Luxury Hiking Vermont

Hiking Season: Unless you are a seasoned winter hiker with the proper equipment, you'll want to restrict your hiking in Vermont to May through early November. However, May can be too wet, and early summer can be extremely buggy. So the best months for good weather and fewer insects are late July through early November.

Guidebooks: All of the hikes mentioned in this article (and many more) are described in detail with complete directions in these three guides:

• Fifty Hikes in Vermont by the Green Mountain Club, Backcountry Publications, $11.95.
• Day Hiker's Guide to Vermont by the Green Mountain Club, $9.95.
• Guide Book of the Long Trail by the Green Mountain Club, $9.95.

Order them from the Green Mountain Club, Route 100, RR 1, Box 650, Waterbury Center, VT 05677. 802-244-7037.

Lodging

Northern Vermont
Stowe Mountain Resort (802-253-3000) Summer/Fall Activities: Gondola skyride, alpine slide, tennis, auto toll road up Mount Mansfield, 18-hole golf course, in-line skate park (with lessons and equipment), Stowe Mountain Performing Arts Center (summer concert series), Cliff House Restaurant.

Smugglers' Notch Resort (800-451-8752) Summer/Fall Activities: Smugglers is a New England "Club Med" for families and gives a money-back guarantee for its children's programs. Guided hikes and nature walks, water slides and swimming pools, Alice in Wonderland Day Care Center for children 6 weeks to 6 years, Discovery Day Camp for children 3-6, Adventure Day Camp for children 7-12, Explorer Program for teens, arts and crafts program, mountain biking, tennis with instruction, horseback riding, canoeing, fly casting instruction, and guided road bike rides.

For more information, contact the Stowe Area Association at 802-253-7321.

Central Vermont
Killington Ski & Summer Resort (800-372-2007) Summer/Fall Activities: Chair lift and gondola rides; mountain bike rentals, trails, lift access and guided tours; golf; tennis school; Merrill Hiking Center; Killington Playhouse; alpine slide at nearby Pico. Lodging: Villages at Killington (800-343-0762); Cortina Inn (800-451-6108); Inn at Long Trail (800-325-2540).

Country Inns along the Trail (802-247-3300) offers flexible, independent hiking vacations with inn-to-inn options. Rates depend on chosen inns and range from $62-$152 per person per day including meals, route familiarization, and car shuttle. Guided hiking vacations are also available from $429 for weekend tours to $749 for 5-night tours during fall foliage season.

Southern Vermont
The Equinox (800-362-4747) Summer/fall activities: fly fishing, golf, sporting clay shooting, health spa and swimming pool, hiking, canoeing, and mountain biking. Near Dorset Theater and many designer shopping outlets.