Montréal to Burlington, Vermont Car Service: Lake Champlain, BTV and Stowe Ski Transfers

How far is Burlington, Vermont from Montréal by car?

Of the three cross-border trips from Montréal on this site, this is the shortest and the easiest to turn into a day. You leave the city on Autoroute 10, follow Autoroute 35 toward the Vermont line, cross at Saint-Armand and Highgate Springs, and continue south on Interstate 89 to Burlington. It is about 83 km from Montréal to the border and about 65 km from the border to the city. The distances come from a routing engine, so they are planning figures rather than promises.

People search for this as a Montréal to Burlington car service, a Montréal to Burlington VT limo, a Montréal to Burlington airport transfer or a Montréal to Stowe shuttle. All four are the same product: a licensed, commercially insured chauffeur in a Canadian-based vehicle, a fixed fare quoted before you book, and one booking instead of a rental contract and a border queue you drive yourself. Open the booker, enter the Montréal address and the Vermont address, and the exact all-in fare shows before you confirm.

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Montréal to Burlington car service: choosing the vehicle

Short trips still need the right car, and in Vermont the right car often depends on skis.

• Executive Sedan. Up to 3 passengers with 2 large and 2 carry-on bags. Fine for a business trip or a night away; too small for ski bags.
• Luxury SUV. Up to 6 passengers and 5–6 large bags. The usual choice for a family heading for the slopes, with room for boot bags.
• Executive Sprinter. 12 to 14 passengers and 12+ bags, for a group weekend, a wedding party or a team retreat.

Tell the booker about skis, snowboards and strollers, so the desk can confirm that the vehicle fits. Stretch limousines and mini-coaches are hourly products whose availability and exact vehicle are confirmed at booking. Child, toddler and booster seats are provided when requested at booking.

One plain-language limit: this is an international trip. We take you from Montréal to Vermont and, if you want, back again. We do not run local point-to-point rides inside the United States. If you need cars between Burlington restaurants and hotels once you are there, the desk arranges a US network car for those local legs. The full explanation is on the USA trips hub and the cross-border limo service page.

The route from Montréal to Burlington

There is nothing complicated about the roads. Autoroute 35 ends at the border, where it meets Interstate 89, and I-89 runs directly into the Burlington area. In light traffic the whole trip takes about two hours. Add the border and a stop for coffee and you have a morning's journey.

Burlington itself sits beside Lake Champlain. The airport, Burlington International Airport, is in South Burlington and run by the City of Burlington, and it is about 150 km by road from downtown Montréal, much the same as the city centre. The airport's own site describes a recently opened terminal expansion, a flight-tracking tool and a page called Airlines & Where We Fly, which is the place to check the current carriers and nonstop destinations rather than relying on a list that changes with the season.

Crossing at Saint-Armand and Highgate Springs

The Canada Border Services Agency lists the Canadian side as St-Armand/Philipsburg. The US side is Highgate Springs, Vermont, at the northern end of Interstate 89. US Customs and Border Protection gives the location as Interstate 89 at the border on its Highgate Springs port page; the office hours listed there are unclear, so use the Highgate Springs wait-time page to confirm the crossing's hours and the current queue. The CBSA border wait times page shows the Canada-bound direction for the return.

Vermont's official tourism site notes that waits can range from none to over an hour. Border wait is part of the trip, so a Friday-evening ski departure and a Sunday-afternoon return are the two times to leave slack. The chauffeur keeps you informed from the queue and uses the lane that is moving.

Documents for a short trip to Vermont

The document rules are the same as for any US land crossing, and the details for Canadian citizens are set out on the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative page of CBP: passport, enhanced driver's licence or a Trusted Traveler card for those 16 and over, and a birth certificate or other proof of citizenship for younger children. The Government of Canada's advice at travel.gc.ca gives a passport or a Trusted Traveller card. A passport is safest. For the NEXUS lane, the CBSA's NEXUS page says everyone needs their own card to benefit.

A few notes apply specifically to a short Vermont trip, drawn from Vermont's travel tips for Canadian visitors:

• Carry the vehicle's registration. The chauffeur will have it, but ask the desk if your party is unusual.
• Fruits and vegetables from outside the United States are among the prohibited items, so eat the apples before the border.
• Bring some US dollars. Many businesses take cards, but small rural shops may take only cash, and Interac e-Transfer is not available in the United States.
• Purchases above your personal exemption can be taxed on re-entry. Vermont's tourism site notes a tariff on some US goods, and tariff rules have changed repeatedly, so read the CBSA's current guidance before a shopping day.

Visitors who are not Canadian citizens should know that CBP's I-94 page says Visa Waiver Program travellers now need an approved ESTA before reaching the land border. Make sure, too, that you can return to Canada.

Same-day trips and the personal exemption

Burlington is close enough to do in one day, and that choice has a tax consequence worth stating. The CBSA's border reminder checklist says same-day cross-border shopping trips get no personal exemption. Its I Declare guide lists, as of 2026, CAN$200 after more than 24 hours away and CAN$800 after more than 48 hours, with tobacco and alcohol limited to the longer tiers.

The practical result: a day on Church Street with shopping bags is taxed differently from an overnight, and the declaration at the Canadian booth on the way home is yours to make. Our job is the driving and the timing.

Arriving in Burlington: Church Street and the airport

Most Montréal-to-Burlington bookings are for a downtown hotel, a restaurant dinner, a conference or the airport. Church Street Marketplace is the four-block shopping and dining district at the heart of the city, with more than 45 local retailers and dozens of restaurants listed on its site. Give the booker the exact address, and the chauffeur will confirm the best approach and the drop-off point on the day.

For a trip that ends at BTV, tell the desk your flight and terminal, since airlines change. A booking that picks you up at BTV and brings you to Montréal is also an international trip and is handled the same way as the reverse. If your plan is to fly into Burlington and be driven north, the desk confirms the airport arrangement before the day.

If Plattsburgh is closer to your plans, the Plattsburgh airport page explains the other US airport that serves Montréal travellers.

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Montréal to Stowe, Jay Peak and Smugglers' Notch

Vermont's ski country starts within a few hours of the border. Distances from downtown Montréal below come from a routing engine and are approximate.

Stowe is the best-known name. The Stowe Mountain Resort site describes the place as where Vermont's highest peak meets the resort, with a gondola and lodging along the Mountain Road, and the town's tourism site, Go Stowe, lists the Stowe Recreation Path and a winter shuttle. Jay Peak's own site places the resort in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom and presents it as a destination mountain; on the routing engine's figures it is the nearer of the two big names to Montréal. Check the resort's site for opening dates, lift status and passes; those change each winter.

For longer ski plans, our ski and cottage transfers page explains how gear and groups are handled, and there is a note on Mont-Tremblant ski season for those who want the Québec alternative. The Montréal to Mont-Tremblant route and the Mont-Tremblant limo page cover that trip.

Ski weekends: gear, timing and Friday departures

A ski weekend is a different trip from a city visit. A few rules help it go well:

1. Ask for the Luxury SUV or the Sprinter if you have skis or boards, and tell the booker how many.
2. Leave Montréal before the Friday afternoon rush if you can. Friday afternoons are when border queues can lengthen.
3. Plan the return for Sunday lunchtime rather than late afternoon.
4. Keep passports, lift tickets and boot bags where the chauffeur can reach them at the border.

The weekend's weather matters. A storm on Interstate 89 or on the roads into Stowe adds time that no schedule can remove. Québec's winter-tire rule, set out on the province's winter tire page, runs from December 1 to March 15 for vehicles registered in Québec and does not apply to vehicles registered elsewhere, but the road conditions on the Vermont side are what they are either way, and the best protection is an early start and slack in the plan.

Car, coach, rental or train

For a trip this short, the alternatives are real and some cost less.

Amtrak's Vermonter runs from Washington, DC to St. Albans, Vermont, stopping at Essex Junction (the Burlington station), Waterbury-Stowe and Montpelier-Berlin, but it does not continue into Canada, so there is no rail link from Montréal. For one traveller on a flexible day, the coach is the lowest-cost choice and a perfectly sensible one. The car earns its fare with a group, with skis, with children and on days when the schedule is tight.

Pairing Burlington with other trips

Burlington often sits inside a larger plan. A wedding in the Eastern Townships may be followed by a Vermont weekend: see the Eastern Townships limo page and the Montréal to the Eastern Townships route. A spa weekend can pair with a day in the Laurentians, described in the blog note on Saint-Sauveur and the Laurentians. To continue beyond Vermont, Montréal to Boston uses the same border crossing and I-89, and Montréal to New York City uses the Lacolle crossing instead.

Booking Montréal to Burlington

Enter the Montréal pickup and the Burlington, Stowe or airport address in the booker, pick the vehicle and the date, and the exact all-in fare shows before you pay. Dispatch is available 24/7 through our Toronto desk, and Montréal service is offered in English and French; the Montréal limo page and service de limousine à Montréal explain pickups in the city, and the Montréal-Trudeau airport page covers airport starts, with flight tracking and 60 minutes of free waiting on international arrivals.

Cancelling more than 72 hours before the booked pickup is free; after that the fee is 10% inside 72 hours, 50% inside 48 hours and 100% inside 24 hours or for a no-show.