An early morning view of Lake Champlain from Burlington, Vermont. July 28, 2024.

I had always wanted to visit Vermont.

Because I’d had an idealized image of the state—origins unknown, as I’ve had the notion since childhood—I’d never gone to visit. Even when I lived on the east coast of the United States. I didn’t want to change what I held my imagination.

But when we sought a vacation spot in the United States that wouldn’t be too crowded, too far from a direct flight from where we live in Europe, and too hot in the summer, I figured I should buck up and check out Vermont. Finally.

Many people head to New England for the fall color, driving through winding rural roads and highways to gaze at the changing leaves, but the area is a popular summer vacation spot as well, especially for people from the northeastern part of the United States.

So what do they do while there, you ask?

Side note: If you would like to explore the area around Burlington while there, take a look at my article with ideas for day trips from Burlington.

Here are a few tips from our experiences!

Shelburne Museum

Technically, the Shelburne Museum isn’t in Burlington but in Shelburne, which is just on the outskirts of Burlington, on the other side of the airport. Given the modest size of Burlington, though, this translates to a mere twenty-minute drive (tops) from the center of town.

And you can’t go to Burlington and miss out on the Shelburne Museum. Really.

We had considered popping in for an hour or two and ended up glad we didn’t, instead rescheduling our visit for a day when we would have more time to spend. And spend more time than we expected, we did. You should plan to spend the bulk of your day at the Shelburne when you visit.

Why? Because it’s not a single building, but several. An entire campus, in fact.

We saw and got a guided tour of a steamboat called the Ticonderoga, went into two colonial-era houses, strolled through a building with an astounding collection of French impressionist art hung on apartment walls brought to the museum intact from a posh apartment in New York City, and browsed another building with a collection of American art including works from Grandma Moses, Winslow Homer, Andrew Wyeth, and more.

The Ticonderoga steamboat, which once provided transport up and down Lake Champlain, now stationed at the Shelburne Museum. Shelburne, Vermont. July 26, 2024.

We stayed a solid four hours and could have stayed longer.

The World’s Tallest Filing Cabinet (Maybe)…

…is 100 percent underwhelming.

But hey, if you’re in Burlington and you have a few minutes, you can at least say you saw what might be the world’s tallest filing cabinet?

The possibly-maybe world’s tallest filing cabinet. Burlington, Vermont. July 30, 2024.

(If you don’t see it, though, you haven’t missed a thing.)

The Vermont Lake Monsters

If you visit Burlington in the summer months, you’re arrived during baseball season in the United States. Burlington may not have a major league team, but it has the Lake Monsters—and you shouldn’t miss a chance to see them if you can.

The Vermont Lake Monsters are a minor league team that plays at a baseball field in central Burlington. These days, I enjoy minor league games more than major league games, as they’re more laid back, less like circuses, and more like the old-time stadium games I remember. Everyone is happy and chatty and relaxed. Entire families and groups of friends come together for a few hours at the ballpark, everyone joining in to cheer.

Arnaud and me just before the start of a game pitting the Vermont Lake Monsters against the Norwich Sea Unicorns. Burlington, Vermont. July 26, 2024.

You don’t even need to buy tickets in advance for a Lake Monsters game, though that’s an option. If you’re comfortable having a little more chance in where you sit, though, you can walk up to the box office at the stadium just before game time to get your tickets.

And though I didn’t see any Cracker Jack, I saw a lot better food than the standard-stadium norm. You’ll find several food trucks around the field’s periphery with pizza and hot dogs and even lobster rolls.

Lake Champlain Boat Tour

A cruise on the Spirit of Ethan Allen—which is a large, motorized lake cruiser offering greasy-spoon food and standard pub drinks and playing over the loudspeakers a narration of the sights you see as the boat toddles along—is undeniably cheesy.

Arnaud and me cruising along on Lake Champlain on the Spirit of Ethan Allen. Burlington, Vermont. July 27, 2024.

And it sure is relaxing, especially on a warm summer day.

You can walk afterward along the lakefront and enjoy the park or rent bikes and ride several miles up and down the dedicated biking and walking paths.

Farmer’s Market on Pine Street

You’ll find several markets during the weekend in Burlington—as we learned when we wanted to go to the Pine Street Farmer’s Market and ended up at the wrong market on the wrong street, confused as to why we didn’t see any fresh fruit or vegetables.

All this to say: Check your street names and your maps and ensure you head to your intended Saturday market!

The one we loved most was the Pine Street Farmer’s Market. In addition to fruits and vegetables and meat and seafood venders, you’ll find plenty of local companies selling treats and meals to eat on the spot, meaning that your best time to go to this Saturday market is either around midmorning to eat brunch or at lunchtime for your midday meal.

Sit-Down Restaurant Dining

For most restaurants in Burlington, we found you needed to make reservations—and, for the more formal ones, well in advance. The places we heard raved about booked extremely early.

A few recommendations that could cover your every restaurant need:

The Hen of the Wood Burlington location has an online menu that doesn’t impress, so don’t use it as a go-by for what to expect. The American haute cuisine menu you’ll find in the restaurant changes regularly based on the best local, fresh options.
Leunig’s Bistro & Café offered a sizeable menu with options to please every eater in your family. The fare trends French-ish, though I’d call it more an imaginary take on a French bistro than any true approximation of the real thing.
If your family wants Italian food, you’ll have plenty of options in Burlington, through for a more date-night ambience plus all the standard Italian basics, Trattoria Delia has you covered.
Handy’s Lunch is a true old-school diner open for breakfast and lunch and offering all the classic American diner options cooked on a griddle behind its wraparound counter seating.

We saw many other places we wanted to try while in Burlington, but we couldn’t get in because we didn’t try to book early enough. (Learn from our mistakes and plan accordingly!)

Ice Cream

It’s Vermont, after all: The home of Ben & Jerry’s and a state known for its dairy products.

Ben & Jerry’s, which has a location on the main shopping street (Church Street), is the standard go-to if you’re in Vermont, of course. Do I even need to tell you go to there?

To be honest, though, I probably would tell you not to go there. You can find Ben & Jerry’s ice cream everywhere—and Burlington has so many other small creameries to try.

If you’re open to branching away from the big brands, our recommendation would be to drop in a Shy Guy Gelato. (No website, but you’ll find them via your maps application and via a web search.) Their house-made small-batch gelato in innovative flavors is amazing.

Need to Exercise?

If you’d like to get a little exercise to work off all the eating—and biking or running along the lake front doesn’t work for your schedule or interests—Burlington has great options for visitors:

The Burlington YMCA is clean and expansive and charges a minimal day rate that gets you access to the pool, exercise classes, workout machines, and a weight room.
If yoga is more your style (as it is mine), you can take part in the absolutely fantastic led and Mysore Ashtanga classes at Green Mountain Ashtanga or go with more of the flow-style vinyasa yoga at Burlington Yoga (which I didn’t try, being an Ashtanga person, myself).

Get Groceries

If you have a rental apartment or want to keep basics in your hotel room, like we do on travel, you’ll want a central grocery store for stocking up. (I don’t know about you, but I can only eat at restaurants so often, even on vacation.)

Trader Joe’s will require a car, but Burlington does have a location and we visited it frequently for certain things. Our go-to grocery spot, though, quickly became the City Market Onion River Coop in town (no car needed), which had copious local options and offers prepared meals as well.

Need to Read?

A vacation isn’t a vacation without some reading time.

Or is that just me?

For the book lovers and people who forgot to bring something to read—or finished what they brought: Phoenix Books had an incredibly helpful staff and a gorgeous, extensive selection.

I popped in to find a book as a gift and had one bookseller bend over backward to help me choose just the right thing for the recipient and another bookseller let me talk his ear off about all the latest releases.

Booksellers are the best.

Burlington, We’ll Be Back!

We had planned to spend our summer vacation to rest up in Burlington, stationing ourselves there for a base of stay for seeing as much of Vermont as we could—even beyond what we did see of the town and the surrounding area via the day trips we took!—but a change of plans required us to stay in Burlington only a week before moving on to other parts of the United States (and a brief stop in Canada).

Reflecting on it afterward, we agreed that we loved Burlington and Vermont enough to have wished we’d had more time there even after visiting. We will return!

Ideas for a Summer Vacation in Burlington, Vermont