▲ VermontDestinations
★★★ Burlington · Vermont ★ 4 · 485
Courtyard by Marriott Burlington Williston

Courtyard by Marriott Burlington Williston

from $217

Good to know

Class
3-star
Area
Burlington
Guest rating
4 (485)
from
$217

Where to stay

Where to stay in Vermont: picking the right area

For a first visit, base yourself in Stowe, Woodstock or Burlington. Burlington on Lake Champlain is the cheapest of the three midweek and the only one with an airport, university nightlife and walkable dining on Church Street; Stowe and Woodstock are resort towns where a mid-range room runs $250-400 in season and $180-250 off-season. Manchester in Bennington County suits shoppers and Equinox hikers, Killington and Ludlow suit skiers who want lift-ticket proximity, and Middlebury in Addison County splits the difference between college town and farmland.

For quieter stays, Waitsfield and Warren in the Mad River Valley, Grafton in Windham County, and the Northeast Kingdom towns of St. Johnsbury and around Lake Willoughby run 20-40% cheaper than Stowe for comparable inns. Brattleboro and Bennington in the south are the natural first or last night if you are driving up from New York or Boston. Skip Rutland as a base unless you are skiing Killington on a budget — it is 20 minutes from the lifts and rooms are often half the price.

Best time to visit Vermont, month by month

Peak foliage runs roughly 25 September to 15 October, and hotel rates in Stowe, Woodstock and Manchester double or triple against summer — expect $500-900 for rooms that cost $200 in August, with two-night minimums standard. Ski season peaks from Christmas week through February at Killington, Stratton, Jay Peak and Smugglers' Notch, with the last week of December and Presidents' Day weekend the two most expensive dates on the calendar. March is still skiable and 30% cheaper than February at most mountains.

April and early May are 'mud season' — many country inns in Grafton, Waitsfield and the Northeast Kingdom close entirely, and those open discount heavily. June through August is warm, quiet and the best value outside the ski towns, with lake rooms in Grand Isle County and Burlington around $180-280. Late May, early June and the first three weeks of November are the cheapest windows overall; November is when locals travel.

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.

Questions, answered

Do I need a car in Vermont?
Yes, for almost every itinerary. Burlington alone is walkable and has buses, and a single-resort ski trip to Killington, Stowe or Jay Peak can work with shuttles from the airport plus on-mountain transport. Anything involving Woodstock, Manchester, the Mad River Valley, the Northeast Kingdom or covered-bridge touring requires a car. Amtrak’s Vermonter and Ethan Allen Express are useful for arriving but not for getting around.
Is Vermont better for families or couples?
Both, but the areas split. Couples lean to Woodstock, Grafton, Manchester and the small inns of Waitsfield and Warren, where many properties are adults-only or child-restricted. Families do better at Smugglers' Notch (which is built around family ski packages), Jay Peak (with its indoor Pump House waterpark), Killington and the lakefront hotels in Burlington and Grand Isle County. Twin Farms and most Relais & Châteaux-style inns don’t take children under 12 or 14.
What should I book early for a Vermont trip?
Foliage rooms for late September through mid-October need booking six to nine months out, especially in Stowe, Woodstock and Waitsfield where the best inns sell out by March. Christmas week and Presidents' Day weekend at Killington, Stowe and Stratton go a similar distance ahead. Twin Farms near Barnard often books 12 months out. Summer and non-holiday winter weekends can usually be picked up within a month.
What’s a typical nightly rate for a hotel in Vermont?
A typical mid-range room runs $200-350 in Woodstock, Stowe, Manchester and Burlington outside peak weeks. Budget motels in Rutland, South Burlington and along Route 7 sit at $110-160. Foliage weekends push the mid-range figure to $500-800 and holiday ski weeks at Stowe or Killington hit $600-1,200 for standard resort rooms. Add 9% state rooms tax plus 1% local option in most tourist towns.
Is Vermont walkable or do you need to drive everywhere?
Individual town centres are walkable — Burlington’s Church Street, Woodstock village, Middlebury, Montpelier, Brattleboro and Manchester Center are all compact and pleasant on foot. Between towns you drive. Stowe village and Mountain Road are 6 miles apart and most hotels sit on the Mountain Road side, so even 'staying in Stowe' means driving to dinner unless you use the seasonal Mountain Road Shuttle. Ski villages at Stratton, Killington and Jay Peak are self-contained pedestrian bases.
Ready for the trip?
Live prices for 8M+ hotels. Every booking removes a tonne of CO₂ — at no extra cost to you.
Search live prices