I'm looking for a town in Vermont (3 hours or less from Boston) for a 1 night/2 day trip for my parents (age 70) in early October. Woodstock is one of my favorites, but lodging is pretty expensive and they'd like to stay under $200 per night. Any advice on towns and accomodations would be greatly appreciated. I'm thinking an inn within walking distance of shops and restaurants, plus close drives to see covered bridges, fall foliage, farms, etc. would fit the bill.
Thanks.

There are many small, charming towns in Vermont - the trick is to find one with shops and places to eat within walking distance. Woodstock does fit the bill, but is expensive. Have you tried smaller motels at the edge of town like the Braeside?Another town you might want to look into is Chester, which is a smaller town than Woodstock, but does have small grouping of very victorian looking shops and restaurants. Like most of Vermont, there is beautiful scenery all around, and Wellwood Orchards, a very scenic and popular PYO apple orchard, is not too far away.
Middlebury is another very charming small college town with an interesting downtown. You could also opt for Montpelier, which is actually more of a small city, with lots of interesting places to eat and shop. Manchester Vt is another 'Woodstock' type town, with a large concentration of factory outlets nearby.

Thanks. I don't know the hotels in Woodstock but will check out the Braeside. We have a "post-knee surgery" so I wanted to make sure they end up in the village so there's not so much walking. I had wondered about Manchester. They won't be interested in outlet shopping, but it sounds like the village area might be similar to Woodstock? I'll look into the other towns you mention.

MIddlebury is a nice suggestion. However be careful on the lodging of many of the innes, some have either stairs only or even if elevator still difficult to navigate elevator and walking.

Middlebury Inn is lovely, has an afternoon tea, but we found, when my daugher was in college up there, the Swift House Inn worked better for our elderly parents since they have the carriage house rooms which are separate building and one floor level and we were right next to them, and you could basically almost park at the door.

Middlebury is nice for some of the things you are looking for, a small downtown to walk, the college also might have a play/dance troupe in town, they have their own plus many outside groups that perform in their lovely arts center, another building easy to navigate. THe art museum is small, but lovely and usually has fine exhibitions.

Walking thru downtown you can see the falls, some cute cafes and some wonderful restaurants - Storm Cafe is a favorite of ours in Middlebury and Starry Night Cafe in Ferrisburgh (about a 20 min drive towards Burlington)
and you can drive to Burlington in about 40 minutes and on the way see farms, foliage, Lake Champlain, Henry Sheldon Museum, pass a covered bridge, many art galleries.

You might want to check out midvermont.com,
it may give you some other ideas for that area which is a nice drive from Boston - you can stop at White River Junction for a break - there are several restaurants, etc and then take the mountain road to this area, which gives wonderful views of mountains, streams, pass the Middlebury bowl and BreadLoaf, surrounded by the green mtns in this area.

One thing to be cautious of, early Oct is popular for foliage as well as many college parents weekends, so rates and availability in certain areas go quickly

How long is the drive from Boston to Middlebury? It sounds like what I'm looking for. In my online researching, I have found that inns and hotels are booking up quickly (if not already booked) due to fall foliage season. Thanks for all the information.

I'd say around 3.5 hours. Middlebury is not that convenient to the highways.

Like the say in the commercial for VERMONT for the fall "IT's our Season",
so you are going to pay plenty in room rates. Woodstock is a great town, but like you said I'm sure very expensive especially during foliage season. Manchester might be a further drive if you're coming from Boston, but a nice town area with plenty of shops (outlets). You can visit Lincoln's summer home there.

Middlebury is about 3.5 hours from Boston, you can go one of two ways. Once you reach the White River Junction area, you can continue straight highway, but we usually opted for the 'mountain road' which can add a bit to the trip, but not much, and we didn't mind after stretching our legs at WRJunction - the moutain road is extremely scenic, to me anyway, pass farms, little wooden bridges, see the streams running alongside the road, mountains, pastures, etc. and a few little, little towns on either side of the mountain.

From Boston- For places inside Route 128 (including the airport , the South Shore, and Cape Cod), take 93N to 89N to 107W to 100N to 125W, to enjoy the mountain scenery

You might also want to check out the Middlebury College web page, should you in fact decide on Middlebury or that surrounding area, and see if there is anything specific going on at the college on the days/nights you will be there - they often ahve excellent music, theater, arts performances or exhibitions and the nice thing about going to those at a college is they are usually extraordinarily inexpensive, like well under $10 a person, sometimes even only a few dollars. Although some get sold out b/c we were always surrounded by local people who took advantage of the events so you may even want to reserve ahead of time.

p.s. you could also check out on the college web site (or any college web site near or in an area you may decide on) lodging ideas - usually under prospective students or visitng our campus, they list places within reasonable distance -

in Middlebury there are also several very clean motels and one floor access accomodations as well as standard hotel - some of the motels are nothing fancy, but clean and more reasonable than some of the innes, and hopefully you won't be spending a lot of time in your room anyway.

We have also stayed at the Wayside Inne, which I'm not sure has an elevator b/c I didn't use it when I was there, it's the inne with the bob Newhart show connection and is not far from downtown Middlebury, you can google it and check that out also. It's lovely and serves some great meals too even if you don't stay there.

Thanks everyone for all the helpful info. I did find a place in Woodstock under $200 (barely) that would take a 1-night reservation. Middlebury sounds great, but because of the knee surgery recovery, I opted for the location that was slightly closer (less time in a car) and a B&B close to the village center. Vermont is such a beautiful state that I know they'll wish they had more time to explore. Maybe on their next visit.

Glad you found someplace nice - I just thought of you as I am finally reading todays Boston Globe and thought I'd pass this along - maybe for your next trip ! it's on p. C8/travel -
mentioned 2 places the Emerson Guest House in Vergennes, (emersonhouse.com) rates from 75-145; a small town, doable for older walkers,still in the mid-vermont area though not far from Middlebury - and it also mentioned the Basin Harbor Club, www.basinharbor.com that has many activities and/or sitting and enjoying the view.

have fun - let us know how it ends up.

My parents had a great trip to Woodstock and really enjoyed the village. They stayed at The Woodstocker Inn and said they would recommend it. They could walk into the village, and had nice hosts and a nice room. They enjoyed driving through Grafton, Chester, and the surrounding area and were fortunate to have great weather and beautiful fall colors. I appreciate everyone's help on this.