Burlington, Vermont sits between two mountain ranges and a lake Congress called a Great Lake

Burlington’s got the lake and the views

Burlington, Vermont, spreads along the eastern shore of Lake Champlain, the largest city in the state and one of the most walkable. The Green Mountains rise behind you to the east.

The Adirondacks line the horizon across the water to the west.

Lake Champlain itself runs more than 100 miles north to south, so big that Congress once declared it a Great Lake in 1998. That lasted 18 days before they took it back.

The downtown, the waterfront, and the parks all connect on foot or by bike, and every direction you turn gives you something worth walking toward.

Cannonballs once washed up on this waterfront

Burlington’s waterfront spent most of the 1800s as an industrial lumber yard.

The city reclaimed it in the 1980s and turned it into Waterfront Park, a public space with walking paths, green lawns, and wide-open views across the lake to the Adirondacks.

During the War of 1812, British ships exchanged fire with defenders in Burlington Bay, and cannonballs have turned up along the shore over the years.

Now the triple-deck Spirit of Ethan Allen leaves from the same waterfront for scenic cruises on the lake.

Church Street took 23 years to become a landmark

Four blocks of Church Street run between Main and Pearl Streets in the center of downtown, closed to cars and open to foot traffic. The city started talking about it in 1958 during urban renewal discussions.

It finally opened on Sept. 15, 1981. At the top of the hill sits the First Unitarian Universalist Church, built in 1816, its clock tower steeple one of the most photographed spots in Burlington.

More than 100 shops and restaurants line the street now, with performers and festivals year-round.

Bike three miles into the open lake on a narrow causeway

The Island Line Rail Trail follows the old Rutland Railroad route for about 14 miles along the Lake Champlain shoreline.

The paved southern section, called the Burlington Bike Path, connects parks and beaches as it winds north from Oakledge Park.

Cross the Winooski River on a pedestrian bridge, and you reach the Colchester Causeway, a narrow strip of land stretching about three miles into open water.

At a 200-foot gap, a seasonal bike ferry run by the nonprofit Local Motion takes you across to South Hero Island.

A 220-foot steamboat sits on dry land at this museum

About seven miles south of Burlington, the Shelburne Museum covers 45 acres and holds more than 150,000 works of art, design, and Americana.

Electra Havemeyer Webb founded it in 1947, a pioneering collector of American folk art, and it opened to the public in 1952.

The campus has 39 exhibition buildings, and 25 of them are historic structures relocated from across New England and New York.

The biggest draw sits on dry ground: the 220-foot steamboat Ticonderoga, a National Historic Landmark, hauled overland on special tracks to reach the museum.

4,000 hand-carved circus figurines fill one building

Inside the Shelburne Museum, a hand-carved miniature circus parade stretches through a 500-foot-long horseshoe-shaped building, with 4,000 tiny figurines on display.

The folk art collection ranks among the finest in the country, with weathervanes, trade signs, and quilts. You can walk through a collection of horse-drawn carriages considered one of the best anywhere.

Outside, more than 400 lilac bushes accent the 45-acre grounds alongside formal gardens and heirloom vegetable beds. It stands as the largest art and history museum in northern New England.

Vermont’s biggest aquarium lives on the waterfront

ECHO, Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, sits right on the Burlington waterfront in an award-winning LEED-certified building with three floors and outdoor spaces looking across the lake to the Adirondacks.

Since opening in 2003, it has drawn more than 167,000 visitors a year.

More than 100 interactive exhibits fill the space, and about 70 species of live fish, reptiles, and amphibians live inside.

Vermont’s largest aquarium is here, home to lake fish like sturgeon and muskie that most people never get to see up close.

Ethan Allen’s only surviving Vermont home is here

Just north of downtown, the Ethan Allen Homestead sits on land where the Revolutionary War leader and key founder of Vermont built his home around 1787. No other residence of his survives in the state.

A converted 1930s barn on the grounds holds exhibits on Allen’s Green Mountain Boys militia and Abenaki culture. The site is also home to Alnôbaiwi, a nonprofit preserving Vermont Abenaki cultural heritage.

You can walk more than four miles of riverside and wetland trails through the surrounding 284-acre park.

A ginger ale factory now holds 30 local businesses

Burlington’s South End ran as the city’s industrial corridor for decades, turning out everything from cereal to steel. Now the old factories along Pine Street hold art galleries, studios, maker spaces, and small shops.

The Soda Plant, a former ginger ale bottling facility, houses more than 30 local businesses, from galleries to coffee roasters to craft producers.

Every September, the South End Art Hop opens studios across the district for three days of food, music, and outdoor exhibits. SEABA, established in 1986, keeps this creative corridor running.

One park has the world’s first accessible treehouse

Four public beaches line Burlington’s Lake Champlain shoreline. North Beach is the biggest, with a sandy shore, food concessions, lifeguards, and a playground.

Oakledge Park in the South End has two beach areas, walking trails, and the world’s first universally accessible community treehouse.

Nearby Red Rocks Park in South Burlington covers 100 acres, with trails through hemlock and pine forests that open to a rocky shoreline overlooking Shelburne Bay.

Leddy Park sits farther north, a quieter stretch with mountain views across the water.

Saturday farmers market has run since 1980

The Burlington Farmers Market has filled Saturday mornings since 1980, one of the longest-running markets in the region.

From late spring through autumn, more than 90 vendors set up in the South End, selling local produce, Vermont cheeses, maple products, prepared foods, and artisan crafts.

A smaller winter market runs twice a month from November through April, so the season never fully stops.

The market accepts EBT cards, keeping local food within reach for a broad range of visitors and residents who show up week after week.

A 1930s vaudeville theater still fills its seats

The Flynn Center for the Performing Arts opened in 1930 as a state-of-the-art vaudeville and motion pictures theater on Main Street downtown.

Today it hosts theater, dance, live music, and comedy from local, national, and international performers.

Burlington’s music scene punches above its weight for a city this size, sitting on the touring route between New York, Boston, and Montreal.

The Vermont Comedy Club, a locally owned venue, rounds things out with standup, improv, and sketch comedy nights throughout the year.

Explore lakefront Burlington in Vermont

You can get to Burlington through Burlington International Airport, which connects to major hubs around the country.

The city is compact enough that you can cover the downtown, the waterfront, and the South End on foot or by bike without needing a car for most of your trip.

Bring layers no matter when you visit, because temperatures near the lake shift fast, especially out on the Colchester Causeway, where wind comes off the open water with nothing to block it.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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