Start from 47 curated places around Burlington, VT, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
Hen of the Wood
The Burlington outpost of Vermont's defining farm-to-table restaurant, in a dim brick-and-timber room where the menu rewrites itself daily around what local farms send in. The mushroom toast is the one dish people order on autopilot. This is the city's special-occasion dinner.
Honey Road
An eastern Mediterranean small-plates restaurant on Church Street that has won the local paper's best-restaurant vote repeatedly and put its chef on the James Beard map. Order the mezze widely and the wood-fired vegetables. Built for a long, shared dinner with extra wine.
Trails & outdoors
Waterfront Park
The flat lakeside start of the Island Line bike path, an easy paved walk along Lake Champlain right below downtown. No elevation, fully accessible, constant lake-and-mountain views. The default short stroll for anyone staying near the center.
Oakledge Park
A short, easy network of wooded shoreline paths over rocky ledges at the south end of the bike path, with a small beach and quiet swimming spots. Gentle terrain, good for a relaxed hour. The local antidote to the busier downtown waterfront.
Things to do
Flynn Center for the Performing Arts
A restored 1930 art-deco theater on Main Street that is the city's main stage for touring music, dance, Broadway, and comedy. The room has well-regarded acoustics and no genuinely bad seats. The anchor of downtown's evening cultural calendar.
Higher Ground
The state's premier live-music club in South Burlington, two rooms running national touring acts most nights of the year. General-admission and standing-heavy, energetic, the place serious music fans go. An evening, adult-leaning night out.
Landmarks & sights
Shelburne Museum
A sprawling 45-acre campus of 39 relocated historic buildings, a beached Lake Champlain steamboat you can board, and a serious collection of Americana, quilts, and French Impressionist paintings. It's less a building and more an outdoor village you wander for hours. Plan a half day at minimum.
ECHO, Leahy Center for Lake Champlain
A waterfront science and nature center built around Lake Champlain's ecosystem, with the state's largest aquarium tank holding sturgeon and other big lake fish. Hands-on exhibits keep younger kids busy for a couple of hours. It anchors the south end of the waterfront, so pair it with a walk on the boardwalk.