Church Street Marketplace
2 Church St
Burlington, VT
A four-block, car-free brick promenade of local shops, cafes, and street performers, the lively heart of Vermont's biggest city, running downhill toward Lake Champlain.
Church Street Marketplace is four blocks of Burlington's downtown that were closed to cars in 1981 and paved in brick to create an open-air pedestrian mall. It runs gently downhill from the tall spire of the First Unitarian Church toward Lake Champlain, lined with shops, restaurants, cafes, and the constant motion of a city that actually walks.
Decades on, it remains one of the most successful pedestrian streets in the country, a place where students, families, tourists, and street performers mix. It is the social living room of Vermont's largest city and the natural starting point for a visit to Burlington.
What Guests Love
- A genuinely pedestrian downtown, closed to cars and full of life
- Local and independent shops mixed with sidewalk cafes
- Buskers, food carts, and festivals filling the brick promenade
- The short walk downhill to the Lake Champlain waterfront
Worth Knowing
- The marketplace is outdoors and busiest in the warm months; it stays lively but chillier in winter
- Parking is in garages off the mall, since the street itself is car-free
- Many businesses are locally owned, giving it a different feel from a typical mall
- It is an easy stroll to the waterfront, the ferry dock, and the bike path
Details
Burlington, VT
Learn about Church Street Marketplace
How a street became a marketplace
In the 1970s, like many American downtowns, Burlington's core was struggling against suburban malls. Rather than surrender, the city took the bold step of closing its main commercial street to traffic and rebuilding it as a landscaped pedestrian marketplace, which opened in 1981.
The gamble paid off. While many downtowns hollowed out, Church Street filled with independent businesses and became a model that planners still study, proof that a walkable, human-scaled street can outcompete a parking lot.
What it feels like
The mall mixes local boutiques and bookstores with restaurants whose tables spill onto the brick, plus a rotating cast of buskers, from folk singers to acrobats, licensed to perform along the street. Kiosks and carts sell crafts, food, and Vermont-made goods.
Because Burlington is a college town, home to the University of Vermont, the crowd skews young and lively, and the street stays busy into the evening. Seasonal festivals, holiday lights, and farmers markets keep bringing people back.
The lake at the bottom of the hill
Church Street points straight toward Lake Champlain, and it is a short walk down to the revitalized waterfront, with its parks, boardwalk, science center, and ferries to New York. The Island Line bike path runs from here out along the lake on an old railroad causeway.
That connection between a vibrant downtown and a working, beautiful lakefront is what makes Burlington feel larger and more spirited than its modest population would suggest. The Adirondack peaks across the water complete the view.
Season by season
Summer and early fall are the marketplace at full tilt, with outdoor dining, festivals, and long evenings, and foliage season adds color to the hills across the lake. It is the best time to experience the street's energy.
Winter brings holiday lights and a hardier crowd bundled between the shops and heated cafes, with skiing an hour away in the mountains. Spring wakes the street back up as the tables return to the brick.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Burlington
Burlington waterfront
About half a mile, a short walk
Lakefront parks, a boardwalk, the ECHO science center, ferries to New York, and the Island Line bike path.
ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain
About half a mile
A lake-focused science center and aquarium on the Burlington waterfront.
Shelburne
About 7 miles, a 15 minute drive
Home to the sprawling Shelburne Museum and the lakeside working estate of Shelburne Farms.