Hi, we want to travel for a weekend in Vermont to see the fall colors (as always...last minute but this is us we thought about Mt mansfield, Ben and Gerry and the smugglers notch.
Since most of the places are fully booked, the hotels web sites suggest the NY side of lake Champlain such as Plattsburgh or Port Kent as an alternative. What do think? is there any foliage in that area? it shows 1-1.1/2 hour drive to the main attractions, is it too much? any recommendations are highly appriciated

We used the length of Rte 100 (we had started out at Montgomery Center and made our way to it) but we did not stay overnight anywhere along the way.

This whole leaf peep and nowhere to stay routine seems to happen every year. What is more disappointing is actually getting there and finding the color to be less spectacular than imagined.

I would not visit Ben and Jerry's during foliage season because of the crowds.

Look at hotels on the NH side. There might be availability in Keene for the southern portion of VT (i.e. Brattleboro) or Lebanon/Hanover area for mid-VT or Lancaster for northern VT. Smugglers Notch is slightly less than 2 hours from Lebanon NH.

Even if you had to stay in Rutland VT, Stowe is less than 2 hours.

Once you're here, drive in the direction where good color is reported. Because of drought conditions in New England, foliage isn't expected to be very good this year although right now there's a little color in the Concord NH area and great weather this weekend.

All of northern New England, and New York state will have foliage. Vermont gets the publicity because it's largely uncommercialized and very picturesque. New Hampshire's White mountains are quite spectacular, and also attract lots of leaf peepers. I'm not as familiar with New York state, but I'm sure it's also very scenic. Some of the above suggestions are good - you should be able to find a room in some of the less touristy (but still very scenic) towns like Rochester Vt, Saxons River VT, Lyme NH, Hancock NH, etc.

thanks for the responses. I forgot to mention that we arrive from Montreal and we don't want to travel very far, so we are looking for places near by. some of the suggestions are beautiful but too far for us

I’ve experienced once the foliage in Vermont and it was so beautiful! This was 3 years ago. I’ve read this year it might not be so amazing because of the drought. You shouldn’t go to Ben & Jerry’s as it’ll be too crowded there. I guess you’ll be able to find a room in smaller places which are less popular like Rochester in Vermont for example.

Check lodging at the ski resorts, Killington, Stowe.