Picnic tables and cooking grills are located throughout the park in open or shaded lawn areas. The open-air shelter has group-sized cooking grills, available electricity, and may be reserved for group functions. The south-facing swimming area has a mostly sandy bottom. The shallower northwest shore is good for wading. There are no lifeguards. The public boat launching ramp gets your boat quickly into deep water. Rowboats are available for rent, or you can ride the Burton Island ferry. Day use hours: 10 a.m.-9 p.m.

Knight Point State Park
44 Knight Point Road
North Hero, VT
Phone: 802-372-8389

Season: Memorial Day-Labor Day

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Knight Point on North Hero Island offers facilities that include a sandy swimming beach and boat rentals. Shaded and open picnic areas include cooking grills. Expansive lawns are the center of this 54-acre day-use park. The cobbled shoreline, west of the swimming beach and extending around the point, is a state natural area. Open late May to early September.

Lake Carmi State Park
460 Marsh Farm Road (Route 236)
Enosberg Falls, VT 05450
Phone: 802-933-8383

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This state park includes more than two miles of lake frontage on the south and east shore of Lake Carmi. There are swimming beaches in the two campgrounds and a day-use beach with concession area, rest rooms, and rental boats. Rest rooms have running water and hot showers. Open mid-May to early September.

Maidstone State Park
Maidstone Lake Road
Guildhall, VT
Phone: 802-676-3930

Season: Memorial Day-Labor Day

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Maidstone is the most remote of Vermont’s state parks and still retains much of the wilderness character associated with the Northeast Kingdom. Its campground has a play area, hiking trails, and a swimming beach. A picnic shelter, swimming beach, and two rest rooms are also available at the day use area. Open from late May to early September.

North Hero State Park
3803 Lakeview Drive
North Hero, VT 05474
Phone: 802-372-8727

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North Hero State Park is named for North Hero Island in Lake Champlain. There are lakeside picnic grounds, a nongraded swimming beach, boat rentals, and a boat launch. Group camping is accommodated. Open late May to early September.

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Elmore State Park
856 VT Route 12
Lake Elmore, VT
Phone: 802-888-2982

Season: Memorial Day-Columbus Day

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Lake Elmore, northwest of the town of Elmore, has a sandy beach, historic bathhouse, concession stand, restrooms and a rental pavilion, a picnic shelter, many tables and grills, and row boat, canoe and kayak rentals. There is convenient access to several hiking trails to Elmore Mountain. Open late May to early October.

Grand Isle State Park
36 East Shore South
Grand Isle, VT
Phone: 802-372-4300

Season: Mid-May-Columbus Day

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Grand Isle State Park is located on the largest island in Lake Champlain. The Grand Isle is also known as South Hero. Lakeshore areas permit water access for swimming and shore fishing. There is a boat launching ramp for registered campers and kayaks and rowboats for rent through the park office. Campers are also allowed free entry to the sand beach at Knight Point State Park seven miles north and Alburg Dunes State Park 19 miles north. Rest rooms have running water and hot showers. Open mid-May to early October.

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Ricker Pond State Park
18 Ricker Pond Camp Ground Road (Route 232)
Groton, VT 05046
Phone: 802-584-3821

Season: Memorial Day-Columbus Day

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The campground has 27 tent/trailer sites, 23 lean-tos, 5 cabins and a waterfront rental cottage that comfortably sleeps up to 5 and comes with a canoe. Two of the three rest rooms include hot showers ($). A sanitary dump station is available, but no hookups. There is a swimming beach, boat launch, shelter, and access to miles of hiking trails.

Sand Bar State Park
1215 U.S. Route 2
Milton, VT
Phone: 802-893-2825

Season: Memorial Day Weekend - Labor Day Weekend

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Two-thousand-foot sand beach, swimming, canoe and kayak rentals, food concession, picnic grounds with tables and grills, and a play area. The smooth, sandy lake bottom remains shallow well out from shore, making this an ideal swimming spot for children. The uninterrupted length of sandy beach, high-quality water, and well-kept facilities make Sand Bar the most-visited day park in the state. Day use only. Park takes its name from a natural sandbar between South Hero Island in Grand Isle County and the town of Milton on the mainland. The park is on the eastern end of that sandbar. Open late May to early September.

Stillwater Recreation Area of Groton State Forest
44 Stillwater Road
Groton, VT 05046
Phone: 802-584-3822

Season: Mid-May - Labor Day Weekend

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The campground has 62 tent/trailer sites and 17 lean-tos. All rest rooms include hot showers. A sanitary dump station is available, but no hookups. There is a swimming beach, boat launch/dock facility, play area, shelter, and access to miles of hiking trails. The Groton Nature Center is within walking distance. Day use hours: 10 a.m.-9 p.m.

Swimming Holes

Swimming holes can be found in or near rock quarries, streams, gorges, and waterfalls. Most are pristine, uncrowded, and surrounded by beautiful woods and forests. For details, see the web site www.SwimmingHoles.info

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Alburg Dunes State Park
151 Coon Point Road
Alburg, VT 05440
Phone: 802-796-4170

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This 625-acre park is named for the sand dunes near the center and western end of the south-facing sand beach, one of the longest beaches on Lake Champlain. There is no public drinking water at the park, and fires are allowed only in grills in the picnic area. Sanitary facilities, picnic and parking areas are at the west end of the beach. The beach road (closed to motor vehicles) is a bicycle and pedestrian path between the dunes and wetland. Day use hours are from 10 a.m. to sunset. Open late May to early September.

Boulder Beach State Park
2278 Boulder Beach Road
Groton, VT 05046
Phone: 802-584-3823

Season: Memorial Day Weekend - Labor Day Weekend

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The day use area has 200 feet of beach and swimming area, small boat launch area, play area, shelter with group facilities, three large parking lots, a concession stand, and 75 shaded picnic sites with tables and hibachis. All rest rooms have flush toilets. Open late May to early September.

Brighton State Park
102 State Park Road
Island Pond, VT 05846
Phone: 802-723-4360

Season: Memorial Day Weekend - Columbus Day Weekend

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The campground sits on the mostly undeveloped Spectacle Pond where it is common to hear loons calling at night. At the nearby day use area there is a long sandy beach at the southern end of Island Pond, a bathhouse with restrooms, and rental boats. Open late May to early October.

Burton Island State Park
Box 123
St. Albans Bay, VT 05481
Phone: 802-524-6353 802-524-6353

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This island is located off the southwestern tip of St. Albans Point in Lake Champlain’s “inland sea.” Kill Kare State Park, a former boys camp, offers three miles of shoreline, hiking trails, a nature center/museum, park store and food service, rowboat and canoe rentals, and places to swim and picnic. Rest rooms have running water and hot showers. Also, the park has parking lots, a boat ramp, and a breakwater to protect the dock for the state ferry, which carries non-boating visitors to the island. No vehicles are allowed on the island. A three-story building, formerly a summer resort hotel, offers modern rest room and changing facilities for day visitors to Kill Kare. Open late May to early September.

Crystal Lake State Park
96 Bellwater Ave.
Barton, VT
Phone: 802-525-6205

Season: May 26 - September 4

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Crystal Lake is three miles long and about one mile in width. The beach area has almost a mile of sandy shoreline with a marked swimming area. The large historic granite bathhouse has rest rooms, changing areas, and a concession stand. There are approximately 40 free standing charcoal grills, nearly 80 picnic tables, play areas, rental boats and canoes, and parking space. Open late May to early September.