive up rather than trusting a single calendar date. Book lodging in Stowe and Burlington well ahead for the first two weekends of October; both sell out early for peak weekends, and Columbus Day weekend is the single busiest few days of the Vermont fall calendar.

Jump to a day

Day 1 · Burlington and the Lake Champlain waterfront Day 2 · Route 100 to Stowe, and Smugglers’ Notch Day 3 · The Route 100 valley south, at your own pace

Day 1Half day

Burlington and the Lake Champlain waterfront

A note from Wonder

Burlington International Airport is a 15-minute drive from downtown if you’re flying in; otherwise it’s about a 45-minute drive from Montpelier or 3–4 hours from Boston. Church Street and the waterfront are both walkable from downtown hotels.

Anchor

Church Street Marketplace

Start in town. Church Street Marketplace is Burlington's pedestrian main street — four blocks of shops, cafes and restaurants between the University of Vermont campus and the lake — and it's the easy, low-key way to spend a first afternoon after a drive. From the south end of Church Street it's a ten-minute walk down to the Lake Champlain waterfront, where the Burlington Bike Path runs along the shore with the Adirondacks visible across the water and, in good years, real color in the trees lining the park.

If you want the lake from the water itself rather than the shore, the Whistling Man Schooner Company runs sailing cruises out of the Burlington Boathouse into October, weather depending — check the schedule for the date, since the season shortens as the days get colder. Sunset over the lake and the mountains beyond it is the reason people build a Burlington evening around the waterfront rather than downtown.

Church Street Marketplace

Photo: Abid

Backup

Shelburne Museum

If the day turns wet or you'd rather trade the lake for something indoors, the Shelburne Museum a few miles south of town is a genuinely odd, wonderful stop: 39 historic buildings — including a beached steamboat, a round barn and a lighthouse — moved onto one property and turned into a folk-art and Americana museum. Several buildings are seasonal, so check hours for your date before you plan around a specific one; the grounds themselves are worth the walk even on a gray afternoon.

Shelburne Museum

Photo: Irish Conklin

Eat & rest

Church Street has the highest concentration of easy dinner options in Burlington — casual to sit-down, all within a few minutes of each other. If you'd rather eat where the sailing cruises leave from, there are a handful of waterfront restaurants near the Burlington Boathouse with lake views for the last light of the day.

Day 2Full day with stops

Route 100 to Stowe, and Smugglers’ Notch

A note from Wonder

Burlington to Stowe is about 40 minutes via Route 100; the Notch road (Route 108) is the more direct but slower route from Stowe to Jeffersonville. Fill up on gas before the Notch — there is nothing along the pass itself.

Anchor

Smugglers' Notch State Park

This is the anchor of the trip. Vermont Route 108 climbs out of Stowe through Smugglers' Notch — a narrow, twisting mountain pass between Mount Mansfield and Spruce Peak, with sheer rock walls close enough on both sides to touch from a pullout — and comes out the other side in Jeffersonville. It's about a 20-minute drive end to end without stopping, but nobody drives it without stopping: there are marked pullouts for the rock formations, roadside waterfalls, and short trails to caves that were genuinely used for smuggling in the 1800s.

Because the pass runs through a gap in the mountains at real elevation, the color up here often runs a week or so ahead of the valley floor in Stowe — which makes it a good move on a trip timed for early in the season, when town itself is still mostly green. The road is narrow, has hairpin turns, and is not recommended for RVs, trailers, or anyone uneasy about tight mountain driving; take it slowly and use the pullouts rather than stopping on the road. It closes for winter every year, typically sometime in November depending on the first real snow — check vtrans.vermont.gov or the state's road status page for current conditions before you drive up, especially late in the season.

Smugglers' Notch State Park

Photo: Aaron Jacobs

Backup

Stowe Mountain Resort Gondola SkyRide

If the Notch road is closed, or you'd rather see the color from above without driving a mountain pass, the Gondola SkyRide at Stowe Mountain Resort runs through mid-October, typically 10am to 4:30pm, and takes you to the shoulder of Mount Mansfield — Vermont's highest peak — for a panoramic view over the valley. It's a considerably easier way to get elevation than the Notch, and a good option if the weather in the pass is uncertain. Check stowe.com for the last operating day of the season before you plan around it.

Stowe Mountain Resort Gondola SkyRide

Photo: Rahul Kini

Eat & rest

On the way up from Waterbury, Cold Hollow Cider Mill on Route 100 is a genuine working cider mill — fresh-pressed cider, cider donuts, and a farm store — open daily year-round and an easy 20-minute stop. The Ben & Jerry's Factory, a few minutes further along, runs tours through the fall with the last tour around 5pm; tickets are released only about two weeks ahead, so it's a same-trip booking rather than something to plan months out. In Stowe itself, the village has a run of casual and sit-down restaurants within walking distance of most lodging.

Day 3Half to full day

The Route 100 valley south, at your own pace

A note from Wonder

This day has no fixed stops, so build it around however much driving you want — an hour each way from Waterbury to Warren and back is enough to see the valley without overdoing it.

Anchor

Route 100 Scenic Byway

Route 100 is Vermont's classic north–south foliage drive, running the length of the state through the valley between the Green Mountains and the Worcester Range, and the stretch south from Waterbury through Waitsfield and Warren — the Mad River Valley — is one of the prettiest and least rushed sections of it. There's no single must-see stop; the drive itself, with covered bridges, farm stands and mountain views opening up at every bend, is the point. Pull off wherever looks good.

The Waitsfield area has several historic covered bridges worth a short detour, and the drive back north into Waterbury in the late afternoon, with low sun coming through the valley, is usually the best light of the whole trip. Give this day no fixed itinerary — it's the one built for wandering rather than checking off stops.

Route 100 Scenic Byway

Photo: Green Mountain Dry Goods

Backup

Shelburne Farms

If you'd rather stay closer to Burlington for the last day, Shelburne Farms is a working farm and National Historic Landmark on Lake Champlain with about 10 miles of walking trails through meadows, forest and lakeshore — gentler and shorter than a mountain drive, and a good option if the weather in the mountains looks unreliable. Trails are generally open dawn to dusk through mid-October; the welcome center and farm store keep shorter off-season hours, so check ahead for the specifics of your date.

Shelburne Farms

Photo: Alex Wiley

Eat & rest

Waitsfield and Warren both have small-town general stores and casual restaurants worth a lunch stop — the Warren Store in particular is a classic Vermont country store with a deli counter. Back in Burlington or Stowe for a last dinner, either downtown option from the earlier days works as a bookend to the trip.

Timing a Vermont foliage trip

A few things worth checking before you lock in dates — Vermont foliage moves fast and the calendar shifts a little every year:

Color typically starts in the Northeast Kingdom and higher elevations (Smugglers’ Notch, Mount Mansfield) in the last week of September, reaches the Stowe/Waterbury area in early October, and moves into the Champlain Valley around Burlington by the second week of October.
Vermont's state foliage report, updated weekly from early September through mid-October, is the most current source — check it a few days before you drive rather than relying on a fixed date months out.
Columbus Day weekend (the second weekend of October) is the single busiest weekend of the Vermont fall season for lodging and traffic on Route 100 and around Stowe. Book well ahead or aim for a week earlier or later.
Smugglers' Notch (Route 108) closes for the winter every year, typically in November but sometimes as early as the first week if snow arrives early — check current status before driving up late in the season.
Weekday drives are noticeably quieter than weekends on Route 100 and through the Notch — if your schedule is flexible, that is the easiest way to avoid the worst of the traffic.

Rainy-day backups

Vermont weather in October is genuinely changeable — keep one of these in reserve:

Shelburne Museum — 39 historic buildings and an Americana collection a few miles south of Burlington; several buildings keep seasonal hours, so check ahead (see Day 1).
Ben & Jerry’s Factory tour in Waterbury — indoors, runs through the fall; book online, tickets release about two weeks ahead.
Stowe Mountain Resort Gondola SkyRide — the view without the mountain-pass driving, when weather makes the Notch a bad idea (see Day 2).
Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe — built by the real von Trapp family, with a Bavarian-style property, a bakery and mountain views; a good easy stop between rain showers.

Where to eat on the road

Cold Hollow Cider Mill, Waterbury Center — fresh cider and cider donuts, open daily year-round; the easiest stop on the whole loop.
The Warren Store, Warren — a classic Vermont country store with a deli counter, on the Route 100 stretch south of Waitsfield.
Church Street Marketplace, Burlington — the highest concentration of casual-to-sit-down restaurants on the trip, all walkable.
Stowe village — a compact run of restaurants within walking distance of most Stowe lodging, easy after a day on Route 108.

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