The state’s largest metropolis has just 42,545 residents, but packs a world-class punch with cafes, museums, a thriving arts scene, and year-round outdoor adventures, plus a renowned university. It’s also the first U.S. city to run on 100 percent renewable electricity.

Burlington overlooks the Adirondack Mountains and 120-mile-long Lake Champlain, which divides Vermont from New York State. But its heart beats in the downtown pedestrian mall of Church Street Marketplace. This national historic district protects buildings from 1820 to 1964, including architectural styles ranging from Italianate to Queen Anne, Federal, and Greek Revival, along with some Art Deco and Modernist outliers. But somehow it all works, anchored by Courthouse Square and an 1816 brick Unitarian meeting house. Nearby sprawls the Burlington Waterfront Park with its beaches, boats, and an eight-mile bike path linking parks and green spaces. Take time to linger in this eclectic community, which marries urban intellectualism with bucolic rural Vermont beauty and traditions.

This lakeside city shines brightest from May to September, making it a popular time for people to book vacation rentals. The festival schedule bustles then, and the trees fill the area with lush greenery, which deepens into glorious hues perfect for leaf-peeping day trips to nearby Middlebury and Jeffersonville. Shoulder season isn’t the best in Burlington. April brings fewer crowds but often lots of mud. And November sees the city pause for a deep breath before the winter tourism onslaught of skiers and snowboarders. Events-wise, turn to February’s Lake Champlain Pond Hockey Classic and June’s jazz festival, followed by New England’s oldest and largest quilt event in nearby Essex Junction. Expect dragon boating in August, along with street performers for the Festival of Fools.

Burlington Earth Clock

An art installation dedicated to peace looks like a 43-foot-diameter prehistoric stone circle on Lake Champlain’s shores. In reality, it’s a giant sundial that relies on visitors to stand in the central gnomon position and cast their shadows. It lies at Blanchard Beach, on the bike path just north of the popular sunset-watching spot of Oakledge Park.

Lake Champlain Monster Monument

What’s a big landlocked body of water without the specter of a massive, rarely spied serpentine creature? In 1984, the state erected a granite block on Perkins Pier just south of downtown to honor Burlington’s local legend: “Champ,” a prehistoric Nessie-esque beast. It even bears the cryptid’s pseudoscientific name, Belua aquatica champlainiensis. And just in case Champ really is out there, both Vermont and New York have passed laws protecting their lake’s most legendary monster.

Shelburne Museum

Eight miles south of Burlington sits a 45-acre museum celebrating Americana. Its founder celebrated everyday objects, from quilts to pottery and weather vanes. Eventually she began adding historic buildings to house these collections, including a lighthouse, round barn, covered bridge, and the Lake Champlain side-wheeler steamship Ticonderoga.