Lake Champlain fills both windows on the causeway to Grand Isle, a strip of blacktop with open water on either side. The crossing stays at water level until the island begins. You sleep on the shoreline at Grand Isle State Park, the campground Vermont State Parks calls the most visited in the system. The lake is still in the door in the morning.
Reserve the site before you book the van. Grand Isle needs a reservation for the mid-May through mid-October season, and the van is the second booking. Outside that season the state-park van pads are closed.
Vermont State Parks do not have electric, water, or sewer hookups for RVs, so a self-contained campervan matches the pad. The rule covers Grand Isle, Little River, and the rest of the state system.
North Hero State Park, farther up the islands, is a day on the water and a stop on the Lake Champlain Paddlers' Trail. Camping isn't permitted there as of September 2026.
The Grand Isle ferry to Plattsburgh runs around the clock, year-round as of September 2026. The crossing is the wake off the bow, a northern lake crossing that connects I-89 in Vermont to I-87 in New York. Plattsburgh is the handoff if you keep going, and Montreal is the next city north.
Shelburne Farms is a walking-trails day south of town, with a children's farmyard and cheesemaking demonstrations. The Island Line Trail follows the Burlington bike path out the causeway and uses a seasonal bike ferry to cross the open-water gap, bikes and walkers only.
Mount Mansfield and Smugglers' Notch
VT-108 through Smugglers' Notch is a hairpin between cliff walls, tight enough that trucks wedge into the rock. VTrans bans single vehicles over 40 feet on that stretch, which a campervan passes. The road closes in winter for every vehicle. If you need more sleeping space than a campervan, look at RV rentals in Vermont.
From Underhill State Park, the Sunset Ridge Trail is the usual walk to Mount Mansfield, Vermont's highest peak, where the Long Trail crosses the ridge. Stowe is the town day under the mountain. Camel's Hump is the other summit on this side of the Green Mountains.
Smugglers' Notch State Park and Underhill State Park are walk-in tent camping with no van pad. Sleep at Grand Isle or Little River and drive the notch as a day.
Little River State Park at Waterbury
Little River State Park is lakeside sites on the Waterbury Reservoir, in a valley the dam made. A sanitary dump station is on site. Book ahead, and use this night when Grand Isle is full.
The Ben & Jerry's factory in Waterbury is the day stop. The reservoir and the factory share the town, so the van can stay at Little River while you visit.
The rest of Vermont, Killington and the Green Mountains, belongs to Vermont. Boston is the other New England campervan base.
