Nestled on the shores of Lake Champlain, Burlington, Vermont is a walkable gem of a meeting and event destination.
Burlington, Vermont, is one of the sweetest little cities you may think of more as a hot vacation spot on the Vermont side of Lake Champlain, with gorgeous views of Vermont’s Green Mountains and the Adirondacks of New York across the lake. But it’s also an accessible, walkable gem of a meeting and event destination, with an eclectic choice of hotels, fantastic farm-to-table dining options, cool unique off-site venues, and one of the most beautiful settings to watch the sunset you can imagine.
I recently had the opportunity to check out Burlington for myself. Just a couple hundred miles from my home in northern Massachusetts down highways largely populated by rolling hills, forests and winding rivers, just getting there felt like a vacation from everyday reality. It’s even easier to get to by train and air — the Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport offers direct flights to more major cities than you might imagine, including Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Minneapolis-Saint Paul, New York City, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Orlando.
Where to Stay
The host hotel for our small press group was the Hotel Champlain Burlington, Curio Collection by Hilton. The conveniently attached covered municipal garage made quick work of getting to the hotel for drive-in participants like me, while my colleagues who flew in from around the country — San Francisco, Minneapolis and Miami — only had a four-mile journey from the airport to the hotel. The hotel has 252 guest rooms and suites, some with city views, and others that offer a front-row seat to those gorgeous sunsets over the lake, which is just a block’s walk from the hotel.
The hotel was hosting a conference over our stay so we didn’t get to see all the hotel’s 19,247 square feet of conference space, but we did get a peek at some of the property’s 32 meeting venues, which range from the 5,459-square-foot Adirondack Ballroom to the 450-square-foot Montpelier Salons. There’s outdoor spaces too, including the 1,748-square-foot Garden Terrace.
The hotel also offers a couple of dining options, including Lily May’s Coffee & Cafe for baked goods and casual beverages, and Original Skiff Fish & Oysters, where I hear the frozen gin and tonics, especially when combined with a creemee (Vermontese for soft-serve ice cream), are treats not to be missed. I also loved the various nooks and crannies, especially the grassy Clover Lawn courtyard stocked with cornhole and giant chess and Jenga sets.
While the finishing touches on the renovations of the 161-room The Harborvale were still underway when we visited in early June, it was just weeks away from reopening as part of the Autograph Collection by Marriott. The rooms we saw, many with that amazing lake view, had so many cool little touches that made it feel like a super upscale version of grandpa’s lake house — homey and playful yet full of the elevated amenities one would expect in an Autograph Collection property. I particularly loved the working telescopes and binoculars in the suite we toured that guests could use for star gazing or to watch boats cruise the lake, and the shutters framing the windows to the indoor pool. It also has an American-cuisine restaurant serving breakfast, lunch and dinner.
The Harborvale also offers plenty of meeting spaces, including the 1,500-square-foot Harbor Room with floor-to-ceiling windows; the 750-square-foot Independence Room for smaller group gatherings; a 200-square-foot Enterprise board room with a custom board table and floor-to-ceiling windows; and the outdoor Harbor Terrace, featuring a fire pit, water feature, and partial view of Lake Champlain.
Right next door is the Hotel Vermont, whose 125 guest rooms were bright and airy, featuring local, natural and sustainable materials crafted into a sophisticated, yet comfortable, vibe. The hotel’s indoor and outdoor spaces are also carefully designed to provide a homespun-yet-upscale feel for smaller groups. Groups up to 50 could take over the Van Ness meeting room, while up to 80 can be accommodated in the hotel’s largest meeting space, Juniper Hall & Common.
We also got to do a hard-hat tour of the Sugar House Hotel, which when it opens later this year as a Tribute Portfolio Hotel will be Marriott’s first all-electric, net-zero energy and LEED Platinum property. Located just a short drive from downtown Burlington in Winooski — a beautiful little town in its own right and one of the most culturally diverse in Vermont — the hotel’s motto is “Nature out back, city out front” for good reason. The hotel borders both a 104-acre nature preserve and the vibrant town center. While it was mostly still raw wood and piping when we toured, our hosts painted a picture of what this special property will be, from a 20-foot maple tree in the heart of the lobby to the 115 guest rooms that are named after and honor the history of local sugarhouses. The top floor, available for group buyouts, includes elevated rooftop dining at Tree Tops Restaurant and the MOSS Café and Bar. Even unfinished, the RISE rooftop event venue already was a gorgeous, a soaring space that can’t help but inspire creativity in those who meet there.
The Essex Resort & Spa feels like a world away, even though it’s just a short drive from downtown Burlington. The grounds in early June were already blooming with herbs and flowers, and we also got to meet the local goats and the hotel’s on-site bee hives. The event venues were varied, each special in its own way. The largest, the nearly 5,000 square-foot Farmhouse, can accommodate up to 350, while the venue’s small boardrooms and hospitality suites can accommodate small groups of 10 or less. The Atrium, a 3,185-square-foot airy space filled with sunlight was a wonder in June — and we hear it’s like being inside a snow globe in the winter. We had the opportunity to sample one of The Essex’s many team-building activities, a cooking class; others include everything from lawn game competitions to cozy bonfires.
Last but not least, we toured the DoubleTree by Hilton Burlington, the state’s biggest hotel and the hot spot for larger conventions and trade shows. The midtown hotel is just two miles from Burlington International Airport and the University of Vermont, and a 10-minute drive from other local attractions, from Lake Champlain to Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory. The hotel recently added 70 new guestrooms, bringing the total available inventory to 324 rooms (the existing 254 guestrooms also have been renovated). To add to the accolades, the hotel just was recognized with the DoubleTree by Hilton Award of Excellence for 2025 by Hilton Hotels for delivering exceptional guest experiences.
The hotel’s 30,000-square-foot-plus meeting space ranges from the 12,480-square-foot Champlain Exhibit Hall to two ballrooms that can hold up to 700, to smaller boardrooms for meetings of up to 12. Of course, we left with the brand’s signature warm chocolate chip cookies in hand.
Where to Eat
Our first culinary stop was a happy hour at Wilder Wines, a woman-owned natural wine shop and bar specializing in small-batch, low-intervention producers. Available for buyouts, the newly renovated wine bar was the perfect spot for a refreshing glass of wine and plates of small-bite goodies.
Fortunately, we saved some room for dinner at Trattoria Delia in the historic Vermont House, a turn-of-the-century hotel. The restaurant is co-owned by John Rao and Leslie Wells, a BIPOC restaurateur who has established four restaurants in Burlington. The restaurant’s interior, anchored at one end by a gorgeous stone fireplace, began as a New Hampshire sugar house — where maple sap is processed and transmogrified into syrup — that was relocated to its current home. The menu is Italian, with a local twist gained from fresh seasonal ingredients sourced from a community of local farmers, and the extensive wine list represents primarily Italian selections with a special emphasis on organic, biodynamic and farmer-made selections.
Just walking into The Grey Jay for breakfast the next morning felt like a warm hug — you couldn’t help but feel welcomed, even if you, like we, showed up 15 minutes before they were officially opened. The Eastern Mediterranean breakfast and lunch spot owned by local restauranteurs Cara Tobin and Allison Gibson incorporates seasonal Vermont ingredients to serve up sweet and savory baked delights along with a variety of main dishes. If I could start every day with a Grey Jay shakshuka, I would be a very happy camper.
Another hot breakfast spot where the locals flock for Sunday brunch is the Juniper Bar at the Hotel Vermont in downtown Burlington near the shores of Lake Champlain. The menu was chock full of dishes made with fresh, local ingredients, with lots of options — like buttermilk pancakes with wild blueberries, that practically scream for a heavy pour of Vermont maple syrup.
Many of Burlington’s former industrial and warehouse spaces have been repurposed into craft breweries such as the Burlington Beer Company, an independent craft brewery serving flagship IPAs, DIPAs and lagers with the fun tagline of “Where fermentation meets imagination.” The Restaurant and Taproom where we had lunch offers a locally sourced menu, which helpfully suggests which of the 40+ brews on tap to order to complement each dish. The 14,000-square-foot venue has multiple event spaces groups can book, along with seasonally sourced menus all made from scratch.
We had dinner one night in the upstairs private room at Frankie’s, a farm-to-table restaurant known for its inventive, seasonal American small plates and creative cocktails. It’s not difficult to see why the woman-owned business, which sources local ingredients from Vermont farms, was recognized as one of America’s best new restaurants in 2024 by Eater — everything from the curated cocktails to the shared apps and main dishes were interesting, unique, fresh-tasting and scrumptious.
While in Winooski, we had a fabulous dinner at the Waterworks Food + Drink, situated in the Champlain Mill on the Winooski River and overlooking the rapids that once powered the mill. Once again, the American cuisine was fresh and delicious, the views spectacular, and the soaring ceilings, floor-to-ceiling river views, and old mill charm of the various semi-private and private spaces would make any group event feel special.
Activities and Off-Site Venues
If your attendees have an afternoon off, intend to take a bleisure break pre- or post-con, or if you want to cut them loose for a dine-around experience, check out the brick-lined charm of the four-block-long pedestrian Church Street Marketplace. Stuffed with more than 100 almost exclusively local retail shops and restaurants, the Marketplace also is a center of activity for the local community, with a year-round rotating schedule of festivals, concerts, parades, rallies, street entertainers and cart vendors. One member of our group checked out the jazz fest that was starting our last night in town and was wowed by a local jazz singer scatting her heart out on one of the Church Street stages. She was impressed by how many locals came out to participate — on a Wednesday night, no less.
When I first drove into town, I couldn’t help but notice the marquee at The Flynn Center, which looked a bit like an old-time vaudeville and motion picture venue. Turns out that’s how The Flynn began back in 1930, when it opened as Vermont’s newest and largest “entertainment palace.” While the marquee may herald its roots, the new $500,000 entertainment complex behind the façade includes a 1,439-seat Main Stage Theater and several smaller, 1,000-square-foot studio spaces, all available with state-of-the-art AV.
I would have loved to have been able to meet Electra Havemeyer Webb, who in addition to having a very cool name founded one of the most eclectic museums I have ever encountered. The Shelburne Museum, a short drive from downtown Burlington, could more accurately be called a museum park. The 45-acre property hosts everything from American folk art and French Impressionist paintings to duck decoys, circus animals, and wind vanes in buildings, some relocated from elsewhere, some recreated on site from scratch, ranging from the ultra-modern Pizzagalli Center for Art and Education to the rustic Round Barn full of horse-drawn carriages and sleighs. The ultimate cool venue is the Ticonderoga, a steamship that once ferried people across the lake before being hauled out and relocated to the Shelburne Museum grounds to delight museum-goers and attendees lucky enough to have an off-site event on board.
If your participants are half the chocoholic I am, they will love the ultimate chocolate tasting experience at Lake Champlain Chocolates in Burlington’s vibrant South End Arts District, steps from the Burlington Bike Path. Available to groups up to 25 (larger groups can be staged in batches), an expert chocolatier takes the group through a tasting of chocolates as they explain how the ingredients for the ultimate chocolates are grown, processed and turned into the creamy confections some of us cannot resist. Two giant thumbs up from this participant!
We also had a lunch aboard the Spirit of Ethan Allen, a USSCG-certified cruise ship with an onboard galley and full meal service that took us on a narrated tour of the lake while we noshed on fresh and tasty fare. Groups can book one deck for a minimum of 75 and can take over the whole ship for groups up to 363.
While all our breakfasts were special, one was especially interactive — a brunch class at the Essex House. After meeting our chef/instructors and donning aprons, the chefs talked us through how to make crêpes from scratch, which we then stuffed with lemon-whipped ricotta from Maple Brook Farm, house-made lemon curd, fresh seasonal strawberries and blueberries, and a drizzle of Vermont maple syrup. Even though they gave us the recipes, I doubt I’ll be able to whip up something even remotely as yummy, but I will try.
One way to really wow your attendees would be a sunset tour of Lake Champlain with Whistling Man Schooner Co. A few of us had the opportunity to take a sunset cruise on the lovely Buttercup, a fully canopied and cushioned picnic boat perfect for those who are a little leery of going out on the company’s classic, historic sailing sloops, the Friend Ship (capacity to hold 12) and Wild Rose (can hold six).
For very small groups, the company offers the Edgewater, a 17-foot motorboat and the small sailboat Golden Rod, both of which can seat four guests. On our tour, our charming captain Cory took us on a birdwatching detour, where we got to see peregrine falcons and bald eagles nesting, backlit by the setting sun. It was nothing short of magical.
I have to admit I was not really looking forward to a tour of the Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport, but it ended up being a highlight of the trip — who knew?! Earlier this spring it officially launched its Project NexT, which opened the airports new expanded terminal space — complete with new gates, jet bridges and enlarged passenger areas — to screened passengers. The expansion was built with net-zero goals in mind, including solar and geothermal systems to provide as much power as the airport consumes and state-of-the-art tech to optimize everything from energy and water usage to passenger flow. But what’s really cool from the planning perspective is a beautiful new 781-foot conference room that can accommodate up to 48, and for larger groups a gorgeous 1,932-square-foot indoor space in the pre-clearance area of the airport that can host meetings and events up to 129, and an attached 1,670-square-foot exterior patio where up to 112 can watch planes take off and land before a stunning scenic view. What an amazing space it would be to hold a welcoming or send-off reception.
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