Lots of places going off right now. Mad river valley has been beautiful. Hills in Williston, too. I’d bet Bristol has good scenes to paint with less hubbub than Stowe, middlebury, etc.

Kind of depends what you mean by "best". What's important to you?

Middlebury has a lot of things going for it and would be on my short list. It's going to be more rural than Burlington or Essex.

I lived in Essex for 8 years and liked it very much. The schools are quite good and it's conveniently situated to many things (mountains, airport, Burlington, lake).

The Burlington "metro area" has a lot of great places to live - Shelburne, Charlotte, South Burlington, Williston, Colchester all have good schools and communities.

I wouldn't necessarily exclude the other towns, I just don't have as much personal experience with them other than visiting occasionally.