Lake Champlain, VT
 

We'll be renting a cottage on North Hero Island in Lake Champlain for a week in early September. Any suggestions for interesting places to visit for day trips. Plan to be in Burlington on Saturday for what we heard is a great Farmers Market. Don't plan to visit Shelburne Museum.

Yes - the Burlington Saturday morning farmers market is great (it keeps on going til 1 or 2 pm).

There's now a similar thread about interesting places around Burlington and I posted a few ideas which you can read. Here's the link:

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...-hampshire.cfm

From North Hero you can have an easy and very interesting day trip to Montreal, about a 1 hr 30 min trip. Just go north on route 2 and go through the Alburg, Vermont border crossing. Use your GPS to navigate from the small Quebec farm road onto the main highway into downtown Montreal.

The Alburg border crossing is a very small border post, never any lines, in contrast to the big one at Highgate, for I-89. Going into Canada is always easy-peasy. But...when you return, the U.S. guard may ask you "why are you using this crossing?" and of course you tell him/her because it's not crowded and you're staying in North Hero. The guards' questions of us, returning into the U.S., have been increasing lately...wonder why. ***Do not forget your passport***

Burlington has a great restaurant scene, lots of breweries and gastropubs.
There is a beautiful bike/ walking path along the lake in Burlington for many miles. It connexts to South Hero via a dauseway with a bike ferry.
You could head a little east to Stowe for a day in the mountains.
Maybe you'll see Bernie Sanders as he has a vacation home in North Hero.The Champlain Islands are beautiful.

We're looking forward to our visit here. Originally we had planned to split the week between Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks, but sure we'll love exploring just this area.

Re Montreal/Quebec. We've been to Montreal so probably won't go into the city, but can anyone suggest scenic/quaint smaller towns a short distance north of the border? On our last trip there, many years ago, we remember only French was spoken in the countryside. Is that still true? Probably should post this section on the Quebec Forum, too.

Looking for great spots for photography, too, but those often just pop up serendipitously unless someone can suggest a place to start.

Where are you coming from, and what is your route to North Hero?

Coming from NJ. Most likely coming up NY Thruway to just south of Lake George and cutting over to 22A to 7. May take the ferry between Port Kent and Burlington either coming up or going home.

Well, that's a logical route.

If you have kids with you, taking a ferry for one of your crossings of Lake Champlain is a good idea. Kids usually love ferries.

No kids, but two adults who love ferries, too. Thinking we may also do one of the short little cruises around Lake Champlain

There is a ferry from Plattsburg,NY to South Hero, Champlain Islands.

You said you didn't want to go to Shelburne Museum and I wasn't sure whether that is specific to that museum or general lack of interest in museums.
If you are interested in others, I recommend Rokeby which describes itself on its website as presenting "a nationally significant Underground Railroad story tucked inside a quintessential Vermont experience." There are some trails. Mt. Philo state park is in the same area and has great views. This is all close to the Charlotte/Essex ferry if you decide to take that.

Also, if you have time to visit as you are driving up, Hancock Shaker village near Pittsfield MA is very convenient and in a lovely setting.

There are many scenic drives to take in VT. Route 100 is probably the best known but we are always struck by how beautiful other routes are. There are some designated Byways
https://www.vermontvacation.com/byways

And even though you aren't staying in the Adirondacks, you could easily do a day trip to the high peaks region from North Hero.

I meant to add that parts of the beer and cheese routes might also be of interest.

"Going into Canada is always easy-peasy. But...when you return, the U.S. guard may ask you "why are you using this crossing?" and of course you tell him/her because it's not crowded and you're staying in North Hero. The guards' questions of us, returning into the U.S., have been increasing lately...wonder why. ***Do not forget your passport***"

We went through this crossing a few years ago. We had just the opposite experience. Going into Canada the guard was very stern and sour faced. Coming back, I am not sure why, but my friend decided to tell the guard that he was bringing his dinner leftovers into the country. A whole conversation on Italian food took place. We were the only people crossing at the time. I think he was bored.

Our strangest recent crossing was in February when we went through Morse's Line VT. There are no Canadian guards present from 4 p.m. to the next morning and you go into a glass cube where you scan the passport and a guard stationed in Toronto looks at camera footage and asks questions.

Do you still need a special card from your auto insurance company when traveling in Canada? I know that used to be required but it's been a while since we've driven our own car in Canada.

Yes, you should have one of those cards to confirm the necessary coverage.

This article in the Globe has some good tips on things to see/do
http://sponsored.bostonglobe.com/ver...idden-vermont/