The 10 Best Waterfalls in Vermont
Vermont's waterfalls come in two distinct flavors, and this list has both: the swim holes — Bartlett, Warren, Bingham — where generations of Vermonters have spent entire summer afternoons, and the lookers — Moss Glen, Hamilton, Thundering Brook — where the point is the drop itself. The Green Mountains don't produce Western-scale giants, but they produce intimacy: slot gorges, granite chutes, and pools clear enough to see the bottom of.
A word this list takes seriously: Vermont's best swimming holes are also its most dangerous places. Bartlett Falls and Warren Falls have both seen recent drownings, and Hamilton Falls has killed more than a dozen people over the years. Every entry here notes the real hazards. Go, swim, jump if you must — but scout first, never swim alone, and respect what moving water can do.
Every pick is publicly accessible. The rankings weigh the falls themselves, the experience of getting there, and how honestly the destination delivers what it promises.
The state's signature tall-gorge waterfall. Sources argue about whether it's 85 or 125 feet; nobody argues about the drama. A quarter-mile boardwalk approach to a full-height overlook makes this Vermont's best effort-to-payoff ratio.
Directions, season & rules for Moss Glen Falls →The defining Vermont swimming hole. A 14-foot curtain you can swim behind, a pool the size of a small pond, and half of Addison County on a hot Saturday. Cold, deep, and genuinely hazardous — read the safety notes before you jump.
Directions, season & rules for Bartlett Falls →A natural water park on the Mad River: chutes, slides, and stacked green pools carved into pink granite. The cliff-jumping is the draw and the danger — scout every pool, every time.
Directions, season & rules for Warren Falls →The most dramatic single drop on this list — 80 feet of natural rock chute reached by a real 6-mile round-trip hike from Jamaica State Park. Also the deadliest: stay at the upper pool, skip the middle pool entirely.
Directions, season & rules for Hamilton Falls →
The postcard. A 45-foot veil dropping beside Route 100 with an ADA-accessible viewing platform a few hundred yards from your car. The easiest great waterfall in Vermont.
Directions, season & rules for Moss Glen Falls →Roughly 140 feet of cascade beside one of only five wheelchair-accessible stretches of the entire Appalachian Trail. Elevated boardwalk, sub-3% grade, genuinely tall waterfall — a combination that exists almost nowhere else.
Directions, season & rules for Thundering Brook Falls →
Five or six stacked drops totaling around 124 feet on an easy carriage-road grade in the Moosalamoo backcountry, with a swimmable pool under the main 32-footer. Works as a quick stop or the start of a full day out.
Directions, season & rules for Lana, Falls of →The classic Green Mountain National Forest postcard falls — three stepped drops in a sheer slot ravine with a footbridge directly over the gorge. Swimming is prohibited at the falls; this one's for the camera.
Directions, season & rules for Texas Falls →
Stowe's slot canyon: five cascades stacked in a narrow schist gorge, ending in a 30-foot plunge into one of the deepest swimming holes in the state. Minutes from Mountain Road — parking is the only hard part.
Directions, season & rules for Bingham Falls →An 85-foot drop on Vermont's longest river, with a drive-up viewing park and real industrial history — this waterfall powered the Vermont Marble Company. Hydro diversion thins it most of the year; catch it in spring high water.
Directions, season & rules for Sutherland Falls →Rankings reflect our research, not a verdict on your trip — every spot page takes community ratings and conditions reports, and that's where the real answer to "is it worth it?" lives.