vermont

Here’s what I think you should know about Vermont. There’s lots of cideries and breweries, there is a Vermont Cheese Trail, and there are countless small towns to wander through, connected by two-lane highways with gorgeous views. If you go in April, as we did, you may experience a Vermont spring - sunny and 65 one day, snow the next. Plan your trip accordingly.

And if you visit during a pandemic, it feels exceedingly safe.

We planned to spend three weeks in Vermont; each week in a different place. We had some flexibility as we were working from home. Under non-pandemic circumstances, this trip would not have happened at such a leisurely pace.

Getting There

You can either drive through upstate New York, or pass through Connecticut and Western MA, to reach Vermont from New York City. We took the Connecticut/MA route as it had less traffic the day we were traveling. It’s about a five hour drive to Montpelier (our first destination).

Stops along the way:

(You can stop in Western MA during non-COVID times, but we did not to ensure we were following VT quarantine rules. There are lots of small towns along the way.)

• Brattleboro, VT: Nearly on the border of MA, this was our first stop. There is a downtown you could wander in for an hour or two, but we skipped that since we were starving. We headed to a seafood spot with outdoor seating and heat lamps that was better than I would have expected. If you have time and energy, the downtown is worth walking around for some window shopping.

• Quechee, VT: If this hadn’t been the pandemic times, I would have liked to stop in at the Simon Pearce Glass Factory. Lots of people commented on the good food and gorgeous view, as well as being able to watch glass-blowing and browsing the shop. The Quechee Gorge is also supposed to be a good hike. We did stop at the Quechee General Store, which was full of Vermont-y goods - maple everything, jams, honey, local wine and cider and cheese, and much more. Our first cider purchases were made here: a four-pack of Graft Cider’s Field Day and a four-pack of Champlain Orchard’s Mac & Maple. The latter seemed like a requirement, with the maple, and the former was described as a rhubarb spritz, which sounded delicious. We only learned later that Graft Cider was New-York based. The General Store had deceived us. We tried to stick to local brands after this error.
  

Montpelier, VT

Montpelier is the capital of Vermont, but it’s much smaller than Burlington. You can walk the downtown in twenty minutes without any stops. There are several cute stores tucked away, including two bookstores. Bear Pond Books has used books that are shelved with the new copies and marked with a sticker on the spine. This was such a pleasure, as often the used books section of a bookstore is in disarray and it’s difficult to find anything. I was able to find a used copy of Yaa Gyasi’s ‘Homegoing’, which I had heard a lot about (deservedly so!), as well as a book recommended by a writing class I had taken. They also had a little stationery section that was very tempting, but that I resisted.

Eats:

• Positive Pie: The pizza here was really good. They will do half and half if you’re using the same base, so consider that when you’re ordering. The crust had a slight tang to it, almost like sourdough. I was a little bummed we weren’t here long enough to order pizza a second time.

• Wilaiwan’s Kitchen: We had to place a pre-order to be able to pick up lunch from this Thai pop-up; when we showed up the day before without calling, the item we wanted had already been sold out. The pop-up has a rotating menu with three options. Ours was spicy and delicious, a great match for a snowy day.

• Morse Farm Maple Sugarworks: Come here to learn about maple syrup, taste it (yes, there are maple syrup tastings), and have a creemee. Creemees are a Vermont specialty - maple ice cream soft serve. Get one topped with maple sugar if you’re really feeling the maple. I recommend buying maple syrup here if you’re going to buy it anywhere; after the tasting, it was easier to understand the differences between what they were selling and what is usually at the supermarket.

Drinks:

The cider adventure had begun. Along with Champlain Orchard’s Mac and Maple and the Graft Cider we had picked up at the Quechee Market, we also picked up a Dry Shacksbury Cider and a Cyser (a honey mead and cider blend) from the local liquor store. The liquor stores in Vermont have fully stocked cider fridges the way most liquor stores elsewhere have craft beer fridges. You’ll find plenty of variety for at-home tasting, and a lot of the ciders are local. And if you’re not a cider drinker, there’s plenty of craft beer to choose from.

Montpelier, VT to Burlington, VT

We turned this 40 minute drive into an afternoon adventure. When we left Montpelier, we headed to Stowe Cider. They were open for socially distant tastings in their very airy warehouse, with some outdoor seating as well. You can purchase a mixed four-pack here (meaning they will put together the flavors you like), which was a nice perk to visiting (the liquor stores wouldn’t do this). We grabbed sandwiches at Stowe Sandwich Co, which were brought out to the car (and well wrapped for car eating). If you have more time and the weather is good, I imagine there are some great places for lunch in Stowe’s downtown.

The ciders at Cold Hollow Cider Mill

Our next stop was Cold Hollow Cider Mill. I recommend checking the times for tastings in advance; the general-store style gift shop is open most of the day, but the restaurant and tasting counter is not. We arrived in time to squeeze in a tasting before they closed for the afternoon. All the cider names are wonderfully punny. I hadn’t seen these ciders in any of the local liquor stores yet. I made one purchase here: a four-pack of Grateful Sled. If ever a cider tasted like the holiday season, this was it. I have it stashed in a closet now, waiting for December.

Here lies Magic Brownies

It was time for dessert. The way back to the highway went right by the flagship Ben & Jerry’s location, a place I have always wanted to visit. Before getting our ice cream, we walked up to the Flavor Graveyard to pay our respects. I have long mourned Magic Brownie, a flavor that spanned my college years and then ceased to exist. Its base, black raspberry, is a very underrated flavor that’s not always easy to find. I also hadn’t realized, until seeing the marker, that the flavor was associated with Dave Matthews Band.

Because of COVID, the tours of the factory weren’t running and the gift shop wasn’t open, but the scoop shop was. It doesn’t have any of the buried flavors, unfortunately, but it does have all the current ones. Get a scoop (or three) and sit in the sun to eat your ice cream.

Down the road, there was also a Cabot Cheese store (which was closed at the time) as well as Lake Champlain Chocolates, which was open. We picked up a few bars to bring with us to Burlington, a consolation prize since we couldn’t pick up any cheese.

Burlington, VT:

Burlington was a nice change after sleepy Montpelier. Due to the good weather we had there, as well as staying right on Church Street, a pedestrian thoroughfare, and the college kids out and about, it felt much more lively. In case you don’t make it through Waterbury to visit Ben & Jerry’s and Lake Champlain Chocolates, they both have outposts here, along with lots more cute shops to wander through.

Eats:

• Dedalus Wine Bar: Make a reservation! The dinner we had here felt incredibly decadent. From the oysters we started with to the carefully curated wine list to the Basque cheesecake I still think about, it was a perfect evening. We were there nearly three and a half hours, and since we were sitting outside, it had gotten quite chilly by the time we wrapped up. The back patio is lovely, and the inside dark and intimate. The wine store inside is also worth a visit; we picked up a few bottles on our way out.

• Honey Road: While this restaurant was only doing takeout while we were visiting, I would love to go back to eat inside. We picked up donuts on one weekend morning that were delicious, with unique flavors, and ordered a takeout dinner another night that also didn’t disappoint. The vegetable pide was the picture of spring.

• Poppy’s: this little sandwich shop is a twenty minute walk or so from the main strip of Church St., but it was a good excuse to stretch my legs during lunch. They have some intriguing sandwich combos that are put on excellent focaccia. I still have half a mind to try and recreate the sandwich I had there, which had lotus chips and soy sauce eggs on it, among other things.

Drinks:

• Citizen Cider: We continued our cider trend by visiting Citizen Cider. The cidery is an easy walk from downtown. We were disappointed to find that even though they were open, they weren’t doing tastings. We did each have a cider while we were there, but it was a bit of a letdown. I’d recommend trying Straw-bretty or Brose, flavors you can’t usually find outside Vermont. I had wanted to try Fruition, a lavender cider I had seen in the liquor store in Montpelier, but the cider flagship was already out of it. I regretted not buying it when I had seen it; our waitress said it had been popular.

• Shelburne Vineyard: About a fifteen minute drive from downtown Burlington, this was a great spot to spend a rainy afternoon. They do wine flights here, or wine by the glass if that’s more your taste, along with some small bites if you like to snack while drinking. If it’s sunny, make a reservation - we tried to stop by the day before, when it was sunny and beautiful out, and they didn’t have any room.

There were lots of cute cocktail bars, but we also encountered a lot of rain while we were in Burlington, and we weren’t comfortable dining indoors, so there wasn’t as much opportunity for sampling everything Burlington had to offer.

The Causeway through Lake Champlain

Walking:

In Burlington, spend at least one afternoon ambling along Church St. and walking down to the waterfront. It’s a beautiful view, and there’s lots of places to sit and perhaps have lunch while enjoying the water.

There’s a few spots further out that are perfect for a walk on a sunny day. On the recommendation of a coworker, we spent one sunny morning walking around Shelburne Farms. One of the trails abuts Lake Champlain, so you can enjoy strolling by the water. We also took a morning walk along the Causeway, which makes you feel like you’re walking in the middle of the lake, and stretches quite far. I would love to see it in summer when the trees are blooming. The views were still unbelievable in late April.

Burlington, VT to Manchester, VT:

Route 7 connects these cities, and it is a pleasure to drive. It’s incredibly picturesque and sparsely populated between the bigger towns. Our first stop was a general store with giant maple syrup bottles outside; we couldn’t resist the photo op, and we had all day to do the two and a half hour drive. There are lots of spots like this along the route, so stop at at least one to browse and pick up something to nibble on.

Our first planned stop was Woodchuck Cider, near Middlebury. We lucked out, as they were open - lots of the cideries along this route were still closed because of COVID. They were doing tastings, so of course we settled in to try some cider. We enjoyed a lot of the fruitier flavors; I still have a few cans of Pear Prosecco cider stashed in my fridge. Be warned; almost everything there is sold in six-packs, and they won’t mix and match.

After Woodchuck Cider, we hopped over to Middlebury downtown to find some lunch, with a side of window-shopping. Following the smell of Indian food, we went down what seemed like an alleyway but opened up. The Indian restaurant appeared to only be doing takeout, but there was a restaurant further down that looked like it had some interesting options. Once we went in we realized they had outdoor seating as well. Haymaker Bun Co. was a great lunch option, and probably one of the larger doses of vegetables we’d had since we started traveling - a much needed change of pace.

Creemee with maple sugar

On our way out of Middlebury we stopped for another creemee at Burnham Maple Market. This one seemed even maple-ier than the last, and it was a nice dessert break before heading down the rest of the way to Manchester.

I would love to come back and do this stretch of highway over a week and visit all the towns and cideries nearby. By my original count, there were at least five cideries that were along the way, but everything was closed. Middlebury was also lovely and probably could have functioned as a nice home base.

Manchester, VT:

I should preface this by saying that our time in Manchester ended up being cut short a few days, so we did not experience as much of the area as we would have otherwise.

Manchester was a bit different from everywhere else we had stayed so far. The downtown area, for one, was not as close together, so having a car was nearly necessary to get around. The apartment we stayed at was lovely, with a little back porch, as well as a backyard with a bubbling brook. It was further from the main part of town than we had anticipated, though, which meant we were always taking the car to go there instead of walking. The kitchen in the apartment was beautiful, and I think I may have enjoyed the meals we cooked there more than any takeout we got that week.

We were able to catch our first farmer’s market in Dorset, one town over. We had been too early for the markets in Montpelier and Burlington to be open, so it was wonderful to have a chance to go here. It was a little early for vegetables, but we picked up some local cheese and bread, and some beautiful mushrooms. Don’t miss out on the biscotti stand, either; the orange and pistachio ones (pictured up top) drizzled with chocolate were amazing.

In downtown Manchester, make sure to visit Northshire Bookstore. They had the best postcards I had seen on our trip, and it’s the kind of bookstore you could spend hours in. There’s also a huge stationery selection, so if you are a snail mail fanatic like me, you may need some time here.

Manchester is an outlet hub, but each shop or two is in their own area, contributing to the way the downtown is spread out and not as easy to walk. Some of the outlets appeared to have closed during COVID, but luckily the one I was most excited about was still open - the Le Creuset outlet. I had been wanting to get a Dutch oven for years, but couldn’t bring myself to bite the bullet because of the cost. The day we went happened to be the last day of a major sale; I got a Dutch oven for less than half of what I would have spent otherwise. There’s also a sizable clearance section. If you like kitchen items, you will be tempted to spend here, but you’ll likely find some great deals too.

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I would love to come back to Vermont again, perhaps when it’s a little warmer, and when a pandemic isn’t in play. I would eat more cheese and drink more cider, and spend a little more time outdoors (weather permitting, of course). There are so many small towns to visit that I would probably want to see new places, though a return visit to Burlington would also be welcome. If you visit, bring or rent a car - it does help, and even in Burlington, we were able to find free parking.

Whenever I plan a vacation, I make a Google Map with everything I’d like to see. Here’s mine - it has a lot of places we didn’t make it to, and may be missing a few we did, but perhaps it can help as a guide for your own trip to Vermont.