Updated August 2026
Vermont is what your brain pictures when someone says “New England in the fall,” and Stowe is the part of Vermont that shows up on the calendar. I spent seven years living in New England and made a point of getting to Vermont for foliage every single autumn, because it never once disappointed me.
Stunning fall color, an absurd number of good breweries, and cider donuts still warm from the fryer. That’s the pitch. That’s the whole pitch, and it works.
Here’s how to do Stowe, Vermont in fall, when to go, what’s actually worth your time, and everything that changed for 2026.
Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase, at no extra cost to you. I only recommend things I’d actually tell a friend to do. Your support keeps this adventure rolling and the dogs in treats. Thanks for being part of the journey!
What’s Changed in Stowe for 2026
I update this post every year and this round had more moving parts than usual. Quick rundown before we get into it:
- The Blue Donkey is gone. Burt’s Irish Pub moved into 2160 Mountain Road in June 2025. Same building, entirely different restaurant.
- Cold Hollow Cider Mill is celebrating 50 years; they’ve been pressing cider since 1974.
- Skinny Pancake Stowe closed at least through the 2025-26 winter and spring, with a possible summer 2026 reopening. Treat it as uncertain and check before you drive over.
- Nocturnal on Cottage Club Road closed in early 2025.
- Stowe’s housing and labor crunch is real and it’s driving seasonal closures and shortened hours, especially during stick season (November, and April into May). Call ahead. I mean it this year more than usual.
- Smugglers’ Notch reopened May 4, 2026, after its winter closure, with the truck-deterring chicanes back in place on both ends.
The Basics
Where Is Stowe, Vermont?
Stowe sits in Northern Vermont, in the shadow of Mt. Mansfield — at 4,395 feet, the highest peak in the state. It’s best known for world-class skiing, but every autumn it turns into one of the most reliable foliage destinations in New England.
Getting there: Burlington International (BTV) is the closest airport at about 45 minutes. Driving, you’re looking at roughly 3 to 3.5 hours from Boston, 5 to 5.5 hours from New York City, and 2 to 2.5 hours from Montreal. Which makes it a very doable long weekend and a slightly ambitious day trip from Boston, depending on your relationship with early alarms.
One thing to know before you go: Mountain Road (Route 108) is the roughly seven-mile spine connecting Stowe Village to the resort, and on a peak foliage Saturday it crawls from about 10am to 4pm. Get there early. Park once. Use the Rec Path to move around on foot instead of re-entering that traffic every forty minutes.
There is just something so quintessentially New England about this charming Vermont mountain town. Stowe is located in Northern Vermont and makes an easy fall day trip from Massachusetts and New Hampshire to Vermont. The historic town of Stowe sits in the shadow of Mt. Mansfield Vermont, the highest peak of the Green Mountains. Although Stowe Vermont is most famous for its world-class skiing and mountain trails, it transforms into a fall foliage paradise during Vermont’s peak autumn season.
When To Visit Stowe for Peak Fall Foliage
Peak foliage in Stowe generally runs from late September through mid-October, with the sweet spot most years falling in the first two weeks of October.
For 2026 specifically: forecasters are pointing at roughly October 4th through the 12th for Vermont overall, with most of the state peaking near October 9th, and Northern Vermont color starting high on the Green Mountains first. Other New England forecasts put the windows at October 8-12 and October 14-18. Everyone’s giving themselves about a ten-day margin, which tells you how much of a moving target this is.
Translation: if you can only pick one week, pick the first full week of October. Then check the actual reports before you commit.
Elevation matters more than people expect. Mansfield and the higher stretches of Smugglers’ Notch turn well before the village does, so if the valley looks green, drive up; you may find peak color 2,000 feet above your parking spot.
Weather can shift peak by up to two weeks in either direction. Build in flexibility if you can, and check the official Vermont Foliage Forecaster weekly during the season, plus Go Stowe’s Foliage Finder for local reports.
What To Expect Weather Wise
- September: average high around 68°F, low around 48°F
- October: average high around 54°F, low around 39°F, and first snow is entirely possible
- The summit is a different planet. It was 37 degrees the day I drove the Toll Road. Pack real layers.
Where To Grab Coffee in Stowe
The coffee scene here punches above its weight for a town this size.
Black Cap Coffee & Bakery is right across from that iconic white church steeple in Stowe Village, and they’re known for maple lattes and drinks like the Funky Monkey (banana mocha iced coffee). They’re also the only coffee shop in Stowe serving Vermont craft beer, which is a very Vermont solution to the problem of what to do after noon.
PK Coffee has a genuinely good backstory; it opened to honor a WWII coffee roaster, and serves excellent artisan coffee. Stowe Bee Bakery doesn’t cut corners on ingredients.
If you’ll drive a few minutes out, Vermont Artisan Coffee & Tea Co. in Waterbury Center is in a gorgeous red barn where you can watch the roasting happen and take a tour.
The 10 Best Things To Do in Stowe, Vermont in Fall
1. Drive Through Smugglers Notch State Park
Every photo you’ve seen of Smugglers’ Notch in fall, is right outside Stowe. Most of the notch sits in Mt. Mansfield State Forest, and the road threads a dramatic narrow gap between Mt. Mansfield and Sterling Mountain on its way to Jeffersonville. Towering cliffs, dense forest, and a road that turns into a tunnel of color in early October.
What you need to know for 2026:
- The notch section of Route 108 closes to through traffic every winter and reopens in spring. It reopened at noon on May 4, 2026, and closed the previous fall on November 3, 2025. If you’re visiting outside roughly mid-May to early November, check before you plan a route through it.
- Vehicles over 40 feet (single) or 45 feet (combination) are banned year-round. No RVs, no box trucks, no exceptions. Every year somebody wedges a truck in there, and every year it makes the news.
- On that note: Vermont lawmakers are currently considering raising the fine for getting a large vehicle stuck from $1,000 to $10,000, and up to $20,000 if it substantially blocks traffic. That’s proposed, not law yet, but read it as a signal about how seriously they take it.
- Parking at the notch pull-offs fills fast on peak weekends. Early morning or late afternoon.
2. Hike to Bingham Falls – Easy Waterfall Trail in Smugglers Notch
Short, free, and gorgeous. My kind of trail.
- Distance: about 0.5 miles round trip
- Rating: easy, with one genuinely steep bit
- Elevation gain: roughly 150 feet
- Cost: free
- Dogs: yes, leashed
You’ll find it off Route 108, about 6.4 miles west of the Route 100/108 intersection in the village, with paved pull-offs on both sides. The trail itself is short and mellow right up until the final descent to the falls, which is steep, rocky, and slick, especially after rain, and especially in October when wet leaves are doing their best to take you out. Wear actual shoes.
The payoff is worth it. Cascading water, a gorge full of color, and one of the best waterfall-plus-foliage combinations in the Stowe area.
3. Drive the Mount Mansfield Auto Toll Road
Cost: $37 per car plus $14 per passenger
CASH ONLY – all three of Vermont’s toll roads are cash only, so hit an ATM first
Season: late May through mid-October, weather permitting (the specific 2026 opening date hadn’t been published when I updated this)
Restrictions: no motorcycles, no vehicles over 14 feet
Dogs: allowed at the top parking lots on leash
The Toll Road has been running since 1923, and it’s a 4.5-mile gravel climb to about 3,850 feet, the spot on the mountain called the Nose. From the third parking lot at the Mount Mansfield Visitor Center, it’s an easy five-minute walk to 360-degree views: Lake Champlain, the Adirondacks, the Whites. On a clear October day, it’s one of the best views in New England, full stop.
If you want the actual summit, the Chin, at 4,393 feet, that’s another 1.4 miles of ridge hiking from the top lot.
Tip: It is cold up there. It was 37 degrees the day I went. Dress warmer than you think you need to, and wear sturdy shoes, the trail up top is easy but it was wet, muddy, and slippery in spots.
Learn from my mistake: The road closes to incoming traffic at 4pm. I rolled up at 3:45, which meant I had about fifteen minutes at the top before I had to head down (it closes to outgoing traffic at 5pm). It was still worth freezing my butt off for, but give yourself an actual hour up there.
4. Ride the Gondola SkyRide
This is the easiest way to get above the treeline without earning it.
- Season: daily mid-June through mid-October
- Hours: 10 am to 4:30 pm, last ticket sold at 4:15 pm, weather permitting
- Ages 6 and under and 80 and up ride free; Epic Pass holders ride free; there’s an $89 summer season pass for ages 7-79
- Leashed dogs allowed (not at the summit restaurant)
- Same-day tickets are in-person only; advance tickets online at stowe.com
On pricing: gondola rates are dynamic, and stowe.com hadn’t posted summer 2026 pricing when I updated this — the site flips to winter mode in the off-season. Recent published round-trip rates have run in the $40-43 adult range with kids around $27-29, but check the official site for your dates rather than trusting my number or anyone else’s.
If the Toll Road line is long or you’d rather not white-knuckle a gravel road, this is the move. Riding up over the treeline with the whole Green Mountain range going gold underneath you is worth the ticket on its own.
5. Walk or Bike the Stowe Recreation Path
The Stowe Recreation Path is a 5.3-mile paved greenway running from Stowe Village, park behind the Stowe Community Church, out to Topnotch on Mountain Road. It’s free, it’s flat, it crosses the West Branch River repeatedly, and in October it’s a straight shot through color with almost no effort required.
This is also the smartest traffic hack in town. On a peak foliage Saturday, walking or biking between the village and the Mountain Road breweries is genuinely faster than driving it, and infinitely less annoying.
The Quiet Path runs alongside it: 1.8 miles, walkers and joggers only, no bikes. Slower, prettier, and a good escape when the main path gets busy.
Extra parking at Chase Park, Thompson Park, and the Brook Road end.
6. Take a Real Hike
Any trail in this area is gorgeous in fall, but a few standouts:
The Nose to The Chin via the Long Trail
- Distance: 2.8 miles
- Rating: moderate
- Elevation gain: 1,053 ft
- The ridge walk across the top of Vermont. Exposed, windy, and worth it.
Moss Glen Falls Trail
- Distance: 5.2 miles (the falls themselves are only about a quarter to half mile in)
- Rating: easy
- Elevation gain: 951 ft
- Off Randolph Road onto Moss Glen Falls Road. Small parking lot, leashed dogs welcome. Worth noting there’s been an alert about a weekday partial closure of the vista section — check Trail Finder before you go.
Nebraska Notch via the Lake Mansfield Trail
- Distance: 3.2 miles
- Rating: moderate
- Elevation gain: 780 ft
If you want to dodge the crowds entirely, Sterling Falls Gorge and Cady’s Falls over in Morristown get a fraction of the traffic Bingham does.
7. Where To Eat in Stowe
After a day of hiking and leaf-peeping, you’ve earned this. A note before the list: Stowe restaurant hours shift constantly, especially with the town’s ongoing staffing crunch. Check before you drive.
Burt’s Irish Pub
- 2160 Mountain Road, Stowe, VT 05672
Burt’s Irish Pub moved into the building in June 2025 (they’d originally opened on this stretch of Mountain Road back in 1976, so it’s more of a homecoming than an invasion). Roughly half Vermont beers and half Irish on tap, a properly poured 20-ounce Guinness, and a menu that runs Irish with Colombian influences: empanadas, a Colombian corn dog. I haven’t eaten there yet, so I’m not going to pretend to review it. If you go, tell me how it is.
The Bench
- 492 Mountain Road, Stowe, VT 05672
Rustic bar and grill doing wood-fired pizzas, burgers, and a solid draft list. Reliable and cozy, which is exactly what you want after a cold day on the mountain.
Matterhorn
- 4696 Mountain Road, Stowe, VT 05672
More of a hangout than a destination restaurant, but the food’s worth a stop. It’s seasonal; verify hours.
Also Worth Knowing
- Edson Hill brought on a new executive chef in mid-2025 with a Japanese-influenced menu. Closes for stick season.
- Skinny Pancake Stowe has been closed since late 2025 with a possible summer 2026 reopening; don’t count on it.
8. Wander Downtown Stowe
Downtown Stowe is a postcard, and it knows it. That white church steeple is the most-photographed thing in the state for a reason.
Shaw’s General Store has been here since 1895, is packed with Vermont-made goods, and welcomes dogs inside. The Country Store on Main is the other must-stop for Vermont products and gifts.
Walking Main Street with a hot cider in hand, while everything around you is on fire with color, is genuinely one of those moments that make you understand why people move here.
9. Don’t Skip the Breweries
Stowe’s craft beer scene is one of the best reasons to come, full stop. Pristine mountain water, local ingredients, and a total lack of pretension.
von Trapp Brewing (Trapp Family Lodge)
1333 Luce Hill Rd, Stowe, VT 05672 · Bierhall open roughly 11:30 am-9 pm
You’ve gotta try: Golden Helles Lager (the signature), Bohemian Pilsner, Vienna Lager
Austrian-inspired food, mountain views, fire pits on the patio, and an 18-hole disc golf course. The pretzels with cheddar lager soup are excellent.
Beyond the beer, the property has a 60km trail network open to day visitors with a trail pass ($15/day in summer). The views back toward Mansfield from up there are some of the best in Stowe, and far fewer people make the drive up Luce Hill than you’d expect.
A heads up if you’re traveling with a dog: Trapp’s trail network is off-limits to pets. Details in the dog section below.
The Alchemist
100 Cottage Club Road, Stowe, VT 05672 · daily, roughly 11 am-8 pm
You’ve gotta try: Heady Topper, Focal Banger
Heady Topper is the beer that put Vermont on the craft map, and it still has people chasing delivery trucks. The Beer Café now offers full on-site pours, and brewery tours are bookable online.
Pro tip: drink it straight from the can like the brewers tell you to.
(The Waterbury facility is production-only and closed to the public; don’t drive there by mistake.)
Idletyme Brewing Company
1859 Mountain Road, Stowe, VT 05672
You’ve gotta try: Idletyme Double IPA, Helles Lager, the Brew-ski tasting flight
The building’s been a gathering place forever: Foster’s Cider Mill in the early 1900s, then Camp Idletyme, then The Shed. Dog-friendly patio with fire pits, and it sits right off the Rec Path, which makes it a natural walk-up stop.
Stowe Cider
17 Town Farm Lane, Stowe, VT 05672
You’ve gotta try: the cider flight, Vermont Grown Blueberry Maple (seasonal), Brainwaves Gummy Bears (seasonal)
Low-and-slow barbecue, a real gluten-free menu, free live music Friday and Saturday nights, and a dog-friendly outdoor cider garden with food trucks. Probably the most relaxed place in town.
Smugglers’ Notch Distillery
The Stowe tasting room is still operating, verify hours before heading over.
10. Cider Donuts and Ice Cream (The Non-Negotiables)
Cold Hollow Cider Mill
- 3600 Waterbury-Stowe Road, Waterbury Center, VT 05677
- Daily 8 am-6 pm year-round (until 7 pm in summer); closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s
- Celebrating 50 years in 2026, they’ve been at it since 1974
Stop here on your way out of town. Warm apple cider, cider slushies, the famous donuts, and a Dutch apple pie that I think about more often than is reasonable. There’s a self-serve cider tasting tank, which is exactly as dangerous as it sounds.
I always grab a half-gallon of fresh cider to take home, and it’s gone within a day. No shame. What I love about their donuts is that they’re traditional, not buried in cinnamon sugar, just pure apple flavor. (You can get the sugared ones too; I’m not the boss of you.)
Ben & Jerry’s Factory Tour
- 1281 Waterbury-Stowe Road, Waterbury, VT
- $6 adults, $5 seniors 65+, $1 kids ages 2-12, plus service fee; infants free
- Fall hours from August 9: 10 am-7 pm, last tour at 6 pm
- Tickets are released 14 days out, buy online; they sell out
- The Flavor Graveyard outside is free and doesn’t require a ticket
Important for peak foliage visitors: there are no guided tours on October 3-4 or October 9-12, 2026. The mezzanine over the production line stays open for viewing on those days, but no tour. That’s smack in the middle of prime foliage week, so plan around it.
Bringing a Dog to Stowe? The Short Version
Stowe is one of the better dog towns in New England, with one big catch worth knowing before you go.
The easy yeses: the Rec Path and Quiet Path, Bingham Falls, Moss Glen Falls, the top lots on the Toll Road, the summer gondola, Wiessner Woods, and inside Shaw’s General Store. Most of the brewery patios welcome leashed dogs too — Idletyme, Stowe Cider, the Alchemist beer garden, and von Trapp’s outdoor beer garden.
The catch: the Trapp Family Lodge trail network is off-limits to dogs, all 60km of hiking, biking, ski, and snowshoe trails. The property gets called dog-friendly constantly, and it’s only half true, so don’t build a day around hiking there with your pup. Ben & Jerry’s is service animals only inside, though the Flavor Graveyard out front is fine.
Want the full breakdown? Every trail, every patio, pet fees, and where to stay? I’ve got a dedicated guide coming soon!
Stowe, Vermont Events Calendar 2026
- Stowe Oktoberfest at the von Trapp Bierhall – early September, 17th annual (confirm the exact 2026 date)
- Stowe Foliage Art & Craft Festival – mid-September, Top Notch Field
- British Invasion – September 18-20, 2026, 35th year; Main Street Block Party Friday the 18th, 6-9 pm. Note: no dogs on the show field except service animals.
- Stowe Winter Carnival – January, about ten days of events (confirm 2026-27 dates)
- A Traditional Christmas in Stowe – holiday season
Stowe Vermont FAQ
When is peak fall foliage in Stowe, Vermont? Generally late September through mid-October, with the first two weeks of October the safest bet. For 2026, forecasters are pointing at roughly October 4-12 for Vermont overall. Higher elevations turn first, so check the mountain even if the valley still looks green.
Can you drive to the top of Mount Mansfield? Almost. The Auto Toll Road takes you 4.5 miles up to about 3,850 feet at the Nose for $37 per car plus $14 per passenger, cash only. The true summit, the Chin at 4,393 feet, requires about 1.4 miles of ridge hiking from the top lot.
Is Smugglers’ Notch open in winter? No. The notch section of Route 108 closes to through traffic each winter and reopens in spring, May 4, 2026, after closing November 3, 2025. Vehicles over 40 feet are banned year-round regardless of season.
How much is the Stowe gondola? Pricing is dynamic, and summer 2026 rates weren’t posted at the time of this update. Recent round-trip rates have run roughly $40-43 for adults and $27-29 for kids. Kids 6 and under and adults 80+ ride free, and Epic Pass holders ride free.
How far is Stowe from Boston, NYC, and Montreal? Roughly 3-3.5 hours from Boston, 5-5.5 hours from NYC, and 2-2.5 hours from Montreal. Burlington International Airport is about 45 minutes away.
What’s the best scenic drive in Stowe? Route 108 through Smugglers’ Notch, hands down, but only between roughly mid-May and early November, when the notch is open. Pair it with the Mount Mansfield Toll Road for the two best drives in the area on a single day.
How long do you need in Stowe? One full day covers the Toll Road or the gondola, a waterfall, downtown, and a brewery. Two days lets you add real hiking, Smugglers’ Notch, and the Waterbury stops without rushing.
Get Your Free Printable Stowe, Vermont Fall Checklist Here
Stowe really is the perfect New England fall trip. Foliage that lives up to the photos, hiking for every ability level, breweries worth planning around, cider donuts worth a detour, and a walkable village that looks like it was built for October.
Go the first week of October if you can. Take cash for the Toll Road. Get there before ten if you want to park anywhere good.
Have you been to Stowe? Did it live up to the hype for you?
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