Vermont is a beauty to behold in fall as the colors of orange, pink, scarlet, and yellow foliage saturate its outdoor scene. From mountains and vineyards to waterfalls, covered bridges, lakes, and rivers, the colors are everywhere. Like most states in the country, the foliage in Vermont typically peaks in mid-October, making it the best time to visit. Thankfully, visitors can always find a variety of ways to explore the state and soak in its autumn glory, ranging from festivals and apple picking to wine tasting, scenic drives, and hiking, among others. Without further ado, here are the top destinations to visit in the Green Mountain State this fall for unforgettable experiences.

Mount Philo State Park, Charlotte

Mount Philo State Park is Vermont’s oldest state park and a prime destination for relishing foliage scenery. This beautiful park sits atop the 968-foot Mount Philo, offering mind-blowing views of Lake Champlain, the Green Mountains, and the Adirondack Mountains in New York with foliage colors around them. There is an access road to the mountain’s summit to take in these sensational views. However, a 1.2-mile hike to the same summit is more rewarding. Additionally, there are picnic benches, campsites, and restrooms at the top.

Champlain Orchards, Shoreham

Champlain Orchards is one of the oldest running orchards in the state and a lovely destination to visit for apple picking in the fall. Once here, visitors can explore the orchard to pick some apples or traverse the farm to see its over 175 varieties of fruits. Some notable fruits available for picking here include pears, raspberries, cherries, currants, plums, and peaches. As for apples, the orchard has about 146 varieties, many of which are available for picking in October. Meanwhile, a Cider Garden is open in the Orchard from Friday to Sunday every week and offers cider-tasting opportunities, games on the lawn, and picnic areas. The garden also features a scenic walkway with views of Lake Champlain and the Adirondack Mountains framing it.

Cornish-Windsor Covered Bridge

Vermont is renowned for its hundreds of covered bridges which are often surrounded by spectacular foliage in autumn. The Cornish-Windsor Covered Bridge is one the state’s most iconic bridges crossing the Connecticut River and connecting Windsor in Vermont to Cornish in New Hampshire. The bridge is about 160 years old, making it one of the oldest-covered bridges in the country and its 449 feet length also makes it the second-longest of its kind in the US. Visit this iconic bridge this fall to marvel at its history and also appreciate the surrounding gorgeous foliage as it reflects in the calm waters below.

Great Vermont Corn Maze, Danville

Fall is a perfect time to embark on unique adventures like exploring a gigantic corn maze. So, this fall, visit the Great Vermont Corn Maze in Danville for an adventure of a lifetime. This corn maze is the largest in New England at 24 acres and also the most complex, making it incredibly epic. The maze takes about two hours to completely navigate and it has bridges and other unique surprises to entertain visitors. The smaller Scenic Maze is also in the cornfield and is less challenging as it can be completed in less than an hour. Additionally, there’s a play area featuring a hay bale castle and a mini golf course for children to enjoy.

Stowe Foliage Arts Festival, Stowe

The Stowe Foliage Arts Festival is one of the most iconic festivals in Vermont for art lovers, featuring 150 selected artists and artisans. It is a time to enjoy the finest crafts and artworks of the region at the peak of the foliage season while enjoying other fun activities. There will be plenty of good eats at the festival, live music, draft beer to sample, fine wines, and specialty foods like maple and syrup, alongside a demonstration of craft works during the art fiesta. The festival is a three-day event that usually takes place from Friday to Sunday. The 2024 edition of the event is set to take place from Friday 11 to Sunday 13, October, and it’s not limited to art lovers. Plus, the event is usually held outdoors, complemented by foliage views and crisp air.

Green River Reservoir State Park, Hyde Park

The Green River Reservoir State Park is a top-notch leaf-peeping destination in Vermont, where visitors can cherish the scenery of foliage while enjoying water sports. The park is home to a 653-acre stunning lake, which is the main highlight here, and it never fails to dazzle when autumn calls. During the season, the foliage around the lake is soaked in shades of yellow, orange, and red, serving as a visual treat for visitors to this park as the colors reflect on the water. Visitors are invited to swim, boat, and fish in the water or enjoy picnics and camping on its shores.

Lake Willoughby, Northeast Kingdom

Lake Willoughby is the deepest lake in Vermont and one of the best places to visit in the fall. This magnificent lake is flanked by Mount Pisgah and Mount Hor on both sides, creating a postcard-perfect travel magazine picture. Since both mountains are heavily forested, their foliage is a collage of beautiful and bright colors in the fall, and the scenery becomes more striking. Boating and swimming on the lake’s beaches are typical activities to enjoy the fall season here. However, hikers can explore the north and south trails leading to Mount Pisgah’s 2,751-foot summit to savor the panoramic views of the lake and its beautiful foliage.

Lye Brook Falls, Manchester

If chasing waterfalls to capture foliage colors in fall sounds like fun, then Lye Brook Falls is the best place to be when autumn peaks in Manchester. Typical of waterfalls, there is a trail that leads to this cascading natural splendor, and it’s the 4.5-mile out-and-back Lye Brook Falls Trail. This is a moderate trail that even kids can hike along with their parents, making it more family-friendly and exciting. The trail takes about 2 hours of walking, with uphill climbs, to arrive at this waterfall, and the rewards come in the abundant foliage surrounding it. At 125 feet, this is one of the tallest waterfalls in Vermont, making it more appealing to visit.

Scenic Route 100 Byway

The Vermont Scenic Route 100 Byway is one of the most naturally and historically endowed routes in the state worth visiting in October. As one of the most famed routes in the state, it flaunts the nickname – Vermont’s Main Street and stretches for 216 miles, covering nearly the entire length of the state. The fall foliage scenery here is as stunning and lovely as they come. From lucid, charming lakes and dense forests to snaking rivers, mountains, ponds, and valleys, the route is decorated with natural attractions adorned in colors of red, orange, yellow, and gold. For history buffs, the President Calvin Coolidge Site, the birthplace of America’s 30th president, is along the route, including Weston – an entire village registered as a historic town.

Smuggler’s Notch Route 108 Scenic Drive

The 3.5-mile Route 108 Scenic Drive through Smuggler’s Notch State Park offers enchanting views of fall foliage and can take about an hour to complete. Simply head to Stowe, take Route 108 as it heads north, drive through Smuggler’s Notch, and meander into Jefferson and Route 100 in Morrisville before heading back to Stowe. Be prepared for a visual treat, as the route is not only filled with colorful foliage on display but with tons of natural attractions like mountains, forests, and boulders. Additionally, the Stowe Recreational Path runs parallel to the route for 5.5 miles, adorned with cornfields and meadows. The route also courses through Mount Mansfield, the state’s highest peak, where tourists can either drive or hike to its summit for sweeping views of fall foliage.

Mount Mansfield, Stowe

Mount Mansfield is the highest peak in Vermont at 4,393 feet and one of the few places in the state with an authentic alpine tundra ecosystem. Views from this peak are dreamy, offering one of the best foliage scenery in Vermont. In the valley below, various plants dazzle in picturesque colors of orange, red, yellow, and gold, and the foliage around Lake Champlain (the state’s largest lake) is all the more enchanting. Thankfully, tourists can easily drive to the summit of Mount Mansfield from Stowe Mountain Resort. For adventurous leaf peepers, the 5.1 miles Sunset Ridge Trail in Underhill State Park leads to the top but is a bit challenging since the track is unpaved. However, hiking offers a more rounded foliage-color experience as hikers enjoy the views from various viewpoints of the trail, starting from its trailhead.

Lake Champlain, Burlington

Lake Champlain is the largest lake in Vermont and one of the largest in North America. A typical day at the lake spoils visitors with incredible views of the Green and Adirondack Mountains overlooking it. But a bright day in the middle of October means tourists will enjoy not only mountain and lake views but also the dazzling foliage sights in a riot of colors as they fence the lake. The best way to enjoy this scenery is by boating or kayaking. For hikers, the 1.6-mile Baldwin Trail and the 0.2-mile Southern Defenses Trail offer sweeping views of the foliage reflecting on the lake’s shimmering waters.

Why Fall in Vermont is a Must-See Experience

Fall in Vermont is an invitation to explore the great outdoors and soak in the charming colors of the season. While autumn scenery can be seen almost everywhere in the state, these destinations offer some of the best views along with exciting activities for everyone, including families with kids. Visit these stunning spots in the Green Mountain State this fall to experience vibrant foliage, seasonal festivities, and unforgettable outdoor adventures.

I walked into Vermont on June 14th. At this point in my Appalachian Trail thru-hike, I was thriving. I was hiking with a super fun group, moving along the trail very well and feeling great mentally.

Vermud In The Green Tunnel

On June 14th, we woke up at the Williamstown motel to some rain in the morning, and began walking into Vermont. Vermont is known for its muddiness, and, particularly during our first day in the state, I really felt that. Perhaps it was because we walked into Vermont on a rainy day, but there was some serious mud we trampled through.

Upon entering Vermont, we came to the Vermont Long Trail. The LT is a trail that runs the entire length of Vermont from Massachusetts to Canada. The AT runs concurrent with it for 105 miles.

It’s a pretty 105 miles, extremely green. I learned why they call Vermont the Green State and why the mountains we were now traversing were called the Green Mountains. When people talk about the AT, one of the big complaints is that it’s a “green tunnel.” In other words, people say that instead of getting lots of great views overlooking landscapes, the heavy greenery blocks your vision and all you see is a green tunnel. I hadn’t really experienced that thus far. I felt like there were plenty of views and I didn’t feel the claustrophobia many people talked about on the AT. Plus, I really enjoyed being surrounded by all that lush greenery.

That was until Vermont. It wasn’t overwhelming, but I definitely felt a little bit of what they were talking about with this green tunnel.

However, there were some breaks from this green tunnel after the first bit of the state. Atop Stratton Mountain, there was a really tall fire tower that had a spectacular view of the Green Mountains around us. The morning after we passed it, Clover and Homesick walked back up into it to watch the sunrise. I wasn’t about to wake up that early for it, but they said it was amazing.

In Vermont, the trail goes through New England’s ski country. That means we hiked over several dry ski mountains like Mount Bromley and Killington Peak (Stratton Mountain was also a ski mountain), which were all really nice and pretty.

I had a really fun hiking group at this point in my hike.

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Around this time, Homesick and Scout had a couple friends who were vacationing nearby and wanted to join them for some miles. They kindly picked us up from the trail to resupply and grab a little treat. Their friends were super cool folks. We got ice cream at Ben and Jerry’s, and then returned to the trail.

Homesick and Scout slowed down a bunch to stay with their friends. It takes a bit to get up to the hiking fitness of a thru-hiker, so they naturally couldn’t do the mileage the rest of us were. That meant Clover and I jumped ahead with plans to reconnect with Homesick and Scout later.

Around the time the AT split off from the LT and veered east towards New Hampshire, a crazy heat wave came. It was brutal, and required us to drink lots of water, use tons of electrolyte mixes and to slow down a bit.

During this time, Clover and I stopped at a shelter where we ran into Pig Pen. Clover had never met Pig Pen at this point, and I had been running into her off-and-on since the Smoky Mountains. Pig Pen was the hiker I’d known the longest that I was still hiking around and Clover was probably the hiker I’d hiked with the most, so it was a cool crossover. Sweet Stuff had gotten off trail for a family vacation, so Pig Pen was now solo hiking.

At that shelter, we also met Star Girl. Star Girl was from Washington, DC, though she had plans to move to Florida to attend graduate school after her hike. She was doing a super long section hike. She started in Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia and was playing it by ear on how long she’d go. She’d done a crazy amount of miles already though.

The next day the four of us all ended up hiking to the Inn at the Long Trail, a cool hotel that caters to hikers and has a fun Irish pub inside it. The pub boasts that it was the first bar in Vermont to serve Guinness.

After we hiked out from the inn, it finally happened. I’d been looking my entire thru-hike. I saw a bear! It was a black bear of course–there are no grizzlies or other bears near the trail–which is safer and it was from a bit of a distance. The second it noticed me, it jumped over a log and scurried away. It was a super cool sight. Black bears are honestly just like big dogs, not really all that scary. At least that was my experience.

The Generosity Of Another Kind Stranger

Soon after all that, I entered New Hampshire, the penultimate state. The trail leading up to the Vermont-New Hampshire border contains what felt like the longest roadwalk of the entire trail. That roadwalk leads over the Connecticut River, at which point you enter Hanover, New Hampshire, which was our introduction into the state. Hanover is a really pretty town. It’s an Ivy League college town, the home of Dartmouth College, a really pretty campus.

An engraving marking the Vermont-New Hampshire line!

I enjoyed a burger and a beer in Hanover near the college, watching university students walk by. It was a super pretty town. Then I met up with a super nice lady named Wren. Wren was a trail angel who I’d been connected with by a lady I met at the Inn at Long Trail. She very kindly welcomed me into her home and allowed me to stay the night in her and her husband Jon’s guest bedroom. They were such nice folks, and they had super interesting stories.

Wren told me all about her writing. She had written for a number of magazines and newspapers, similar to my profession, so we bonded over that. She was also working on a memoir about her family that sounded super interesting. She’s also a teacher and said she taught at the high school where one of my favorite artists, a folk singer that has really exploded in popularity recently named Noah Kahan, went to high school, which was so crazy to me.

Jon told me about when he was in his twenties, he took what sounds like an amazing trip across the U.S. He hitchhiked and train hopped across the country. It was so much fun to hear his stories. He was also a doctor at a nearby hospital  .

The next day, I bade them farewell and walked out of Hanover. Hanover is surrounded by beautiful forests. I reckon if you like the outdoors, Dartmouth College is an awesome place to go to school.

Early on in New Hampshire, I dealt with a really bad storm. It was the toughest storm I’d dealt with since I crossed Roan Mountain in Tennessee. It was a really bad storm. I cut that day short to hole up in a shelter and get out of the rain. On June 23, I spent the night at Hexacuba Shelter, and was preparing myself mentally to enter the White Mountains.

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