The Essex Resort & Spa is a solid 4-star pick in Essex County, Vermont — comfortable rooms and a base that keeps central Essex County close.
Guests typically choose Essex County for its balance of location and price; The Essex Resort & Spa is a good fit if you want to be near the action in Vermont.
Rates shift with the season and with demand, so the live price on the booking page is always the one to trust — tap through for tonight's or your dates' real availability.
Good to know
One tonne of CO2 removed with every Vermont booking
Every room booked through IMPT funds the permanent removal of one tonne of CO2, paid for out of the commission the hotel already pays us. There is no surcharge added to your rate in Burlington, Stowe or anywhere else on the site — the price you see is the price you pay.
A tonne is roughly what a return drive from Boston to Jay Peak and back four times puts into the atmosphere, or about six months of heating oil for a typical Montpelier farmhouse. We are not claiming your hotel is green; we are saying the booking itself pulls a measurable tonne back out.
Where you’ll be
70 Essex Way, Essex Junction
Getting around Vermont: car, train and bus
You need a car. Amtrak's Vermonter runs once daily from Washington DC through Brattleboro, White River Junction, Montpelier and Waterbury to St. Albans, and the Ethan Allen Express reaches Rutland and Burlington from New York, but neither gets you to Stowe, Woodstock village, Killington base, Jay Peak or anywhere in the Northeast Kingdom without a further drive. Greyhound and Vermont Translines cover the I-89 and I-91 corridors but are infrequent. Burlington International (BTV) is the main airport; Manchester-Boston (MHT) and Albany (ALB) are often cheaper flights and put you within 2-3 hours of most of southern Vermont.
Driving distances are shorter than they look on the map but slower in practice: Burlington to Stowe is 40 minutes, Burlington to Woodstock is 1h45, Stowe to Killington is 1h30, and Brattleboro to Jay Peak is nearly 3 hours end to end. Route 100 down the spine of the Green Mountains is the scenic route and adds 20-40 minutes over I-89 or I-91. In winter, all-wheel drive and snow tyres are genuinely useful north of Waterbury.
How many nights in Vermont and a first-timer route
Five to seven nights is the sweet spot for a first visit; three is enough only if you stay in one area. A classic loop from Burlington: two nights in Burlington (Shelburne Museum, Church Street, Lake Champlain), two in Stowe or Waitsfield (Mount Mansfield, Ben & Jerry's in Waterbury, Cold Hollow Cider), two in Woodstock (Quechee Gorge, Billings Farm, covered bridges), then out via Manchester or Brattleboro. That covers Chittenden, Lamoille, Washington and Windsor counties without doubling back.
For foliage, add a night and slow down — driving Route 100 from Stowe to Ludlow eats a full day if you stop. For a ski trip, pick one mountain and stay put: Killington, Stowe, Sugarbush from Warren, Stratton or Jay Peak all reward four to five nights on-mountain more than they reward touring. The Northeast Kingdom (Essex, Orleans, Caledonia counties) deserves its own three-night trip rather than being tacked onto a first visit.
What Vermont hotels actually cost
Budget in Vermont means $110-160 a night: chain motels in Rutland, White River Junction and South Burlington, or older motor inns along Route 7 and Route 100. Mid-range at $200-350 gets you a country inn room in Woodstock, Middlebury or Manchester, a standard room at a Stowe or Killington resort, or a lake-view room in Burlington. Top-end at $500-1,200 covers Twin Farms near Barnard (all-inclusive, one of the most expensive hotels in the US), the Woodstock Inn, Equinox in Manchester and the Lodge at Spruce Peak in Stowe.
Rates spike hardest during foliage (late September to mid-October), Christmas and New Year week at the ski mountains, Presidents' Day weekend, and Dartmouth and UVM graduation weekends in May and June — Hanover-area and Burlington rooms can triple. Two-night minimums are near-universal on weekends year-round at inns, and three-night minimums appear on holiday weekends. Vermont adds a 9% rooms tax and many towns add a 1% local option, so budget roughly 10% on top of the quoted rate.