Vermont Fall Foliage Tips: What to Do for a Better Fall Trip

Do Book Early

Fall is peak travel season in Vermont. Once you know your dates, reserve lodging, popular restaurants, guided tours, and any ticketed experiences you care about.

Weekends around peak foliage fill especially quickly. Booking early gives you more choices and keeps you from spending your vacation trying to find dinner at 6:30 on a Saturday night.

Do Check Current Foliage Conditions

Foliage moves through Vermont rather than peaking everywhere at once. Higher elevations and northern areas generally change first, followed by lower elevations and areas farther south.

Check current foliage reports shortly before your trip and be willing to adjust where you spend the day.

Do Start Early

Peak foliage brings peak crowds, especially on weekends. Get your scenic driving underway earlier in the day.

You'll usually find quieter roads, easier parking, softer light for photographs, and shorter waits at popular breakfast and coffee stops.

Do Explore Beyond the Main Roads

Some of Vermont's best scenery is away from the major routes. Maintained back roads can take you through small villages, farm country, covered bridges, and stretches of forest you would miss on the highway.

But don't blindly follow GPS onto an unmaintained or private road. If a road looks questionable, marked private, or clearly unsuitable for your vehicle, turn around. There will be another beautiful road approximately thirty seconds later.

Do Leave Room for the Unexpected

Don't schedule every hour of the day. A farm stand, an unexpected view, a small village, or a roadside stop may end up being one of your favorite parts of the trip.

Build enough space into your itinerary to stop when something looks interesting.

Do Pack for Changing Weather

A Vermont fall day can start cold, warm up considerably by afternoon, and turn wet before dinner.

• Layers you can add or remove
• A rain shell
• Comfortable shoes that can handle wet ground
• Water
• A few snacks for longer drives

Do Download Maps Before You Go

Cell service disappears regularly on Vermont's rural roads. Download your maps or route before leaving town rather than assuming you'll have data all day.

If there are specific stops you do not want to miss, save their addresses too.

Do Respect Private Property and the Road

Many of the farms, fields, homes, and scenic viewpoints people photograph in Vermont are private property.

Use designated pull-offs or places where you can get completely out of traffic. Don't block driveways, stop in the travel lane, enter posted land, or walk into someone's field for a photograph.

Enjoy the view without making yourself part of somebody else's fall-foliage problem.

Do Have Your Camera Ready

You do not need a serious camera to photograph Vermont in fall. Your phone is plenty for most people.

Clear some storage before the trip, keep the camera accessible, and stop somewhere safe when a view catches your attention. Some of the best scenes are the ones you weren't specifically driving toward.

Do Look Beyond the Leaves

The foliage gets the attention, but it is only part of fall in Vermont.

Stop at an orchard or farm stand. Walk through a village. Take a short trail. Visit a local shop. Pay attention to the old barns, stone walls, rivers, and changing afternoon light.

You'll remember more than the color of the trees.

Do Plan a Food Stop or Picnic

Restaurant waits can be long during foliage season, so food deserves at least a little planning.

Make a lunch reservation, stop at a general store, or pick up local cheese, bread, apples, or cider donuts for a picnic. Just choose an actual place to stop rather than turning somebody's driveway into your dining room.

Do Visit Midweek if You Can

If your schedule is flexible, come during the week. Popular roads, towns, restaurants, trailheads, and attractions are generally easier to enjoy without weekend traffic.

The foliage doesn't become less colorful on a Tuesday.

Do Put the Phone Down Sometimes

Take the photographs. Then put the phone away for a while.

Get out of the car, take a walk, sit somewhere for ten minutes, or simply enjoy the drive without documenting every mile. Foliage season goes by quickly enough without experiencing the whole thing through a screen.