I'm just back from a 4 day weekend in Burlington (although most of Thursday and Sunday were spent driving) and enjoyed the visit. The trip was my annual girlfriends get together and we stayed at the Hilton right in town. Nice hotel, excellent location and beds, and so-so food at the restaurant.
It seemed that much of the trip revolved around food and shopping. The exception was the time spent on Friday at the Shelburne Museum. It was just about to close for the season so our timing was good. There was a very nice assortment of exhibits (including a number of special exhibits) and was definitely worth the trip, even though the weather wasn't particularly conducive to walking around outside. I imagine it's really beautiful here when the weather is nicer and everything's blooming.
The culinary tour included stops at Lake Champlain Chocolates (nice to watch the factory people in action and GREAT samples) but the chocolates are cheaper to buy in other venues (even the grocery store.....), Cold Hollow Cider Mill, Cabot Creamery, Ben and Jerry's (excellent, enthusiastic tour guide but unfortunately they were manufacturing on Friday), and Magic Hat Brewery. We also really enjoyed wandering through the farmers market in town on Saturday and they were a die hard group of exhibitors (staying until 2 in the rain). I understand it moves indoors now for the winter.
Unfortunately, besides dinner at the Vermond Pub and Brewery (where we enjoyed burgers and local beers), our best meals were all breakfasts (especially enjoyed the Penny Cluse Cafe and Skinny Pancake).
One key learning from the weekend was to make dinner reservations! I don't know if something special was going on last weekend but everyplace was packed.
The shops on Church Street and in downtown in general were all very nice although I think I bought more at the outlets I hit on the drive up and back home!