Best Road Trip Loops in Vermont

Vermont's compact size and famously strict scenic protections — the state banned billboards outright in 1968, one of only a handful of states to do so — make it one of the most consistently scenic road-trip states in the country, with almost no stretch of highway that breaks the visual coherence of the drive.

Route 100: The Green Mountain Spine

Route 100 is Vermont's defining road trip, running the length of the Green Mountain corridor and linking many of the state's best-known ski towns and valleys in a single north-south drive. During foliage season it becomes one of the most heavily photographed roads in New England.

Stowe and Smugglers' Notch Loop

This route pairs Stowe's polished resort-town infrastructure with the raw, cliff-lined drama of Smugglers' Notch Pass, a stretch of road so steep and narrow it closes entirely in winter — a reminder that Vermont's mountain roads are shaped as much by the terrain as by tourism.

Mad River Valley Loop

Waitsfield and Warren anchor one of Vermont's most beloved slower-paced loops, mixing working farms, mountain access, and local food culture in a valley that feels more lived-in than some of the state's more polished resort towns.

Southern Vermont Village Route

A loop through Woodstock, Manchester, and Weston highlights Vermont's historic-inn and village-green tradition, built around white-steepled churches and brick commercial blocks that have changed remarkably little in over a century.

The Molly Stark Byway

Route 9 across southern Vermont, officially the Molly Stark Byway, crosses the Green Mountains between Brattleboro and Bennington through Wilmington and Marlboro, offering a quieter east-west alternative to the more heavily traveled north-south corridors.

Northeast Kingdom Drive

The Northeast Kingdom offers a genuinely different Vermont — more remote, more sparsely populated, and considerably less polished than the central tourism corridor — and a drive through it is often the clearest way to understand that the state cannot be reduced to its resort branding.

Why Vermont Road Trips Work

Covered bridges, mountain passes, and village greens fit naturally into loops here because the state protected its visual character deliberately, not by accident — which is why the scenery holds together mile after mile in a way few other states manage.