Starting your trip at Rutland Southern Vermont Regional Airport in Rutland means everything around the region sits within an easy drive. Rutland is the second-largest city in Vermont, a former marble and railroad town in a broad valley between the Green Mountains and the Taconics. It is unpretentious and practical, with a historic downtown, a classic theater, and ski mountains visible from Main Street. The surrounding countryside is pure Vermont, with red barns, sugar shacks, and covered bridges.

Standout experiences around Rutland: - Ski Killington, the biggest resort in the East, or its quieter neighbor Pico - Catch a show at the Paramount Theatre, a restored 1913 opera house - Visit the Vermont Marble Museum in Proctor to see where the marble for national monuments came from - Hike the Long Trail or the Appalachian Trail where they cross near Killington - Shop the Vermont Farmers Market downtown for cheese, maple, and cider - Swim or paddle at Lake Bomoseen, the largest lake fully within Vermont - Walk the Hubbardton Battlefield, where Vermont troops fought in 1777 - Drive the back roads for fall foliage and covered bridges

Rutland is well placed for southern and central Vermont. Woodstock and its postcard village green are 40 minutes east, Middlebury is an hour north, and Manchester and its outlet shops are an hour south. Burlington and Lake Champlain are about 90 minutes away. Stop for a maple creemee in summer or a cider doughnut in fall, and visit a sugarhouse in March when the sap is running. Every season has a reason to come.