From Boston to the cabins

Downtown Boston is 329 road miles from the cabins, about five and a quarter hours of driving on a clear road and about six with a stop for fuel and another for groceries. The route runs up I-93 and I-89 through New Hampshire and Vermont to Swanton, crosses the top of Lake Champlain on two bridges and follows US 11 west to the edge of Malone, all of it inside the United States. Boston guests have come in February, for the winter, the fireplace and the hot tub. Here is the road in stretches, with the stops, the one toll, the seasons and the ways to come without driving the whole distance.

The route in stretches

The miles below come from OpenStreetMap routing from downtown Boston to the cabins, and the times assume an open road and no stops. Swanton, at exit 21 of I-89, is about three-quarters of the distance. The 80 miles after it are two-lane roads, and they take about an hour and a half.

Out of Boston and across New Hampshire

I-93 carries the first 65 miles. It leaves the city northbound through Medford and the northern suburbs and crosses into New Hampshire at Salem, 29 miles out, where the state's welcome center on the northbound side is open daily from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Past Londonderry and Manchester comes Hooksett, with the one toll on this route and the biggest stop on it.

The Hooksett welcome center on the northbound side is open 24 hours, with its information desk staffed from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Common Man Roadside runs the food: a food court, a deli, a café, a general store and a doughnut shop, and the stop also has Irving gas pumps and a state-run New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlet. The food court and café close at 8 p.m., 9 on Fridays, and the doughnut shop earlier. At the toll plaza a car pays $1 in 2026, or 70 cents with a New Hampshire E-ZPass. In August 2026 the legislature overrode the governor's veto of a plan that doubles the toll on January 1, 2027, to $2 for every car without a funded New Hampshire E-ZPass account, so a Massachusetts E-ZPass will pay the full $2. You do not have to live in New Hampshire to open one of its E-ZPass accounts.

At Bow, 65 miles from Boston, I-89 branches off to the northwest. It crosses New Hampshire past Concord, Warner, New London and Grantham and reaches its New Hampshire high point, about 1,400 feet above sea level, in Enfield; downtown Boston sits about 30 feet above sea level. The Springfield rest area on the northbound side is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. At West Lebanon the interstate crosses the Connecticut River into Vermont, about 125 miles and two hours into the trip.

Vermont on I-89

Exit 1, the first in Vermont and just past White River Junction, is the turn for Quechee Gorge. Three miles west on US 4, the Ottauquechee River runs 165 feet below viewing points along the road, in the deepest gorge in Vermont, formed by glacial activity about 13,000 years ago. Quechee State Park keeps a picnic area with a pit toilet beside the gorge and a trail along it, and pets are permitted in the park; its season runs from Memorial Day weekend to the second Monday in October, from 10 a.m. to sunset, and a day-use fee applies. The detour adds about six miles and ten minutes of driving, plus the walk, so save it for a daylight trip.

A few miles north, the Sharon Welcome Center on the northbound side is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. It holds the Vermont Vietnam Veterans' Memorial, dedicated on October 30, 1982, the first Vietnam veterans' memorial in the country. North of Randolph the interstate climbs to the highest point of the whole drive, about 1,740 feet, in Williamstown, then drops past Barre toward Montpelier.

Exit 7 at Berlin, about two and three-quarter hours from Boston, has the most useful stop of the trip. Maplefields, the first right off the exit on Paine Turnpike North, is a travelers' service center set up as a public-private partnership with the state: it is open 24 hours with gas, diesel, electric-car charging, a convenience store, restrooms and free Wi-Fi, and it adds about a mile and a half to the drive.

Exit 10 at Waterbury is the place to eat. Cold Hollow Cider Mill, 3.4 road miles up VT 100 toward Stowe, is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day, sells fresh cider and cider doughnuts daily, and runs a café with breakfast until 10:30 and lunch from 11 to 4. Ben & Jerry's factory is on the same road, about a mile from the exit, with guided tours of about 30 minutes; space is limited, so buy tickets online, which the company releases about two weeks ahead, and check its tour hours before you count on one. Ben & Jerry's adds about five minutes of driving and Cold Hollow about ten.

Past Waterbury, I-89 drops to about 320 feet by Richmond and reaches Burlington's exits about three and a quarter hours from Boston. The Williston information center, on the northbound side north of exit 11, is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day, and the Georgia center, north of exit 18, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Exit 17 is the turn for the Grand Isle ferry, described below, and exit 21 at Swanton is where the interstate ends for this trip.

Swanton to the cabins

From exit 21 the last 80 miles, about an hour and a half, are two-lane roads: VT 78 west through Swanton village and over the Alburg-Swanton Bridge to Alburgh, US 2 to the Rouses Point Bridge over the lake, and US 11 west through Champlain, Mooers, Ellenburg Depot, Chateaugay and Burke to the east end of Malone. The drive from Burlington takes this stretch turn by turn, with the refuge, the bridges and the gas stops; after almost four hours on the interstate, three things matter.

• Groceries. Shop at the Hannaford at 139 First Street, just off exit 21, or at the Price Chopper on US 11 in Champlain, 23 miles on, which stays open later. After Champlain the only supermarket on the road is LaVigne's IGA, just west of Chateaugay village, so check its hours if you plan to stop there.
• A break in Alburgh. Vermont's Alburgh Welcome Center, at 680 North Main Street on US 2, opens from May through October, Thursday to Monday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Fuel in Malone. The route turns left off East Main Street onto Andrus Street. The Mobil at 593 East Main Street, about 300 yards past the turn, is open 24 hours and sells diesel.

From Malone, County Route 25 and a few town roads finish the trip; follow the host's directions there, for the reasons in getting to the cabins.

Crossing Lake Champlain

From Boston the cabins lie on the far side of Lake Champlain. The main route crosses at the lake's north end, on the Rouses Point Bridge, with no schedule to keep; two other crossings are worth knowing.

The Grand Isle ferry

For the boat, take exit 17, then US 2 west for about 9 miles and VT 314 for 3 more to the Grand Isle dock at Gordons Landing. The boats reach Cumberland Head, north of Plattsburgh, in about 14 minutes and run around the clock, all year. On the schedule posted in October 2026 they leave Grand Isle every 10 to 15 minutes for most of the day, about every 20 minutes in the evening and early on weekend mornings, and every 40 minutes after midnight; the Burlington page lists the times. A car and its driver pay $12.25 each way and each other adult $5.50, and a fuel surcharge may apply. There are no reservations, cars board first come, first served, and dogs ride on a leash. Wind, maintenance and traffic can shift a departure, so check the current schedule and fares before you go.

From Boston this way is about 305 road miles with the crossing, 24 fewer than the bridge route: about three hours and 40 minutes to the dock, the crossing, then 66 road miles and about an hour and a half from Cumberland Head by the Northway, NY 374, NY 190 and US 11. By day, with a short wait at the dock, the two ways come out within a quarter of an hour of each other. Late at night, with boats 40 minutes apart, the bridge is quicker.

The Crown Point bridge

The Lake Champlain Bridge between Chimney Point, Vermont, and Crown Point, New York, opened in November 2011, two years after the old bridge on the site was found unsafe and taken down. From Boston it makes a southern way round: off I-89 at exit 3 near Bethel, VT 107 and VT 100 north to Hancock, VT 125 west over the mountains through Middlebury to the bridge, then NY 9N north along the lake and west to Keene, NY 73 and NY 86 past Lake Placid to Saranac Lake, and NY 30 north. At about 314 road miles it is 15 shorter than the main route but about half an hour slower, about five and three-quarter hours of driving, because about 165 of its miles, everything after exit 3, are two-lane roads; keep it for a daytime drive in good weather.

Lake Champlain Transportation's other boat, between Charlotte and Essex, leaves from south of Burlington and lands about 91 road miles from the cabins, so it saves nothing on a trip from Boston. US 2 through the Champlain islands is about four miles shorter than I-89 and VT 78 and 10 to 15 minutes slower. The drive from Burlington has both.

Where to stop

These hours were posted in October 2026 and change with the seasons and the holidays, so check a stop's own page before you plan around it. For wine or spirits, Harison Wine & Liquor, a licensed liquor store at 632 East Main Street in Malone, stands right at the Andrus Street turn. The Malone town guide has the village's other shops, and groceries and supplies lists what the cabin kitchens already stock.

From Worcester and west of Boston

West of the city the choice between New Hampshire and New York gets closer. From Framingham the two ways come out even, at about five and a half hours: 343 road miles by Route 128, US 3 and I-89, or 337 by the Massachusetts Turnpike, Albany and the Northway. From Worcester it is 318 by the Turnpike and 322 by I-190, MA 140 and NH 12 to I-91 and I-89, again within minutes. From Springfield the Turnpike wins, at about 273 road miles. The drive from Hartford covers the Turnpike and the Berkshires, and the drive from Albany the Northway and the High Peaks road.

The drive by season

Winter

Most of this drive runs far above Boston. I-89 tops about 1,400 feet in Enfield, New Hampshire, and about 1,740 feet in Williamstown, Vermont, and the cabins themselves sit at about 1,300 feet, so a wet forecast in the city can mean snow for the middle and the end of the trip. Before a winter departure, read three road services: Mass511 for Massachusetts, New England 511 for New Hampshire and Vermont, and 511NY for the New York side. After dark, Maplefields at exit 7 and the Mobil in Malone sell fuel around the clock, so keep the tank full between them. For tires, plows and the kit to carry, see winter driving.

Fall color

In New York's weekly foliage report for October 7 to 13, 2026, Malone, ten miles from the cabins, was near peak at 50 percent change, with mostly bright reds and oranges, and Clinton County, where this route enters New York, was near peak at about 75 percent at Plattsburgh. That week takes in the October 12 holiday, which Boston's schools mark as Indigenous Peoples' Day; in 2027 the federal holiday falls on Monday, October 11. The fall foliage guide explains how the color moves around the cabins.

School vacations

Boston Public Schools' 2026-27 calendar puts the Thanksgiving recess on November 26 and 27, the winter recess from December 24 to January 1, the February recess from February 16 to 19, after Presidents' Day on the 15th, and the spring recess from April 20 to 23, after Patriots' Day on April 19. Book early if your dates fall in those weeks. Under the listings' house rules, the cabins suit families only when the children are 10 or older.

Flying, the bus and the train

Cape Air to Lake Clear

Cape Air flies small planes between Boston Logan and Adirondack Regional Airport at Lake Clear, near Saranac Lake. The airport lists daily flights to Boston and a daily flight to New York's JFK, and Cape Air's booking page has the current times. The airport is about 40 road miles south of the cabins, roughly 50 minutes by car. The one rental desk on the field belongs to Adirondack Rental Cars, and Avis can deliver from its office off the airport for an extra charge, so book the car when you book the seat.

Boutique Air to Massena

Boutique Air flies daily round trips between Logan and Massena, about 50 road miles from the cabins. The town's page for its airport names no rental company, so line up a car before you fly. No airline flies between Boston and Burlington or Plattsburgh; the airports guide compares the small planes and the rental counters.

The bus to Burlington

Greyhound's route page shows four buses a day from South Station to Burlington's Downtown Transit Center, the first at 7 a.m. and the last at 11:45 p.m., the fastest in about three hours and ten minutes. The rental counters at Burlington's airport are 4 road miles from the bus stop, and Avis's counter in baggage claim is open from 7 a.m. to 12:15 a.m. From Burlington the drive is 115 road miles, about two and a half hours.

Amtrak

The train takes one change, at New Haven. On Amtrak's October 2026 timetables, Northeast Regional train 87 leaves South Station at about 10 a.m. every day and reaches New Haven at 12:30 p.m., 12:36 on weekends, and the Vermonter leaves New Haven at 1:30 p.m., a few minutes later on some days, and reaches Essex Junction, near Burlington, at 8:18 p.m. That still leaves 114 road miles, so plan a night near Burlington. The Boston section of the Lake Shore Limited is no help: it leaves South Station at 12:50 p.m. and reaches Albany-Rensselaer at 7:05 p.m., after the Ethan Allen Express has left for Burlington at 5:04 p.m., and the Adirondack to Plattsburgh does not leave until 11:45 the next morning. Check the timetables for your dates.

A Friday evening arrival

All three listings set check-in after 4 p.m. and checkout before 11 a.m. Allow about six hours from downtown Boston to the cabin door with a fuel stop and a grocery stop, then match it to the sunset at the cabins:

A plan for an 11 a.m. start on a clear road:

1. 11 a.m. Leave downtown on I-93 north.
2. About 11:30 a.m. The New Hampshire line and the Salem welcome center.
3. About noon. Hooksett: the toll, and fuel or coffee at the welcome center.
4. About 1 p.m. The Connecticut River and Vermont.
5. About 1:40 p.m. Exit 7 at Berlin: twenty minutes for gas and lunch at Maplefields.
6. About 3:05 p.m. Exit 21 at Swanton: twenty-five minutes for groceries at the Hannaford.
7. About 3:50 p.m. Across the lake into New York; west on US 11 from Rouses Point.
8. About 4:40 p.m. Malone, the place to text the host your arrival time.
9. About 5 p.m. The cabin.

Leaving after work changes the shopping. On a 5 p.m. start you reach Swanton a little after 9 p.m., before the Hannaford closes at 10, and Champlain's Price Chopper stays open until 11; add whatever Friday traffic leaving Boston costs you. Two listings, The Aviator's and The Modern Tiny Home's, set quiet hours between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m., so a cabin reached around 11 p.m. calls for a quiet arrival.

What Boston guests come for

The host counts Boston among the cities the guests drive from. All three reviews from guests who give Boston as home are dated February, in 2024, 2025 and 2026, and they come back to the same things: winter, the quiet and the hot tub. A guest at The Modern Pine in February 2026 wrote:

The fireplace made the evenings especially cozy, and relaxing in the hot tub under the stars was a highlight of our trip.

A Boston guest who brought three friends to the same cabin a year earlier wrote, "The area is a great place for people who enjoy winter activities", and a couple at The Modern Tiny Home in February 2024 called it a "Perfect stay for anyone looking for a quiet, peaceful weekend/trip!" Guests from New Hampshire towns along this road have come in winter too; one from Concord wrote in December 2024, "It was a winter wonderland."

For skiing, Titus Mountain's base lodge is about 3.5 road miles away; see the Titus guide and the winter weekend plan, and the stargazing post for the night sky from the tub. Each of the three cabins sleeps four, with its own hot tub, fire pit and full kitchen.

The drive home

Checkout before 11 a.m. puts you back in Boston by about 5 p.m. with a stop. Southbound, Vermont's Georgia and Williston centers have twins across I-89, and the Randolph information center, south of exit 5, serves the southbound side from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. In New Hampshire the Sutton rest area on I-89 southbound opens from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the southbound Hooksett welcome center is open 24 hours.

Questions

Sources

Facts on this page were checked against these sources in October 2026. Hours, fees and schedules change; confirm before you go.

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