Hey there, friends! If you follow me closely on Instagram or Instastories, you know that I have been exploring the beautiful state of Vermont in pursuit of colorful leaves and delicious bites infused with either apple or pumpkin! Give this Florida girl ALL the Fall things … I am here for it! We started this little trip in Burlington, Vermont, so this is a little recap of our time there!
Already ready to shop my look? Here you go!
This has been a trip that Victoria and I have talked about doing for a long time now. When I lived in London, her and I started shooting together in August. When late September / early October rolled around, I texted her asking where all the pumpkin patches were in London. She laughed and was like ‘what?!?’ Let’s just say … Londoner’s and Brit’s, in general, don’t go crazy over fall [they refer to it as ‘autumn’] the way we do. She was always so surprised and a bit puzzled by our fascination / love for all the things we celebrate and make much of during this time of year. I suggested she come visit the New England area sometime to see and experience it all for herself. She loved that idea and we have finally put some gas behind it!
Today, I’m sharing a mini-travel diary for the first stop on our Vermont road trip: Burlington! Our other two stops were Stowe and Woodstock. More on those to come!
Planning a Fall Trip To Vermont?
To be honest, planning our trip was a bit stressful as you never really know when the peak of color change is going to be. Victoria has a wedding on the 20th of October so we decided to spread her trip over a two-week period starting in the beginning of October. We were literally just crossing our fingers it would work out in our favor because those dates were our only option. However, I did take a peek at this website and this website to see what our chances were!
We planned to meet up in New York City then fly up to Burlington, Vermont, as it puts us in the perfect location to start this road trip. Since she was coming from abroad, I felt like it was smart to stay one night in Burlington, just in case there were issues with her flight. I’m thankful that we did that because her flight, actually, was late getting out of London and she missed our flight to Burlington. Luckily, she caught a later flight in the afternoon. It was a really cute little town but 24-hours was plenty for us! Do some research and stay as long as you think you’d be happy with, though! I would say you don’t need more than two full days to see and experience the city.
Where To Stay
My biggest piece of advice if you’re using this post for assistance in planning your own Vermont trip is to book your accommodations a few months out! We booked ours in Stowe early enough but we waited on Burlington, for whatever reason, and everything was sold out for that one evening we were there, which was a Saturday. It was Homecoming weekend for both colleges that are located in the city of Burlington so it was to be expected but, planning ahead would have saved me a lot of headache! It’s also worth noting that a lot of people, like myself, come to the area this time of year for ‘leaf peeping’ so you just want to make sure you get your reservations in as soon as you book your flights so you don’t run into the same problem we had.
SIDE NOTE: This also goes with rental cars! We had booked ours early enough but I overheard the lady at the Enterprise counter telling someone on the phone that they were sold out of vehicles!
We were thinking we were going to have to stay in Canada [seriously!] but ended up finding a room [minimum 2-night stay; at least on that weekend] at the La Quinta Inn & Suites in Saint Albans, which was 30-minutes north of Burlington. This was not ideal for us, but it was clean and comfortable, with breakfast included in our reservation. It wasn’t anything super impressive though. It was just a very ‘standard’, older hotel.
I would recommend staying somewhere in the city center. Here are a few places that I think look charming and worth a stay:
Where To Eat
We weren’t in town long enough for me to have eaten at a long list of places however, I’ll share where we ate and a few places that were recommended that we would have liked to checked out for ourselves!
Where We Ate:
American Flatbread – We called in a take away order to American Flatbread on the first evening we were in town. They have a wide variety of flatbread’s but they as big as pizza’s so I’m not sure why it isn’t just called American Pizza, ha! We got the Pepperoni & Peppers and added mushrooms. So yummy!
Monarch & the Milkweed – This spot is literally right next to American Flatbread . It’s super cute and quaint. We went on a Sunday morning. Other places in the area had really long waits but this one was only about ten minutes. We were thinking maybe we had missed our chance at a good spot because of this, but we were VERY wrong. I got chicken and waffles, which was served with a helping of sausage gravy [okay, so not my healthiest breakfast choice] as well as a yogurt, granola and fruit bowl. I clearly couldn’t decide between sweet and savory but, honestly, both were so delicious … I don’t regret splurging on two things in the slightest! Victoria got waffles with fruit puree of which she enjoyed entirely, as well! We left very happy with our experience so definitely consider it on your upcoming visit!
Tight Squeeze Coffee Shop – Don’t miss their maple latte!
Other Spots We Heard Were Delish:
Penny Cluse Cafe – get there early for brunch!
What We Did
Again, this list won’t be long as we weren’t in town very long. Our activities included eating brunch and the following:
Explored Shelburne:
While doing some research on this little area and what it had to offer in terms of Fall fun, everything kept pointing me to the town of Shelburne, a short 15-minute drive south.
Shelburne Country Store – Be sure to stop into this adorable country store for penny candy, fresh apple and pumpkin butter and homemade fudge! This is the best place to grab little knick-knacks to bring home for your friends and family, or for yourself! I got some fresh apple butter, blueberry jam as well as apple jam!
Shelburne Farms – This is a fully functioning farm producing milk, cheese, vegetables, and meat. The food that they grow honors and preserves the land it comes from. This farm serves as an education resource by practicing rural land use that is environmentally, economically and culturally sustainable. You can tell they treat the land and the animals so well. This is an amazing place to bring kids! We got to watch one of the farm hands teach a group of us how to milk one of their gorgeous Brown Swiss Cow.
Shelburne Orchards – Shelburne Orchards is a family owned and operated pick-your-own apple orchard on the shores of Lake Champlain. Victoria and I didn’t have time to go apple picking with the drive to Stowe on our list to do before nightfall but we did enjoy fresh cider donuts and hot apple cider. It was super cold the day we went so it definitely hit the spot! The staff is super sweet and helpful and the farm is a great place for some family photo’s!
And that’s it! That’s what we did during our short time in this beautiful area of Vermont! I wish I had more to recommend but I do believe this is a great start! The University of Vermont is located in Burlington so there’s likely tons to do here for a college student, friend or family member of a college student so definitely rely on them to help guide you. The lake front of Lake Champlain looked beautiful so I’d recommend meandering down there to see what that is like, as well!
Thanks for stopping by today! A bunch of outfit inspiration from my trip hitting the blog this week so be sure to come back tomorrow! 🙂 xo.
