Best Fall Foliage Drives in Vermont

How We Picked These Routes

These seven drives were chosen for foliage density, road quality, and how well they connect to pull-offs, village stops, and places worth spending the night. All of them stay on state highways or paved town roads, avoid the interstate, and run under substantial canopy cover for most of their length. We also considered how each drive fits into a broader trip: whether it ends somewhere worth sleeping, sits near a good restaurant or brewery, or pairs with a short hike. For a full introduction to Vermont across all four seasons, the Vermont Travel Guide is the place to start.

One thing that shapes every foliage trip in Vermont: timing shifts by latitude and elevation. The Northeast Kingdom and the high mountain passes above 2,000 feet turn first, sometimes as early as the third week of September. Southern valley towns like Brattleboro and Bennington hold color into the third week of October. Each drive below includes its typical peak window so you can match the drive to your dates. For lodging along any of these routes, the Inns and Hotels directory covers options across the state, with listings in Stowe, Woodstock, Manchester, and Brattleboro.

1. Northeast Kingdom Loop: Routes 5, 105, and 114 (85 Miles)

Vermont's three northeastern counties (Orleans, Caledonia, and Essex) are where foliage starts, and a loop through the heart of the Northeast Kingdom gets you to those first hard crimson and gold patches before most of the state has turned. A solid circuit leaves St. Johnsbury on Route 5 north, follows the Connecticut River corridor through Lyndonville and Barton to Newport on Lake Memphremagog, then cuts east on Route 105 toward Island Pond before dropping south on Route 114 back to St. Johnsbury. The full loop covers about 85 miles on two-lane roads through rolling farm country, forested ridges, and small crossroads towns that see very little tourist traffic.

Newport is the logistical midpoint and worth a stop: the waterfront sits on Lake Memphremagog, a 31-mile lake that crosses into Quebec, and in late September you catch the hillsides of both Vermont and Canada turning at once from the same vantage point. That cross-border color view in a single frame is something you won't get anywhere else in the state. Peak timing: last week of September to the first two or three days of October. If early-season foliage is your primary goal and you want to beat the crowds, this is the drive.

2. Route 100 Through the Mad River Valley (45 Miles, Stowe to Warren)

Route 100 runs the full length of Vermont north to south, but the 45-mile segment from Stowe village south through Morrisville and Hyde Park and down into the Mad River Valley is the most rewarding stretch for foliage in the central part of the state. The road follows the Green Mountain spine, dipping through farm hollows and climbing through ridge gaps with long views east toward the White Mountains and west over the Champlain lowlands. Waitsfield and Warren sit at around 700 feet elevation in the Mad River Valley and are connected by a handful of covered bridges, including the Warren covered bridge over the Mad River, a short walk from Route 100 in Warren village.

If you're basing yourself in Stowe for this drive, the Green Mountain Inn on Main Street puts you in the village center, about 20 minutes by car from the Mad River Valley. Plan 2.5 to 3 hours for the full southbound run if you want time at the Warren bridge and the valley overlooks above Waitsfield. Foliage along this corridor typically peaks in the first week of October, a few days behind the Northeast Kingdom. Mad River Glen, a few miles above Waitsfield on Route 17, adds a short side trip with some of the best high-elevation color in central Vermont.

3. Route 108 Through Smugglers Notch (9 Miles Each Way)

Route 108 between Stowe and Jeffersonville covers just 9 miles, but it passes through one of the most dramatic road corridors in the Northeast. The notch tops out at 2,162 feet between 1,000-foot quartzite cliffs and boulder fields as large as houses. Sugar maples at that elevation turn crimson in late September, days ahead of the valley below. The drive takes about 25 minutes if you don't stop, but most people pull over at the cliff-base viewpoints and boulder fields multiple times.

Here is the detail most visitors miss: Vermont closes Route 108 to motor vehicles roughly from mid-October through late May because ice and snow make the narrow notch road impassable. That closure window falls right at the tail end of foliage season. If you're planning a mid-October trip to the northern part of the state, check the Vermont Agency of Transportation road closure map before routing through here. Once you've crossed the notch, Jeffersonville is a small village on the other side, and Route 15 west connects to Johnson and Morrisville in about 15 minutes.

4. Route 4 from Quechee Gorge to Woodstock and Bridgewater (25 Miles)

Route 4 is Vermont's most polished foliage corridor. The drive starts at the Route 4 bridge over Quechee Gorge, where a brief pull-off lets you look 165 feet straight down to the Ottauquechee River. From there it runs west 5 miles through White River Junction to Woodstock, where the town green, the Billings Farm and Museum, and the covered Taftsville Bridge (about a mile east of the village) are all walkable or a very short drive. The Woodstock Inn and Resort sits directly on the green and runs rooms in the $300 to $500 per night range during peak foliage (estimate), making it one of the better bases in the Upper Valley for a few days of leaf-peeping. This corridor connects cleanly to the Best Small Towns in Vermont page; Woodstock consistently tops that list.

Continue west another 9 miles past the village and Route 4 climbs through Bridgewater into the hills above Killington. This upper stretch sees lighter traffic and slightly earlier color because of the elevation gain. The full 25-mile run from Quechee to Bridgewater takes about 45 minutes of driving but realistically fills a half day with stops. If you want to extend the drive, the Sleep Woodstock Motel on Route 4 is a more budget-conscious option with strong ratings and easy access to the whole corridor.

5. The Molly Stark Trail: Route 9 from Brattleboro to Bennington (40 Miles)

Route 9 crosses the southern Green Mountains from east to west, and the 40-mile run from Brattleboro to Bennington climbs through some of the deepest forest foliage in the state before opening onto wide hilltop views. The Hogback Mountain area near Marlboro puts you at around 2,410 feet, and on a clear day the overlook reaches south into the Berkshires of Massachusetts and east toward the Connecticut River valley. Wilmington, the midpoint town at about 1,500 feet elevation, is a good stop for gas and food before the road drops west toward Bennington.

This route peaks later than anything in the north: typically October 12 to 20, with good years holding color into the third week of the month. The lower-elevation Red Maple trees along the valley floors turn a deeper red-orange than the high-country sugar maples, and the contrast with still-green beech and fern understory gives Route 9 a genuinely different palette than you'll find on Route 100 or at Smugglers Notch. Bennington at the western end has the 306-foot Battle Monument in the Old Bennington historic district. The Chesterfield Inn near Brattleboro, on the New Hampshire side of the Connecticut River, gets strong reviews from travelers working the southern Vermont back roads and is a practical overnight base at the eastern end of this drive.

6. Route 12 Through Central Vermont Backroads (45 Miles, Woodstock to Montpelier)

Route 12 is the quiet alternative to I-89 for connecting the Upper Valley to Montpelier. From Woodstock it runs north through Bethel, then up through Randolph and Northfield to Montpelier, 45 miles in total on roads that see a fraction of the leaf-peeper traffic on Route 4 or Route 100. Randolph, roughly midway, sits in a valley at around 700 feet, surrounded by dairy farm hillsides that go gold in early October. The stretch north of Northfield into Montpelier narrows into a river corridor with some of the deepest closed-canopy foliage on this list.

If you're ending in Montpelier, the White Horse Lodge on State Street is a solid overnight at roughly $100 to $180 per night (estimate) and puts you a short walk from downtown. From Montpelier, Route 2 east connects you into the Northeast Kingdom in about an hour, or I-89 west takes you back to Burlington in 45 minutes. Plan about 2 hours for the 45-mile run with stops at the Bethel and Randolph viewpoints. This drive works especially well on weekdays in early October when the main foliage highways are clogged with weekend traffic.

7. Route 30 Through the West River Valley (65 Miles, Brattleboro to Manchester)

Route 30 follows the West River north from Brattleboro through Dummerston, Newfane, Townshend, Jamaica, and Bondville before connecting to Manchester in the south. The West River runs through a narrow, forested valley, and the hillsides that close in on both sides of the road turn fast and dense. Newfane village has one of the most intact Federal-period courthouse commons in Vermont. Townshend, 5 miles north, has a covered bridge over the West River and the Townshend Dam area, which is a swimming hole in summer and a foliage viewpoint in October.

The drive is about 65 miles and takes 1.5 to 2 hours with stops, with the latter half rising in elevation through Jamaica and Bondville toward the southern ski mountains. This corridor connects Brattleboro at the Connecticut River to the Stratton and Bromley ski areas near Manchester, so it works well as part of a longer loop that combines leaf-peeping with early-season skiing. For more on those mountains, see the Best Ski Resorts in Vermont page. Peak timing: October 14 to 21 in a typical year.

At a Glance: Vermont Foliage Drive Comparison