Things to Do in Burlington

Vermont is a state primarily for people who love the outdoors, and as a place to “get away from it all.” But Burlington, as we Vermonters are fond of saying, isn’t really like the rest of Vermont. Yes, there is plenty to do outdoors here, but there is also a thriving arts scene, tours, museums, live music venues, a plethora of restaurants, and shopping. If the idea of visiting Burlington appeals to you, but you’re wondering how you’ll fill all your time here, you have nothing to worry about. I have compiled a large selection (not exhaustive) of possible activities just for you!

Highlights
Nightlife
Tours
Museums, Aquariums, and the Arts
Agricultural
On The Lake
Sports
Events
Day Spas
Day Trips

Highlights

Waterfront Park: This park, located at the foot of College Street on Lake Champlain, is the jewel in the crown of Burlington. Take in a beautiful lake view while strolling on the boardwalk or sitting on one of the swinging benches; enjoy one of our summer festivals, such as the Discover Jazz Festival, the Chew Chew Festival, or the Vermont Brewer’s Festival; or buy some food at the Burlington Bay Market & Cafe (on the corner of Battery and College Streets) and bring it down to the park for a picnic lunch. There’s also a casual restaurant at the Boathouse called Splash (see their menu) where you can sit and look out on the water. Waterfront Park is a great spot to walk, sun, nap, read and just be outdoors in the summer. The Burlington Bike Path runs through the park. This is a must-see when you visit Burlington, especially in the warmer months.

Church Street Marketplace: The #1 “must see” when you come to Burlington. This pedestrian marketplace is the place for people-watching, dining and shopping in downtown. Street performers entertain on the weekends, and during nicer months, restaurants break out their outdoor dining. Events take place throughout the year on Church Street, such as the Discover Jazz Festival. Dogs are very welcome on the Marketplace, as long as they are on a leash (and as long as owners clean up after them, if you know what I mean). (If you love to shop, another option is the University Mall in South Burlington, which is located on Dorset Street, on the University Mall/Airport bus line. Facilities include a food court and an Applebees restaurant. I don’t, however, consider this a highlight.)

Burlington Bike Path: If you’re driving to Burlington, be sure to bring your bicycle and/or rollerblades and enjoy the 7+ mile bike path that runs along the waterfront of Lake Champlain. But if you’re flying into town, you can also rent a bicycle or blades (May through October) from Local Motion, which is located at the back of Union Station (at the foot of Main Street), right on the bike path.  I’ve also rented a bike from the Ski Rack on lower Main Street; they’ve got a nice selection. If you head north along the lake, you may want to stop at North Beach for a quick swim. If you aren’t the biking or blading type, you can walk the bike path, too. Be aware there are parts of the bike path that are not in heavily trafficked areas, so do be sure to return to a very public area well before dusk. And do take plenty of drinking water with you. You can watch the sun set from the Boardwalk at Waterfront Park.

Shelburne Museum: If you are visiting Vermont from May through October (see museum website for exact dates), you really owe it to yourself to visit this museum. Admission is $20 for adults and it’s totally worth it. If you really want to get a sense of what Vermont is all about, do visit this museum. It can take the whole day if you want it to (and there is a cafe on site for lunch). Among its treasures are an early 19th-Century blacksmith shop; a circus building and carousel; a 19th-Century store with barber shop, tap room, and post office; a barn with one of the country’s finest collections of stagecoaches, carriages, and wagons; a 19th-Century jail building; a lighthouse; and The Ticonderoga, a restored 220-foot sidewheel passenger steamboat; and so much more.

Nightlife

The Flynn Center: This performing arts theater is one of the city’s greatest assets. They have a very diverse roster of music and dance performances, plays, and traveling Broadway shows here. A sampling of shows I’ve seen here are CATS, The Full Monty, Rent, the Reduced Shakespeare Company, the Cowboy Junkies, Suzanne Vega, and Rome and Jules, a hip hop version of Shakespeare’s classic by Rennie Harris’s PureMovement. It’s the perfect way for a solo visitor to spend an engaging evening in the city. If you come to Burlington and don’t see a show at the Flynn, you’re really missing out on something great. There are two venues here, the MainStage and the FlynnSpace, which is a more intimate setting. And if you don’t happen to like what’s playing at the Flynn, it’s not the only theater game in town. Check the events listings in weekly newspaper Seven Days. There are often wonderful performances happening at the University of Vermont, St. Michael’s College and Champlain College, and the Waterfront Theater at Main Street Landing’s Performing Arts Center, among other places.

Nectar’s: This very down-to-earth bar is famous for being the birthplace of the band Phish. It is a Burlington institution that has been around forever and hosts live music every weekend. There is a pretty big bar here, and it’s busy. Get there early.  Nectar’s has been renovated in the past year, and I have to say, it ROCKS now.  To be honest, it used to be kind of a dive. Great music, but you really wouldn’t want to use the bathroom here, if you know what I mean.  What a difference a renovation makes.  Now, it’s got a really great, casual and contemporary decor, with a sleek bar area, funky lighting and great artwork on the walls.  And a bathroom that isn’t skeevy any more. Definitely check it out when you’re in town.  Be forewarned that they host trivia nights on Thursdays from 7:30-9:30, which is kind of a team sport.

Higher Ground: If you’re looking for a good music venue offering some of the best touring bands in the region (and even the country), try the Higher Ground on Williston Road in South Burlington. Make a night of it by grabbing dinner first at the Windjammer or Silver Palace (Chinese) next door to the music venue. Check their website to see who’s playing when you’re in town. Be forewarned that the Showcase Lounge has no bar seating and very few tables for sitting; but if you’re just there for the music and don’t care if you’re one of many standing around enjoying the sounds, you should be fine. (But for the love of God, don’t go to the 70s & 80s flashback dance parties, unless your idea of fun is a bunch of drunk 40-somethings trying to relive their glory days of high school while dancing poorly to old MTV music videos. Gack.)

Club Metronome: This is another hopping dance and live music venue, with a 250-person capacity. I’ve never been there (I’m not much of a dancer), so I can’t tell you anything more than that, including whether or not it’s solo-friendly. Located upstairs from Nectar’s. See their website for more info.

For other live music happening around town, check the calendar at Seven Days.

If you’d like to take in a movie while you’re in the area, you have several options. The Roxy Theater is located in downtown Burlington. It has small, cozy theaters and shows mainstream movies as well as arthouse films. For a bigger screen and theater-style seating, try the Majestic 10 in Williston or the Essex Cinemas, Essex. There is also a theater on Shelburne Road in South Burlington, the Palace Nine. If you’d like to relive the good ol’ days of movie-going, the Sunset Drive-In in Colchester is open during the summer months.

Tours

Ben & Jerry’s Factory Tour: See Day Trips, below.

VT Teddy Bear Factory Tour: This is located in Shelburne, VT, south of Burlington, and you should have a car to get here (or take a cab). This may be a “tourist trap,” but it’s only $2 for adults, and it’s a lot of fun. In my opinion, it’s worth it. The “bear ambassadors” who give the tours are engaging young people and it is really cool to see how the bears are made as well as see the wide variety of bears in the on-site shop. Do be sure to check the hours at the website and note that tours fill up fast in the summer months.

Lake Champlain Chocolate Factory Tour: This factory and store is located on Pine Street in Burlington. If you don’t have a car, you can get there by bus or cab (I don’t recommend walking; it can be done, but you’d have to be a really hard-core walker). You can take a free tour here to see them making their chocolates. The store is open 7 days a week, but please note that tours are only available Monday-Friday. See their website for hours.

Magic Hat Brewery Tour: Located at 5 Bartlett Bay Road, which is off Route 7 in South Burlington. Magic Hat is a home grown microbrewery offering free guided tours. You can also give yourself a self-guided tour during brewery operating hours. See their website for tour times and days. Following the tour, they provide samples of their beers, including some you won’t find anywhere else.

Burlington Brew Tours: If you really love your beer, consider taking this 3.5 hour tour, which takes you to three local breweries–Switchback Brewery, American Flatbread, and Vermont Pub & Brewery. (And if you’re going to go to all those breweries and sample beer, aren’t you glad someone else is doing the driving?) They will pick you up and drop you off from a downtown location or your hotel. The $50 per adult price includes lunch at Burlington’s legendary Beansie’s Bus (a hot dog stand in a yellow school bus) at Battery Park, overlooking Lake Champlain.  Seasonal.  See website for more details.

Queen City Ghost Walk:  Burlington is full of haunted history, and the best place to hear about it is via a Queen City Ghost Walk tour.  Since 2002, they’ve been sending chills up the spines of locals and visitors alike every fall weekend leading up to Halloween and then nightly during the latter part of October. For a complete schedule and details, see their website.  $13 per person.

Museums, Aquariums, and the Arts

Robert Hull Fleming Museum: Located on the UVM campus. See my full review here.

ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center: Located on the Waterfront next to the Burlington Boathouse, this is a relatively young aquarium and science center. Don’t come here expecting to see dolphins and such; this is Lake Champlain, not the ocean. While the museum contains plenty of things for families with children to do, it has also been expanding its adult programming lately. Visit the center’s website for its current list of events.

Burlington City Arts/Firehouse Center for Visual Arts: The Firehouse Center offers art exhibits throughout the year. It is located on Church Street. Consider participating in the free First Friday Art Walk guided tour on the first Friday of every month. Tours leave every half hour from 5:30pm to 7pm. Burlington City Arts also sponsors events such as the Battery Park Free Concert series, which occurs Thursday nights during July starting at 6:30pm.

Church and Maple Glass Studio: Located on the corner of–you guessed it!–Church and Maple Streets in downtown Burlington, this glass studio is owned by Bud Shriner, who offers demonstrations daily. Hours are 9-5, Monday through Saturday. Bud’s glass works are carried in over 100 galleries across the country. You can read more about Bud and his studio at his website.

Agricultural

Shelburne Farms: This is a 1400-acre working farm and National Historic Landmark. Like Shelburne Museum, it is open seasonally during the summer months. There are 8 miles of great walking trails, farm store, guided tours, cheesemaking, and farm animals. There is a phenomenal restaurant on site. Admission is $8 for adults.

UVM Morgan Horse Farm: If you are a horse lover, this should be on your itinerary. The farm, located in Weybridge (south of Burlington), is a designated National Historic Site. Each Saturday in June from 11am-2pm, they host Foal Days, where you get to meet the newest members of the Morgan family (aww!). A small admission fee is charged to visit the grounds. See website for visiting hours and months. They also give tours.

Wineries: You would need a car to reach these. The Charlotte Village Winery is just south of Burlington in the town of Charlotte and 5 miles south of the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory. They offer wine tasting. Boyden Valley Winery is located in Cambridge, VT. They offer tours and wine tastings. See their website for more details. Snow Farm Winery is located in South Hero. They offer private tours and tastings and host a summer concert series. They also now have a Waterbury location with year round tasting about a mile from Ben & Jerry’s in the Cabot Annex. See their website for more details.

UVM Greenhouse: I was just here recently, and if you like looking at plants, you might like it. The greenhouse that is open to the public (for self-guided tours) is located on UVM’s main campus (click on the link to find out where, hours, and more info). The best thing about it is it’s one of the few free things you can do in Burlington. Because the Plant Department does research here, it’s got some interesting plants that you don’t see every day in Vermont, like coffee, sugar cane, avocado, banana, and cactus, some lovely exotic flowering plants, and more.

On the Lake

Take a cruise on Lake Champlain aboard The Spirit of Ethan Allen, offering lunch, brunch and dinner cruises, entertainment (including a Murder Mystery dinner cruise), as well as just scenic narrated cruises, or Northern Lights Cruises, which also offers dinner cruises and special entertainment cruises. The Spirit of Ethan Allen departs from the dock near the Burlington Boathouse at the foot of College Street, while Northern Lights departs from the King Street Ferry Dock.

Whistling Man Schooner Cruises: If you like sailing, you might enjoy this. Sign aboard a Friendship Sloop for a 2-hour sail around Lake Champlain (May through October). See their website for rates and schedule.

Perkins Pier: This popular pier is located at the foot of King Street. When I lived downtown, I hung out here all the time, it’s really a lovely, quiet spot. It’s right on the Burlington Bike Path. There are boat slips here, as well as boat rentals and benches which make it a great spot for watching the sunset. The boat rentals include kayaks, canoes and power boats, and there are also free rowboats for use. There is a parking fee for the lot here. For more specifics, go to the Waterfront Boat Rentals website.

Swimming: North Beach is located just beyond Burlington High School on a turnoff from North Avenue called Institute Road. It’s open from Memorial Day to Labor Day. There is a fee to park here. Facilities include lifeguards, grills, a picnic area (including a shelter), a snack bar. Hours and parking fee available at their website. Before you head to any beach in Burlington, check the local news outlets to see if the beach is closed for water quality reasons. This does occasionally happen. Oakledge Park is located at the end of Flynn Avenue on the South side of Burlington. There are picnic shelters here and public restrooms but no lifeguard. There is a parking fee. There is a beach here and more of a rocky shore. Leddy Park is also located off North Avenue and has a picnic area as well as beach, a parking fee, and no lifeguard. All three of these beaches are accessible from the Bike Path free of charge.

Sports

Skiing: If you came to Vermont to go skiing, what are you doing staying in Burlington? No, seriously, you can drive to some ski mountains from Burlington, but that’s tacking on a lot of road time to your day. You might want to consider staying somewhere near the mountain you want to ski at. Just saying.

The Vermont Lake Monsters: No, this isn’t an aquatic group searching for Champ, the legendary “monster” of Lake Champlain, it’s Vermont’s minor league baseball team. Formerly the Vermont Expos (when they were affiliated with the Montreal Expos), the team is part of the NY-Penn League and makes its home at Centennial Field, located just off Colchester Avenue. See their website for admission price, schedule, etc.

The Vermont Ice Storm: I assume (though i don’t know for sure) that this football team was named after the huge ice storm we had back in January 1997, when electricity to some parts of the state was out for over a week. Ah, fun times. This is a semi-pro team of guys who love the sport so much they play without being paid for it. They are a member of the AAA Empire Football League. Their home field is the Colchester High School football field (in other words, don’t go expecting a professional stadium!) off Route 127 in Colchester, VT. See their website for more details.

Golf courses: The greater Burlington area is home to a number of golf courses, including the Jack Nicklaus-designed Vermont National Country Club in South Burlington, Cedar Knoll Country Club in Hinesburg, the Catamount Golf Club in Williston, The Essex Country Club in Essex, Kwiniaska Golf Club in Shelburne, and The Links at Lang Farm in Essex. I’m not a golfer, so I really can’t say which of these is the best or more affordable.

Cycling: If you are an active cyclist, the Burlington Bike Path is just an appetizer for you. Consider tacking a more formal bike tour onto your Vermont vacation via Bike Vermont or Vermont Bicycling Tours. This is an active way of seeing other parts of Vermont outside of Burlington.

Events

Discover Jazz Festival: Held the first week of June every year at various locations around downtown Burlington. Some events are ticketed, but there are also some free events that occur (including WPTZ’s Friday night block party on Church Street). Also, many restaurants participate with live jazz on site, so you can enjoy the music almost any time.

Vermont Maple Festival: This is a wildly popular festival held every April in St. Albans, VT. See my post on this festival here.

Champlain Valley Fair: The quintessential country fair. If you live in an urban area, and you haven’t experienced one of these, you really should. Live entertainment, agricultural displays, midway rides and games, and lots and lots of bad-for-you fair food (fried dough, cotton candy, greasy burgers and fries). I always loved the pig races myself (they’re so darned cute!), although I do find it a little disconcerting that the pig races are sponsored by McKenzie’s meats.

Battery Park Free Concert series occurs Thursday nights during July starting at 6:30pm and is sponsored by Burlington City Arts.

Also sponsored by Burlington City Arts is the brand-new Festival of Fools which takes place in August. This event features acrobats, jugglers, musicians, comedians, and dancers–all street performers.

Vermont Brewer’s Festival: Brewers participate in this festival by invitation only, based on the quality of their brews. This event takes place every summer in Waterfront Park, Burlington, and includes live entertainment. See their website for more details.

Dragon Boat Festival: This is a festival organized to support breast cancer survivors. Come cheer on the paddling teams at Waterfront Park, and enjoy some live entertainment and food while you’re at it.

First Night Burlington: If you’re crazy enough to visit Burlington at New Year’s, this is pretty much the only game in town, mainly because it’s become hugely popular and everyone does it. It draws about 20,000 attendees into Burlington each year. There is a packed schedule from mid-afternoon until midnight of a variety of acts taking place at venues all over town. Don’t forget to wear your longjohns.

Day Spas

Get a massage at one of the following local day spas: Stephen & Burns, Emerge Massage Studio, Oasis Day Spa, or Avelle Massage & Day Spa.

Day Trips

Stowe/Waterbury

Ben & Jerry’s Factory Tour: Located in Waterbury. You will need a rental car to get here. Sure, it’s a tourist trap, but it’s also fun. See how the ice cream is made and taste the samples of the day before heading to the scoop shop for a full size portion of your favorite flavor. I recommend if you are going to go to the trouble of renting a car to make this trip, combine it with a trip to the Cold Hollow Cider Mill, located on the Waterbury-Stowe Road, and to Stowe, VT. Cold Hollow is a neat little old-fashioned country store that produces apple cider, which you can see being pressed year-round. They also make awesome cider donuts. So yeah, ice cream and donuts on the same day–what could be better than that? Oh, I know, add in the Cabot Annex, located midway between Ben & Jerry’s and Cold Hollow, where you can sample award-winning Cabot cheeses made right here in Vermont, wines from Snow Farm Winery, Lake Champlain Chocolates, and Green Mountain Coffee. On top of that, Stowe is a very picturesque town with lots of shopping and fun outdoor activities, such as horseback riding, the Gondola Skyride at Stowe Mountain Resort, hot air ballooning, and more. For more information about things you can do in Stowe, go to GoStowe.com.

Middlebury

Middlebury is a cute little town about an hour south of Burlington on Route 7. This is a side trip you can take by using the Link Express bus rather than renting a car, but you’d better be punctual if you do, because if you miss the bus, you’re SOL. The town has shopping and some nice restaurants. While there, take a tour of the Danforth Pewter workshop and store at 52 Seymour Street, Otter Creek Brewing microbrewery at 793 Exchange Street, or Vermont Soapworks (organic soap) at 616 Exchange Street. (Do check out all of their websites for tour days and hours.) For a bite to eat, try my favorites, Mister Up’s (hidden on a side street called 25 Bakery Lane, ask someone for directions once you get there), located right on the river, or Fire & Ice, located at 26 Seymour Street. Both places have good salad bars, but Fire & Ice’s is better (and its decor is wonderful–you could spend hours just looking at what’s on the walls). For a casual, healthy lunch, try the Middlebury Natural Food Co-op, located at 9 Washington Street. They make some great sandwiches. If you do take the bus to Middlebury, I cannot guarantee that all of these places are within walking distance of where you are let off, so be sure to do your homework yourself before going. Otherwise, drive yourself.

Montreal

Bring your passport if you plan to take a day trip to Montreal, which is about a one-and-a-half hour drive, one-way. From Burlington, drive north on I-89 to the Canadian border. Once there, take Rte. 133N, and then…well, run yourself a Google map to figure it out. Parking in Montreal can be a pain. Here’s a post at TripAdvisor noting a number of different locations where you can park in the city. There are so many things to do in Montreal (from Mont Royal to Old Montreal to shopping to dining to the Botanical Gardens) that I can’t post them all here.  The trick with a day trip to Montreal is figuring out how to limit yourself to just what you can do in a day!