Montpelier gets most of the attention as Vermont's postcard capital, but the county around it is having a moment. Washington County has just been ranked the second-best place to live in Vermont by Niche, and the reasons it appeals to residents apply just as much to visitors: independent shops, farm-to-table restaurants, craft breweries, sugarhouses and a mountain playground in every direction.
The county sits next to Chittenden (Burlington's busy home county) along Interstate 89, so it's easy to reach, yet it feels properly rural. It packs in some of Vermont's most interesting towns: Montpelier, famously America's only state capital without a McDonald's; Barre, once the granite capital of the world, still showing off its stone-carving heritage; Waterbury, which the Boston Globe dubbed New England's best little foodie town; Northfield, home to Norwich University, the country's oldest private military academy; and Waitsfield and Warren in the Mad River Valley, a ski and recreation hub.
Outdoor options are the main draw. Sugarbush, Mad River Glen and Bolton Valley are all within the county, and Stowe Mountain Resort on Vermont's highest peak is under an hour away — hundreds of slopes in total, plus cross-country centres like Onion River Nordic and Blueberry Lake. Come summer, the same terrain turns into hiking and camping country, with state parks and swimming holes to cool off in. Autumn is foliage season, best seen along Route 100, known as Vermont's Main Street, and from Mt. Elmore State Park.
Rainy-day plans are sorted too. Tour the Vermont State House and Morse Farm Maple Sugarworks in Montpelier, or Barre's Granite Museum. In September and October, Kents' Corner State Historic Site hosts its annual Art of the Kent exhibition.
Food-wise, start in Waterbury: Hen of the Wood does the farm-to-table thing beautifully downtown, and the Ben & Jerry's Factory plus Cold Hollow Cider Mill are reliable crowd-pleasers nearby. In Montpelier, try Barr Hill Distillery — its gin is among the most awarded in the US — and grab bread or pastries at Red Hen Baking Company's new Main Street home. For shopping, Bear Pond Books (going since 1973) and gear shop Onion River Outdoors face each other in Montpelier; Waitsfield's All Things Bright and Beautiful has been run by twin sisters for 50 years; and no Vermont trip is complete without flannel from the Vermont Flannel Company in Waterbury or East Barre.
For travellers, this is the Vermont of leaf-peeping road trips, ski weekends and slow small-town browsing — without the crowds or prices of Chittenden County. Time it right: June to September for hiking, early-to-mid October for colour, January or February for snow.
