Vermont
Vermont Day Trips from the Eastern Townships
Updated
Vermont is about 20 minutes south of Coaticook, and the part of it that touches Québec is what the state's own tourism office calls rugged and remote. You can stand in a library with one foot in each country and be back for supper. You can also lose the day to one missing document, so this page starts with the border.
The border, first
Crossing into Vermont means crossing an international border, and crossing it again to come back. Every traveller in the car needs valid travel documents. The rules differ by citizenship, and there are separate rules for pets, food and alcohol. We won't summarize them. They change, and the only versions that count are the official ones:
Read both before you leave. Check wait times that morning on the CBSA and CBP pages. The main highway crossing for this area is at Stanstead, Québec, and Derby Line, Vermont. Some smaller crossings nearby keep limited hours, which both agencies list.
Drive times below are approximate, by car, from Coaticook. Winter roads and border waits change the math.
The Haskell Free Library and Opera House
The Haskell Free Library and Opera House was founded in 1901 and straddles the border: part of the building is in Stanstead, Québec, and part in Derby Line, Vermont. A black line on the floor marks the boundary.
The access rules changed in 2025, and older articles about walking over from the Canadian side are now wrong. What follows comes from the library's own visitor page. Read it before you go, because it may change again:
- The sidewalk is closed. Since October 1, 2025, the sidewalk beside the building that connected Canada and the United States is permanently closed. The library notes an exemption for people with reduced mobility.
- Two doors, one per country. Visitors coming from the Canadian side use the Canadian entrance, at 1 Church Street in Stanstead. Visitors coming from the American side use the entrance on Caswell Avenue in Derby Line.
- You leave by the door you came in. The library says it plainly: it is not a border crossing, and international law requires you to exit through the same door you entered.
- Documents. The library says passports and visas are not necessary to enter the building. It also says the U.S. Border Patrol and the RCMP have the right to ask for identification, and it encourages visitors to bring their papers just in case. Bring them.
- Not allowed: exchanging goods, and cross-border meetings, family reunions included. No large bags or backpacks, no food or drink, no pets except service animals. Photos are fine, but not of other patrons.
For a visitor coming from Coaticook, that means the Stanstead side, about 30 minutes away (30 km, 19 miles). If anything about your own situation is unclear, ask the library or the border agencies before you go, not us.
The library is open Tuesday to Friday from 10 am to 5 pm and Saturday from 10 am to 4 pm, and closed Sundays and Mondays. Guided tours cost $10 per adult, are free under 12, and take 30 to 45 minutes. The library recommends reserving, since tours may not run on performance days.
Newport
Lake Memphremagog starts in Magog and ends in Newport, Vermont, a small lakeside city about 45 km (28 miles) from Coaticook. Allow 40 minutes plus the border. It is the practical stop of the day: a walk by the water and lunch.
Lake Willoughby
Lake Willoughby is the reason to make the trip. It is a long, narrow lake between the cliffs of Mount Pisgah and Mount Hor, and Vermont's tourism office calls it fjord-like, which is fair. It sits inside Willoughby State Forest, about 80 km (50 miles) from Coaticook, roughly 1 h 10 plus the border.
The state's numbers: Pisgah rises to 2,751 feet (839 m), and the lake reaches 308 feet (94 m) deep. The forest has more than 12 miles (19 km) of hiking trails, most suited to novice and intermediate hikers. It has almost no facilities beyond portable toilets, so bring water and lunch.
Jay Peak, Burke and the rest of the Kingdom
Jay Peak has an aerial tram and an indoor waterpark, so it works in any season and any weather. Burke Mountain, in East Burke, is the quieter ski hill, and in summer it opens onto the Kingdom Trails, which Burke describes as more than 100 miles of singletrack. Each is about 1 h 15 from Coaticook (85 to 90 km, 53 to 56 miles) plus the border.
This corner of Vermont is called the Northeast Kingdom, and the state tourism site will help you plan the rest.
Doing it from a chalet near Coaticook
La Villa Foresta is in the Coaticook area, among trees with views toward Mont Pinacle: five bedrooms, two bathrooms, room for 12.
Two planning notes. The house welcomes dogs, but a dog at the border has its own rules in each direction, and the Haskell does not admit pets, so read the official pages before bringing yours. And with several cars, agree beforehand on which crossing you are using, and check that everyone has their documents in hand, not in a suitcase back at the house.
If the border feels like too much for one day, the Lac Lyster and Mont Pinacle guide covers a cliff-and-lake day that stays in Québec.
Useful links
Bringing a group?
La Villa Foresta sleeps twelve in five bedrooms near Coaticook, with a fire pit, a meadow and Mount Pinacle in the window. Dogs are welcome. It is new on Airbnb for 2026 and hosted by a Superhost.
See the house
