Experience the best of Stowe

A white-steepled church marks the centre of Stowe, a village of inns, galleries and shops with Mount Mansfield, at 1,339 metres the highest point in Vermont, filling the skyline behind. The Stowe Recreation Path, a paved trail of more than eight kilometres, follows the West Branch of the Little River through meadows and woods on the edge of the village.

Smugglers' Notch, a narrow mountain pass where the road squeezes between boulders and cliffs, lies north-west of the village. The von Trapp family, whose story inspired The Sound of Music, settled on a hillside near Stowe after leaving Austria. Montpelier, Vermont's small capital, is to the south, and Burlington and Lake Champlain lie to the west.

Cider doughnuts, maple syrup and sharp cheddar come from the farms around the village. The ski season runs from late autumn into spring, summers are cool enough for hiking in the mountains, and in early October the maples turn the valley red.