I have always wanted to see New England in the autumn, and this year the opportunity presented itself so I jumped at the chance. Our friends were making a two month trip from Maine on the north of the east coast of the U.S.A. down to Florida, they were planning to stop in Vermont for a few days so we decided to meet them there.
As for when to go, it’s a bit of a guessing game, we arrived on the 14th of October and I would say we timed it just about right for Vermont. The trees start turning first in the northern states, Maine etc, and the fall season progresses south. This can vary by a couple of weeks, year on year, but if you can drive around you are pretty much guaranteed to see fall colour in October.
Boston
We flew into Boston with British Airways from Heathrow, we used our Avios points to buy a companion voucher which gave us one of the tickets for free, making the trip much more affordable.
Having already visited Boston twice before I have already seen most of the attractions, so we only stayed for one night. Boston is a smallish city and its easy to walk around the centre. I would highly recommend staying a few days if you haven’t been, as there is lots to see and do. I headed to Beacon Hill, Back Bay area which has streets of pretty historic houses, nice shops, parks and restaurants. We had a delicious meal at a steak restaurant in the evening (steak is so good in America). Unfortunately the remnants of a tropical storm were passing over and it was pouring with rain the whole time we were there, I’m so glad I took a rain coat!
I apologise for my washed out look in the photo below but I had been up for 22 hours at this point and had spent a couple of hours walking about in the wind and rain. The best way to get over jet lag to the U.S. I find, is to stay up as late as you can on the day you arrive, so we were out and about until 10pm.
We were up very early, and headed straight back out, we found a lovely breakfast place in Beacon Hill, I had french toast with fruit and maple syrup, yum!
We had collected our hire car from the airport and left Boston around 11.30am headed out to Vermont.
Vermont
Vermont is a 2 1/2 to 3 hour drive from Boston so you do not need to stay in Boston if you don’t want to. American cities are expensive especially with the poor exchange rate we have right now (oct 2022), so to make the trip less expensive I’d head straight out of the city.
Woodstock
As soon as we left the city the amazing fall colour surrounded us on the Freeway. As it was Friday the roads were quiet and we had arranged to meet our friends just outside Woodstock at Ottauquechee River Gorge (pictured below), it was still overcast but the colour was amazing. We then headed into Woodstock to look around the very pretty town full of lovely houses and shops.
After a coffee and ice cream stop we headed on to our Airbnb in Warren, a further hours drive away.
Warren
It was just starting to get dark as we drove into Warren, it stayed light just long enough for us to see the beautifully located house we were staying in. We had picked up dinner in Boston before we left, I brought a cool bag with me….. yes I’m that organised! So we ate in the first night to enjoy the lovely house our friends had chosen.
Our Airbnb was a short walk to the centre passed a covered bridge over the Mad River. In the centre, is a very cute general store that also sells takeaway breakfast, some boutique shops and the Pitcher restaurant which has fine dining or a more casual area downstairs with American pool tables, we ate there on the second night and the locals taught us the more complicated rules of American pool…. we lost! There are several local hikes which take you to the Warren Falls, very popular for swimming in the summer.
Stowe
On Saturday we woke up to amazing sunshine and drove to Stowe, one of the most popular towns to visit. As it was the weekend it was much busier on the roads and in Stowe itself. The town is very picturesque but a little spoilt by the amount of cars and people. We headed to the edge of the town and did the Sunset trail (it wasn’t sunset) this was a short but very beautiful walk to a view over Stowe and on to another view point of Mount Mansfield. There is a reel of this walk on my instagram.
Surrounding Stowe are many Hotels, motels and resorts, one of these is the Von Trapp Family Lodge which is owned and run by members of the family ( The sound of music) I never realised they were a real family or that they settled in Vermont after the war.
Mount Mansfield
Mount Mansfield is the largest mountain in Vermont, 4,395 ft above sea level. It is a popular ski area in the winter but the cable car/gondola runs for most of the year at peak times. You can also walk up, we chose the gondola as we did lots of walking elsewhere. It was totally worth the money as the trip was fun and the views were amazing. From the top you can see all the way to New Hampshire, and can clearly see Mount Washington, which we drove up a few years ago (one of the scariest drives I have ever done!) on a holiday with my boys when they were little.
Walking Trails
To truly see the beauty of Vermont you need to get off the beaten track, this is very easy as there are walking trails everywhere. We used the Alltrails app which gives you lots of information on the difficulty, inclines and length of the trails, you can rate the trails to help others too. Some of the most memorable scenery, experiences and photos were taken on these walks, and most of the time we only passed one or two people, instead of the crowds in the most popular areas! The only thing that disappointed me was that we didn’t see any moose!
Driving in Vermont is the same as walking, away from the tourist areas and popular scenic drives, it is quiet and easy, but around the them it is busy and slightly frustrating. Again, the best and most unexpected views were when we took a side road like the view below……
We were only in Vermont for three nights and this was plenty of time to soak up the fall colour and see the main sites of the southern Vermont area. The drive back to Boston was only 2/3 hours so we didn’t leave until lunchtime on the last day and squeezed another short walk in before we left.
There is a highlight of this trip on my Instagram