Winter Getaway: Vermont

The Perfect Winter Getaway in Vermont

Sum­mer is now a dis­tant mem­o­ry, and most peo­ple are busy plan­ning their hol­i­days and win­ter get­aways with their loved ones. Some make it a point to go some­where warm to try and curb the win­ter depres­sion.

Oth­ers rev­el in the beau­ty of win­ter and great out­door activ­i­ties such as ski­ing, tobog­gan­ing, and snow­mo­bil­ing to name a few. If you’ve nev­er enjoyed a prop­er win­ter vaca­tion, then we’d like to rec­om­mend a ski resort in one of America’s most pop­u­lar loca­tions; Ver­mont.

Avid skiers hav­ing been com­ing to Ver­mont for a win­ter get­away since the first doc­u­ment­ed run on Mount Mans­field at the ven­er­a­ble Stowe Resort in 1914.

Ver­mont is home to thou­sands of acres of forest­ed moun­tains, with thou­sands of miles of hik­ing trails along with count­less ski­ing slopes, and many dif­fer­ent types of ter­rains.

Vermont, home to the best slopes for skiing.

Killing­ton Resort and Pico Moun­tain have the longest ski­ing sea­sons in the east, open­ing from Octo­ber to May thanks to advanced man-made snow-mak­ing tech­nol­o­gy.

Killing­ton Resort lies in Rut­land Coun­ty, with a pop­u­la­tion of 811 exclud­ing the thou­sands upon thou­sands who descend on this gor­geous moun­tain vil­lage for ski­ing, snow­board­ing, snow­shoe­ing and more. Killing­ton fea­tures state of the art facil­i­ties, with live music, food options, and more on the slopes in high sea­son.

Ver­mont intro­duced Nordic ski­ing to North Amer­i­ca, and most resorts offer cross coun­try trails along with the slopes. The major­i­ty of resorts offer fam­i­ly-friend­ly expe­ri­ences, includ­ing Smuggler’s Notch, Oke­mo and Strat­ton, with super­vised children’s pro­grams and even child­care ser­vices.

Some, like Stowe, Sug­ar­bush, and Killing­ton Resort also include more grown-up offer­ings like din­ing events in coop­er­a­tion with local winer­ies.

A ski lift in use dur­ing the warmer months.

Weather expectations in Vermont. 

Weath­er in the autumn is crisp, and the stun­ning col­or changes of fall foliage can begin as ear­ly as mid-August and last till about mid-Octo­ber. It’s the per­fect weath­er for hik­ing, cycling and long dri­ves to enjoy the scenery.

Snow accu­mu­la­tions aver­age about 60 inch­es in the low­er regions of the state near Lake Cham­plain, while the Green Moun­tains in the south can receive dou­ble that amount.

The aver­age win­ter tem­per­a­ture is 22 degrees Fahren­heit, punc­tu­at­ed by warmer spells where the mer­cury climbs as high as 40 or 50.

A ski­er caught in action on the slopes.

More to Vermont than just skiing on the slopes.

Strat­ton, in the Green Moun­tain area to the south, is where you’ll find a spec­tac­u­lar nat­ur­al phe­nom­e­non known as the Ice Cas­tles, a must see on your win­ter vaca­tion.

Cre­at­ed where ice caves and frozen water­falls inter­sect, the ice forms a series of arch­es and cav­erns, with lights and music to enhance the expe­ri­ence.

In the sum­mer, there are beach­es and water sports at Ith­ilel Falls on the Lam­oille Riv­er. Ver­mont is also home to more than a hun­dred cov­ered wood­en bridges that date back to the 19th cen­tu­ry.

The majes­tic ice cas­tles in Strat­ton.

Exploring Vermont’s many towns and cities.

Burling­ton, on the shores of Lake Cham­plain in the north­ern part of the state, is a small city with a big night life scene, includ­ing trendy clubs with danc­ing and live music, like Red Square or the Rusty Nail.

Shop­pers will enjoy the Church Street Mar­ket­place in Burling­ton, with four blocks of stores along brick-lined streets open only to pedes­tri­ans.

A pic­turesque creek mean­ders through the well pre­served 19th cen­tu­ry archi­tec­ture of Grafton, which lies to the east of the Green Moun­tain Nation­al For­est.

New­fane, also locat­ed in the south­east­ern por­tion of the state, is list­ed on the Nation­al Reg­is­ter of His­toric Places and retains its gen­uine small town charm.

A snow cov­ered street in Burling­ton, Ver­mont.

Experience farm-to-table dining in Vermont.

Ski­ing and the great out­doors may be the focus of your win­ter get­away, but there’s a farm to table din­ing scene in the state that is not to be passed by.

There are many small farms and a tra­di­tion of local, sea­son­al food cul­ture, includ­ing places like Leunig’s Bistro & Lounge in Burling­ton, where a tra­di­tion­al Parisian-style menu is informed by local ingre­di­ents.

The Simon Pearce Restau­rant is in Quechee, just to the east of Killing­ton, has offered din­ing on the banks of the Ottaquachee Riv­er for three decades.

Next door, you’ll find The Mill, where you can observe the art of glass­blow­ing and buy unique stemware.

One of the many farm-to-table restau­rants you’ll find in Ver­mont.

How to get to Vermont.

Unit­ed, Delta, Amer­i­can Air­lines, and Vir­gin Atlantic all fly to the Burling­ton Inter­na­tion­al Air­port or BTV. Cape Air offers a choic­es of flights from Boston to Rut­land South­ern Ver­mont Region­al or RUT dai­ly.

The I-91 North is a com­mon route through the state, with I-84 East and I-87 North alter­nates depend­ing on where you start out from. If the weather’s good for dri­ving, you can go to Port Kent (sea­son­al) or Platts­burg (year-round) and then take a pic­turesque fer­ry ride across Lake Cham­plain.