Comparisons & rankings

Best fall foliage drives in Vermont, ranked

The 7 leaf-peeping routes worth waking up at 6am for, from the Mad River Valley to the Northeast Kingdom.

cheaphotels · 18 January 2026 · 5 min read

The top three, no argument

Route 100 from Waitsfield to Warren is the one I send everyone on first — 15 miles of maple corridor, Sugarbush in the distance, and enough farm stands (Von Trapp Farmstead, Lawson's Finest Liquids taproom) to break up the drive. Second place goes to the Smugglers' Notch pass (Route 108) between Stowe and Jeffersonville: tight granite walls, no trucks allowed, closed by early November. Third: Route 12 through Woodstock into the Northeast Kingdom, best driven on a Tuesday when the tour buses stay home.

The underrated ones

Skip Route 7 entirely on weekends after October 5 — it turns into a parking lot from Manchester to Rutland. Instead, take Route 30 along Lake St. Catherine, or the Kingdom's Route 114 from Lyndonville to Island Pond, which peaks about a week earlier than the rest of the state. The Molly Stark Byway (Route 9) from Brattleboro to Bennington is a solid rainy-day choice — 40 miles, a couple of covered bridges, and Hogback Mountain's 100-mile view if the clouds cooperate.

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Plan your days here

📍 Places to visit

Walk Church Street end to end

Sunset ferry to Port Kent, NY

Bike the Island Line Causeway

ECHO Center on the waterfront

🥾 Walks & outdoors

Church Street to Waterfront Loop (3 km)

🍽 Eat & go out

Walk Church Street end to end

What Vermont hotels cost

Prices swing hard by season. In shoulder months (late April to early June, and early November), a decent motel or inn runs $85-$130 in Rutland, St. Johnsbury or Brattleboro, and $130-$180 in Burlington or Stowe. Mid-range B&Bs in Woodstock and Manchester sit around $180-$260. Summer (July to Labor Day) adds roughly 20-30% and brings two-night minimums to popular inns. Burlington waterfront properties like Hotel Vermont or the Courtyard on Cherry Street run $250-$340 in July.

Then comes foliage. From September 25 through mid-October, expect $300-$500 at Woodstock Inn, Twin Farms nudging $2,000-plus all-inclusive, and even roadside motels charging $200. Ski season pricing depends on snow and holidays: a slopeside condo at Killington or Stowe runs $280-$550 midweek and $500-$900 on Presidents Weekend or Christmas week. Book foliage by April and Christmas ski weeks by June if you want any choice.

Getting around and when to go

Vermont is a driving state. Interstate 89 runs Burlington to White River Junction (about 1h45), and I-91 hugs the Connecticut River from Brattleboro north to St. Johnsbury. Amtrak helps at the margins: the Vermonter connects Washington and New York to Brattleboro, Montpelier and Burlington (roughly 8h from NYC, $75-$95), and the Ethan Allen Express runs New York to Burlington via Rutland. Burlington International Airport (BTV) is 15 minutes from downtown; car rentals there beat trying to bus around the state.