Burlington, VT Brewery Weekend: The Walkable 2-Day Lake Champlain Itinerary (No Car Needed)

Getting There

Burlington International Airport (BTV) sits about 3–4 miles from downtown, roughly a 10-minute drive or rideshare, so flying in and heading straight to a hotel is straightforward.^[1]Driving in, expect about 3–3.5 hours from Boston under normal conditions (more with traffic), and about 2 hours from Montreal.^[2]Downtown parking is metered and fills up on summer weekends; several municipal garages (including one near Church Street) are the easiest bet if you’re not staying somewhere with its own lot.

Day One: Waterfront & Downtown

Start on the water. Foam Brewers occupies a spot directly on the Burlington waterfront, at 112 Lake Street, with a taproom and outdoor deck looking out over Lake Champlain toward the Adirondacks. Founded in 2016, the brewery is known for hazy IPAs and a rotating, experimental approach to its lineup, and the setting makes it one of the better places in the city to watch a sunset with a beer in hand.^[3]

Right next door to Foam is Deep City, its sister restaurant, serving brunch Thursday through Monday — a good option if you want a real sit-down meal rather than a cheese-and-charcuterie board before moving on.^[4]From the waterfront, the bike path along Lake Champlain (the Island Line Trail) runs both north and south, and Church Street Marketplace — Burlington’s pedestrian shopping and dining strip, built in 1980–81 — sits a short walk uphill.^[5] For a bite between breweries, Church Street has a dense run of casual options; a bowl of poutine or a sandwich from one of the marketplace cafes travels well if you want to eat on a bench overlooking the lake.

Day Two: The South End Brewery Cluster

The South End is where most of Burlington's brewing actually happens, and it's more walkable than it looks on a map: Pine Street and Flynn Avenue sit a few blocks apart in the same neighborhood, connected by sidewalks and the bike path, with a combined walk of roughly 10–15 minutes between the two clusters below.

Zero Gravity Craft Brewery & Queen City Brewery (Pine Street)

Zero Gravity got its start in 2004 as a brewpub inside American Flatbread's Burlington location before moving into its own 716 Pine Street facility in spring 2015.^[6] Today it's known for a broad, accessible lineup and a lively, high-turnout taproom — a reliable stop for a wide range of styles in one visit.

Queen City Brewery is literally across the street at 703 Pine Street, in a renovated warehouse in the South End's historically industrial district. Founded in 2012 by a group of longtime homebrewers and friends, with its tasting room opening to the public in June 2014, it leans into traditional German and English styles — lagers, Scotch ale, porter — rather than the hop-forward lineups common elsewhere in town, making it a good change of pace right next door to Zero Gravity.^[7]Queen City doesn’t run its own kitchen, so grab a slice next door at Pizza 44 or bring your own food if you’re settling in for a while.

Switchback Brewing & Burlington Beer Company (Flynn Avenue)

A short walk from Pine Street, Switchback has been brewing on Flynn Avenue since 2002, best known for its flagship unfiltered ale. In February 2017, Switchback became the first 100%-employee-owned brewery in New England via an Employee Stock Ownership Plan, and its Beer Garden & Smokehouse taproom pairs the core lineup with house-smoked barbecue.^[8]

Right next door, Burlington Beer Company moved its taproom, restaurant, and barrel-aging program from Williston into a brick building at 180 Flynn Avenue in the fall of 2021 — the building dates to 1902 and once housed America's first commercial color photography lab. The brewery itself still produces beer at its original Williston facility on Omega Drive, but the visitor experience is now a two-minute walk from Switchback.^[9] Expect a large, high-energy space (seating for around 235) with an extensive hop-forward IPA lineup and a full food menu, including an in-house bakery.

Where to Eat

You don’t need to leave the itinerary to eat well. On the waterfront, Deep City (Foam’s sister restaurant) covers brunch; on Church Street, the marketplace’s dense strip of cafes and quick-service spots is built for grazing between stops. In the South End, Switchback and Burlington Beer Company both run full kitchens on-site — smoked barbecue at Switchback, a broader pub menu at BBCo — while Queen City has no kitchen of its own, so plan to order in from Pizza 44 next door or eat beforehand. Pricing at Vermont taprooms is generally in line with the rest of craft-beer New England: expect flights and pints to run a few dollars either side of the regional average, with exact prices varying by brewery and best confirmed on-site or on each brewery’s website.

Where to Stay

Given how walkable this itinerary is, where you stay mostly comes down to which day you want to be closer to. A downtown or waterfront hotel puts you within walking distance of Foam Brewers, Church Street, and the lakefront on Day One, with a short rideshare or a 15-minute walk down to the South End for Day Two. Staying in or near the South End instead puts you closer to all four Pine Street and Flynn Avenue breweries, with downtown a similarly short trip in the other direction. Either way, you’re rarely more than a 10–15 minute walk from a brewery, which is the real advantage of basing yourself anywhere central in Burlington for this trip.

Stops Along the Way

• Church Street Marketplace— Burlington’s pedestrian downtown strip, good for a meal or shopping break on Day One.
• Burlington Waterfront— The lakefront park and boardwalk area adjacent to Foam Brewers.
• The Bike Path— The Island Line Trail runs along the Lake Champlain shoreline; a flat, easy stretch-your-legs option, and also a practical way to connect the waterfront to the South End without a car.
• ECHO, Leahy Center for Lake Champlain— A hands-on science and nature center on the waterfront, worth an hour if you're traveling with a group that wants a non-beer stop.
• Sunset over Lake Champlain— Best viewed from the waterfront near Foam Brewers or from the bike path itself.

Planning Your Burlington Weekend

• Pack good walking shoes over a rideshare app. Between downtown and the South End, and Pine Street and Flynn Avenue, you'll cover a few miles on foot over two days if you do the full itinerary.
• Two days lets you pace it properly. Five breweries plus the waterfront and Church Street is a full weekend rather than a single-day crawl.
• A car helps if you want to range further.Vermont Pub & Brewery downtown, or breweries in Winooski and beyond, are easy add-ons if you have wheels, but nothing in this itinerary requires them.