An Exclusive and Rare Tour of the vermont’s hidden gems and beautiful roads.
September 9 – 12, 2024
Click Here To Purchase your RTVT Tour! (This tour is expected to sell out prior to June 1.)
Your Rolling Thru Vermont tour will include the iconic experiences of this picture-perfect postcard state.
We’ll guide you along winding routes that travel up and over scenic Green Mountain gaps and their stunning views followed by visiting charming villages in lush green valleys dotted with church steeples and covered bridges.
Each day you’ll enjoy guided tours including wonderful lunches and dinners at beautiful locations, including award winning inns, grand lodges, and one of the most iconic properties in the U.S.!
Monday – Welcome to Stowe, Vermont!
The hills are alive with the sound of…motorcycles! For our 2024 Rolling Thru Vermont Tour, we will be staying in the most famous village of Vermont, in an Austrian-inspired grand lodge overlooking the Stowe Valley.
Courtesy Trapp Family Lodge
It’s one of the most iconic mountainside lodges in the state, giving every room a balcony and a stunning view of the valley below. Of all the hotel stays in the history of Rolling Thru, this one arguably has the greatest story and may be the most special.
In the 1940s, the Austria-based von Trapp family (featured in the Academy Award-winning The Sound Of Music) left their gilded life in Austria to escape the encroaching German Nazis, settled in Stowe (because it reminded them of home), and built an authentic Austrian lodge on 2,600 acres of mountains and meadows. It is unique in the U.S. and surprisingly, in this age of constant change, still owned and operated by the von Trapp family.
When you check in at the lodge, your Rolling Thru Vermont representative will be there to greet you and facilitate a smooth check-in. You’ll receive your Rolling Thru Vermont package, with credentials, route maps (in case you decide to ride on your own), and your special gift.
After settling in, join us for a cocktail in The Mozart Room where an authentic oompah band will be playing on the rear terrace! Dinner will be prepared by the onsite award-winning chef, including a salad station featuring fresh Vermont produce with maple balsamic vinaigrette dressing, and sides of Cabot cheddar mashed potatoes and maple-tarragon glazed carrots. Your buffet entree choices will be from grilled chicken breast with creamy basil pesto sauce, roasted pork loin with bacon mushroom jager sauce, baked haddock with herb breading in a white wine lemon caper sauce, and a couscous salad with seasonal grilled vegetables and a lemon-herb vinaigrette.
Tuesday – Mountain Lodges, Farmhouse Dining and Rural Riding
Following a delicious breakfast buffet at the hotel, and perhaps a Julie Andrews pirouette on the front lawn, you’ll ride a gorgeous route along river valleys, working farms with large red barns and cows aplenty (only recently did humans outnumber cows in Vermont). It’s the scenery, combined with the low population (less than 700,000 people in the entire state) that makes this morning’s ride so beautiful.
Lunch will be at, of course, an historic converted farm house (circa 1860) which is now a medium-sized lodge giving you an authentic taste (food and scenery) of Vermont. It’s located away from just about everything, where the serenity of the meadows and distant lake will settle in. We’ll dine in their wedding tent (the lodge’s modest size wouldn’t be able to hold us) and enjoy a hearty country meal. The menu includes butternut squash ravioli and roasted herb chicken breast with sides of parmesan potatoes, sauteed kale, and truffle mac & cheese. Tomorrow’s lunch will be fancy – today’s lunch is wholesome, delicious, relaxed and charming.
Following lunch, the group will continue to wind its way through the gentle bends of Vermont’s numerous river-valley roads, then begin to ride up and up and up. You’ll pass up and over one of the most famous mountain passes that was considered so difficult to reach years ago that prohibitionist smugglers hid their illicit booze in the rock cliffs at the top.
It IS twisty in the pass, and you’ll have to be on your A-game. But, it’s navigable for motorcycles, cars, and SUVs so long as you’re comfortable with several very tight S bends. Tour buses are another story, and several times a year they ignore the LARGE signs saying “No Tour Busses” and get wedged in the too-tight turns (you won’t miss the sign, but the tour operators sure do…)
Our afternoon stop will be a special one. While the lunch stop was homey and quaint, this stop is at a mammoth and elegant lodge up in the mountain pass, with A-list celebrities calling it (a second) home. You’ll enjoy a treat while there, while enjoying the quite literally stunning view. A short ride back to the Trapp Family Lodge will follow suit. What a first day!
You’ll have the night off, where you can explore the village of Stowe. There are numerous charming stores and restaurants. Park your bike, walk along the storefronts, and enjoy a meal from one of the many local restaurants, all of which are very good. (You’ll quickly see that Vermont’s reputation for excellent food, cheese, and beer is well-earned.)
Or, visit the Trapp Family Lodge’s Bierhall, which is about as authentic as you’ll find this side of Salzberg. (The hotel offers a free shuttle service to/from the bierhall, located only 4 minutes from the lodge.)
Wednesday- Mountain Gaps, Winding Roads, Vermont Villages and Fine Cuisine
Yesterday’s ride was excellent, and today will be even better! You’ll ride over several mountain gaps, you’ll experience long durations of excellent, sinewy smooth roads with breathtaking views, you’ll visit the top two most quaint villages in the entire state, you’ll eat at one of the top 25 inns in the US(!), and you’ll ride through several covered bridges… You get the picture – it’s amazing.
Following breakfast at the Lodge, you’ll ride south to a region with several ski areas, where you’ll ride up and over one of Vermont’s best stretches of road, cresting a gap that gives you wonderful views of New York’s Adirondacks. Down you’ll plunge being mindful of the numerous 15mph switchbacks.
You’ll ride through several charming Vermont towns whose architecture hasn’t changed much in the past 200 years and see hidden gems that few of the general public find, including a park with a beautiful view of a river that passes underneath public buildings, and one of the most special covered bridges in the state.
You’ll ride back over yet another mountain gap, this one with gentler bends, past more waterfalls, past classic Vermont general stores (which themselves are fun to see and stop at) on to the lunch stop village.
The village you’ll stop in is tiny (don’t blink) and in this writer’s opinion is the cutest and quaintest village in the entire state. And, most people don’t know about it, driving by and missing a real Vermont treasure. As you enter the village, you’ll ride through their own covered bridge (of course there’s a covered bridge here). There’s a small waterfall, a cute general store, and the focal point of the village is this award-winning inn.
The balconied white-clapboard inn originally opened in the late 1800s as a lodge for wagon drivers. Now, it’s an award winning hotel and restaurant. It’s elegant yet simple, relaxing, and the food is wonderful.
The grounds and the -tiny- town are so beautiful that we’ll provide a short walking tour while we’re there.
Following lunch, we’ll ride approximately an hour back to Stowe through scenic rural roads bordered by hills and mountains for much of the way, stopping at a popular cider mill offering fresh pressed apple cider, donuts ,and real maple creemees (they don’t call it soft ice cream in VT).
Upon returning to the hotel, you’ll have some time to sit on your balcony, thinking about the past two days of highlights, and preparing for our last dinner together. You’ll join us for a cocktail and a scrumptious plated dinner including your choice of a grilled pork porterhouse with mashed sweet potatoes and bacon roasted brussel sprouts under a cranberry apricot glaze. Or, you may choose a grilled flat iron steak with roasted fingerling potatoes and green beans in a chimichurri sauce. Or, if seafood is your preference, you could order the maple-dijon crusted salmon with forbidden rice and asparagus. A vegan entree of sweet pea ravioli and grilled seasonal vegetables with roasted red pepper coulis is also available. If you’ve saved room, the end to the meal will be a choice of dessert: cheesecake and sachertorte (Austrian chocolate cake).
Thursday- See you Next Year!
A special Farewell Breakfast awaits you. You’ll say goodbye to new and old friends, see photos from the trip, and will likely be thinking about your next Rolling Thru America tour.
Note, This tour is expected to sell out prior to June 1.
Pricing:
SEPTEMBER 9-12, 2024
Package Price (not including lodging): $775/per person
Superior King or Superior Queen (Descriptions below): $269/night (Normally $280/night) for three nights.
LODGING:
The Trapp Family Lodge is genuinely very special. You will LOVE it. It’s positioned on the hillside, elevated above the very scenic Stowe Valley, giving you a beautiful view of the mountains.
Every room has been recently updated and are beautiful, and for the tour we reserved only rooms with balconies overlooking the valley. They’re the best of the best, and you’ll find yourself just sitting and enjoying life from your room’s balcony.
Superior King Rooms:
Rolling Thru Vermont Superior King Rooms are large, very nicely appointed rooms with one king bed and a queen-size sleeper sofa, and a balcony with mountain views.
Rolling Thru Vermont Superior Queen Rooms are large very nicely appointed rooms with two queen beds, a queen-size sleeper sofa, and a balcony with mountain views.
Additional Night(s)? Want to arrive early, or stay late? Email us and we can secure a longer stay for you.
Rolling Thru America 