Stowe

Stowe had 5,223 residents at the 2020 census and sits in a valley between Mount Mansfield — described in Wikipedia's account as the highest peak in Vermont — and the Green Mountains. The town became known as the Ski Capital of the East through its early adoption of downhill skiing during the Great Depression; the Civilian Conservation Corps built Stowe's first trail, the Bruce Trail, in 1933. The Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum, which documents the region's skiing history, relocated to Stowe in 2000.

Stowe Mountain Resort operates terrain across Mount Mansfield and Spruce Peak, with 116 trails and 12 lifts, according to the resort's own mountain statistics; Vail Resorts acquired the facility in 2017 for $41 million. The Stowe Recreation Path runs 5.3 miles from downtown Stowe to the TopNotch Lodge, was completed in 1989, and has received several awards and honors, according to Wikipedia's account.

The Trapp Family Lodge traces to Maria and Georg von Trapp, who fled Austria after its 1938 Nazi annexation and settled with their family in Vermont in 1942. Maria later wrote the autobiography that inspired the 1959 stage musical and 1965 film The Sound of Music, a dramatized version of the family's story rather than a documentary account of it. The family opened their expanded home as a 27-room ski lodge in 1950, adding roughly 20 more rooms in a 1968 expansion.

The Trapp Family Lodge, now branded von Trapp Family Lodge & Resort as of a February 2025 rebrand, sits on 2,600 acres and traces directly to the von Trapp family's documented settlement in Stowe in 1942. A fire destroyed the original lodge building on December 20, 1980; the family rebuilt, opening a new 73-room Austrian-style lodge in December 1983, since expanded to 96 rooms plus timeshare accommodations.

3 breweries within 10 miles of Stowe, one of them a brewpub with a kitchen.

Brewpub locations from Open Brewery DB (MIT)

13 more Highway Heads places lie within about 180 miles of Stowe in a straight line — far enough that most are a night away rather than an afternoon.

• North Conway (White Mountains)New Hampshireabout 80 mi
• ConcordNew Hampshireabout 100 mi
• ManchesterNew Hampshireabout 120 mi
• FreeportMaineabout 130 mi
• PortlandMaineabout 130 mi
• Albany/CooperstownNew Yorkabout 140 mi
• AugustaMaineabout 140 mi
• PortsmouthNew Hampshireabout 140 mi
• Basketball Hall of FameMassachusettsabout 160 mi
• SalemMassachusettsabout 160 mi
• SpringfieldMassachusettsabout 160 mi
• BostonMassachusettsabout 170 mi
• National Baseball Hall of FameNew Yorkabout 170 mi

• Haskell Free Library & Opera HouseOffbeat landmarkDerby Lineabout 47 miles away

  Cost to see it

  Free

  When you can see it

  Only while it is open, and we did not find its hours published

  Nearest road

  I-91

  Library split by the U.S.-Canada border; access rules changed

  • Something about this one changed recently — check before you drive out

  Read on the page we checked

These are things you can go and look at, not a recommendation of any of them. Oddities move, get sold and quietly disappear more than anything else we list, so check anything you are driving a long way for. Where this list says we did not find a price or opening times published, that is exactly what we mean. A blank is not “free” and not “always open”. Some sit on private land and can only be seen from the road — please do not go onto anyone’s property. Every entry links the page we read it off.

Stowe Mountain Resort's site lists the Epic Pass, Epic Local Pass, Northeast Value Pass, Northeast Midweek Pass and Epic Day Pass, and shows 2026/27 passes as on sale. We were unable to confirm the current lift-ticket and season-pass prices, or the pass-price increase noted earlier as pending; both should be checked on the resort's own site before visiting.

The Stowe Recreation Path is a 5.3-mile paved path open to walkers and cyclists, running from downtown to the TopNotch Lodge.

The Trapp Family Lodge's cross-country ski center and its 60 kilometers of private trails operate separately from the downhill resort: the lodge sells its own day and season trail passes, and Stowe Mountain Resort's cross-country page says a separate trail pass is needed for the lodge's trails. The lodge's winter page lists skiing and snowshoeing as closed after the 2025-26 season; current rates and the 2026-27 opening should be checked on the lodge's own site.

Route 108 through Smugglers' Notch is closed in winter, according to the state parks agency, and state law lets the Agency of Transportation close the Notch segment during periods of winter weather, so travel between Stowe and points north has to route around it seasonally; vehicles over 40 feet (45 feet with a trailer) are prohibited on the segment.

Stowe Mountain Resort

Address

7231 Mountain Rd, Stowe, VT 05672

Hours

See official site for current season hours

Price

See official site for current lift-ticket and pass prices

Link

stowe.com

We checked fees, closures, opening hours, operating status and contact details on 2026-10-13. These change without notice — confirm with stowe.com, vontrappresort.com, fpr.vermont.gov and vtssm.org the week you travel.

Straight-line distance from Stowe, not drive time.

• Edward F Knapp State (MPV) — 19 miles
• Patrick Leahy Burlington International (BTV) — 23 miles
• Plattsburgh International (PBG) — 41 miles