Lovesatq

Hello,

My 19 year old daughter and I will be staying in Connecticut for a couple of weeks visiting family and would like to take an overnight driving trip to take in the flavor of Vermont. If you only had to pick one place to visit, where would it be?

Thank you, Diana

cassidy2002

One town? Burlington. Love that town. Has a college town vibe, very cool. If not Burlington then Middlebury. Also a college town, though not a college as big as UVM. But very cool. I loved visting there. Great buildongs and people.

JungleCat

I have been to Stowe, VT only in the winter but it is a beautiful town set amongst one of the more scenic mountains in the Northeast. The town itself has that very quaint, New England look and feel, and since it is a vacation destination, there are plenty of great restaurants and lodging choices.

Stowe is where I would buy a home if my job location didn't matter.

http://www.gostowe.com/

zootsi

I would suspect you are driving up I-91, here are some areas not too far a drive. Chester, a very charming small town with some interesting shops and restaurants. Grafton - perhaps the most 'perfect' small Vermont village the entire town is in a historic trust, not one blade of grass is out of place.
Woodstock - a medium sized Vermont town with lots of charm and lots of tourists.The Billings Farm Museum is right outside Woodstock, a beautiful place to spend an afternoon. I think you would be hard pressed to find an area of Vermont that's not beautiful. Neighboring New Hampshire is not too shabby either!

bm

I second Cassidy2002's recommendation for Burlington. Great atmosphere, beautiful scenery, and good shops and restaurants.
If you don't want to drive that far, Woodstock and Manchester are also possibilites. Both are very popular tourist towns. Woodstock seems quieter to me, very pristine. If you like to shop, Manchester has lots of outlets.

lisettemac

Another vote for Woodstock. Great town "square" with lots of activities. Lots of covered bridges and beautiful, scenic drives. Queechee gorge is nearby. You can walk down to the bottom. There is also some shopping there, including the Simon Pearce factory where you can see them blow glass by hand. I also love the nearby dairy/maple syrup farm whose name now escapes me, but someone will remember. Woodstock is just quintessential VT!

OliveOyl

Although Burlington is an exceptionally nice small city, IMHO, a city isn't what VT is all about. It's beautiful villages, wherever you choose to find them depending on how far north you want to go. My personal favorite is Manchester, but love Townsend, Grafton, Woodstock, all in the southern third of the state. For leaf peeping tours from the Berkshires we would do a loop: up rt 7 to Manchester for lunch at the Equinox Inn, across to Grafton on 11 and 121, parts of which are a two lane dirt road but in excellent condition so it's no problem traveling along at 45 or even 50, down to Townsend, then eventually over to Bennington again and back home. The villages along the way are so peaceful and beautiful--almost hard at times to believe they aren't stage sets, and that people really do live this way!

Abby43

Manchester or Woodstock. However, plan for more than just an overnight visit. It takes 3-4 hours to get up there and then to turn around the next day seems too quick. Burlington is also great. You could also venture to Hanover, New Hampshire, where Dartmouth College is located. Beautiful area and fun little town.

Dreamer2

Another vote for Woodstock!
Be sure to visit Queechee and the S.P. glass center, as mentioned above. Nice restaurant in the building, as well, overlooking small waterfall/grist mill.