Issues → May/June 2009 → Interact → 10 Things to Do → Yankee Recommends: Ten Great Weekends →
Lake Champlain, VT, Weekend
by William Scheller
Summer sojourners looking to enjoy Lake Champlain often head for Milton, Vermont's Sandbar State Park, with its broad beach, safe shallow waters, and convenient location, just a few miles up Route 7 from Burlington. But the more curious among them often wonder just what lies at the other end of that long causeway that swings out into the lake past the park -- the one that appears to end at a point that certainly isn't the New York side, but isn't the Vermont mainland, either.
That green horizon belongs to the Champlain Islands, one of the big lake's greatest treasures -- and a splendid reason to fold up your beach chair and follow the causeway west. Twenty-eight miles long, barely four miles across at their widest point, the three bridge-linked main islands and one peninsula of Grand Isle County offer spectacular water's-edge views of the Green Mountains and the Adirondacks -- plus myriad ways to get out and enjoy the lake and its surrounding attractions.
Read more -- including a driving tour.
Yankee's picks for the Champlain Islands area. Click on any destination below for a map and more information.
Fisk Farm B&B
Historic Fisk Farm on Isle La Motte, Vermont, overlooks Lake Champlain with magnificent views of lake, mountain, and meadow. It offers natural beauty, historic charm, and peace and quiet. Your stay in one of two picturesque cottages or in Hemond House, a Victorian house in the village, helps support historic preservation, land conservation, and community well being. [DETAILS]
North Hero House Inn and Restaurant
The shipshape North Hero House boasts the islands’ choicest accommodations—opt for one of the lakefront rooms with private screened deck, facing the sunrise—along with excellent meals. Swim and fish just steps from your room. [DETAILS]
Ruthcliffe Lodge & Restaurant
The road dead-ends at Vermont’s most out-of-the-way accommodation and dining surprise, Ruthcliffe Lodge. Here, tucked away from everything but spectacular views, Mark and Kathy Infante welcome guests to snug, cheerful rooms, and to Italian-inspired fresh seafood dinners. For working up an appetite, nothing beats taking out one of the inn’s canoes or kayaks. [DETAILS]
Blue Paddle Bistro
[DETAILS]
Fisk Quarry Preserve
At Fisk Quarry Preserve, you can see the fossilized remains of the primitive creatures that made up a 450-million-year-old reef formed in a warm tropical sea. [DETAILS]
Allenholm Farm
At the tail end of summer or in early fall, Allenholm Farm and Hackett’s Orchard keep up an old islands tradition, with row upon row of trees bearing more than a dozen apple varieties. Patrons may pick their own and enjoy a variety of treats made from the new crop. [DETAILS]
Hackett's Orchard
At the tail end of summer or in early fall, Allenholm Farm and Hackett’s Orchard keep up an old islands tradition, with row upon row of trees bearing more than a dozen apple varieties. Patrons may pick their own and enjoy a variety of treats made from the new crop. [DETAILS]
Hero's Welcome General Store and Marina
The Hero’s Welcome store offers everything from guidebooks to kitchenware, rents watercraft and bikes, and provides dockside picnic tables for enjoying its custom sandwiches, soups, and chili. [DETAILS]
Heros Aviation
Scenic Float Plane rides over Lake Champlain, May to October. [DETAILS]
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