14 Reasons to Go to New Hampshire Now

With more than 90 state parks, New Hampshire is a nature lover’s paradise. One of the more off-the-beaten-path spots is Pillsbury State Park in Washington, a quiet enclave of trails and 35 campsites set along the interconnected Butterfield, May, and Mill Ponds. Rent a canoe or kayak, or go fishing. There’s ample hiking and mountain biking trails, and a couple of small peaks to climb. If you’re into a long-distance trek, the 50-mile Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway passes through the park.

About a 20-minute drive north is the better known Mount Sunapee State Park in Newbury. A popular beach here on 4,085-acre Sunapee Lake attracts swimmers and boaters. Mount Sunapee Resort offers lots of outdoor activities, including the Adventure Park, which has zip-lines, mountain bike trails, a ropes course, and a disc golf course. When the Annual League of NH Craftsmen’s Fair (August 5-13, 2017) sets up camp, more than 200 master craftsmen offer their wares.

Two historic railway routes depart from an 1874 Victorian station in North Conway Village.

The Valley Train offers two excursions: an hour round-trip south to Conway, or an almost two-hour round-trip westward to the town of Bartlett. On both, you’ll take in an ever shifting landscape of woodlands, farms, and rivers, especially memorable if you’re seated in the first-class 1898 Pullman Parlor-Observation Car.

Hugging hillsides, passing ravines and cascades, and crossing historic bridges like Frankenstein Trestle, the Notch Train trip takes five hours to pass through Crawford Notch and arrive at Crawford Station. Sit in the 1955 Dome Car or the open-air car to get closer to the scenery.

On either train, you can tuck in for a meal or sip a cocktail in a vintage dining car. Later, wander North Conway Village’s shops, such as Zeb’s General Store (for penny candy and a local soda called Moxie) and the League of NH Craftsmen for handcrafted souvenirs of jewelry, pottery, or blown glass.

Swathed in dense forest and dotted with lakes, the very tip of New Hampshire is known as the Great North Woods region, or the North Country. In this pristine hinterland, it’s said moose outnumber the locals.

Keep your eyes out for the docile creatures everywhere, but especially along “Moose Alley,” the 20-mile stretch of U.S. Route 3 that runs north of the small town of Pittsburg to the Canadian border. For a waterfall fix, head south to Beaver Brook Falls Wayside State Park, where you can picnic to the sounds of the 80-foot falls.

Another scenic road trip is the Great North Woods Ride, a winding, 120-mile loop through woods, historic villages and mill towns, along the Connecticut River, and past the Balsams Grand Resort Hotel in Dixville Notch. Thrill seekers can rent an all-terrain vehicle from Bear Rock Adventures in Pittsburg and conquer the hundreds of miles of connected North Country ATV trails.

Video by Gray Rentz, Polaris Experience, LLC

In the mid-1800s, when visitors first flocked to Mount Washington, the tallest northeastern U.S. peak, they had to hike or ride a horse. Today, you can still summit the 6,288-footer under your own steam, via the popular but strenuous Tuckerman Ravine Trail. (Beware the 4,000-foot altitude gain and severe storms, even in summer.)

Or you can earn your “This Car Climbed Mt. Washington” bumper sticker by driving the infamous Mount Washington Auto Road—with no guardrails, the route is both panoramic and vertigo-inducing. A third option: Ride the circa-1869 Mount Washington Cog Railway, whose steam engine still chug-a-chugs up the slope.

Once at the top, take in the 130-mile vista. Mount Washington State Park’s Sherman Adams building is home to a visitor center, a cafeteria, and the Mount Washington Observatory. Don’t miss the guided tour of the weather station, and drop in at the historic 1853 Tip-Top House, considered the oldest mountaintop hotel in the world.

The gundalow is a unique, flat-bottom cargo vessel once common in seacoast New Hampshire. Used by traders and fishermen from the mid-1600s into the 1900s, gundalows relied on tides to power them up or downstream in area rivers and estuaries; the sail was hoisted as backup.

You can sail the Piscataqua River on a 70-foot replica boat, by booking a trip with Gundalow Company, docked at Prescott Park in Portsmouth. Trips last from one to three hours and range from educational to pure leisure.

The quintessential New England town of Portsmouth, the third oldest city in America, is worthy of serious strolling. Take to the brick sidewalks around Market Square, gawk at the sumptuous Colonial, Federal, and Georgian architecture, and drop into any number of boutiques and harborside watering holes. In summertime, catching a concert, theater performance, or movie at the open-air Prescott Park Arts Festival is the perfect ending to a day on the waterfront.

The wide-ranging bounty of New Hampshire’s tiny 18-mile seashore can be efficiently explored at the 330-acre Odiorne Point State Park in Rye, the state’s longest undeveloped patch of coastline.

Features include life-rich tide pools, a 4,000-year-old “drowned forest” of cedar and pine tree stumps, a craggy shoreline, and a pebble beach. Trails and bike paths lead along the coast through dense vegetation, salt marshes, remnants of formal gardens, and abandoned military bunkers. Inside the park, the Seacoast Science Center, which celebrates 25 years in 2017, offers interactive programs to help all ages appreciate the ocean’s bounty.

Close out the day at nearby Petey's Summertime Seafood & Bar, an area institution where landlubbers fill up on clam chowder; fried clams, scallops, and haddock; and lobster rolls. Wash it all down with an ice cream frappe.

Imagine flying up to 65 miles an hour some 140 feet above a canopy of spruce, fir, cedar, and tamarack. You’re clipped and harnessed to Recoil Zip, one of the longest zip lines in America, at Gunstock Mountain Resort in Gilford. Three “zips” shoot you down more than 8,000 feet of line from the summit back to terra firma.

Don’t fret: You’ll be fully trained on smaller lines before you tackle the big drop, and you can control your descent speed. Twin zips let you zoom down side-by-side with a pal.

Hankering instead for a leisurely day on the water? Consider a scenic daytime or sunset dinner dance cruise aboard the MS Mount Washington, which plies the waters of Lake Winnipesaukee, the state’s largest lake at 44,500 acres.

Video by Taylor Glenn

The mascot of the Polar Caves may be a polar bear, but you won’t spot any here. You probably won’t see a yeti or Bigfoot, either. Still, exploring this famous natural wonder in Rumney, created by the destructive forces of a retreating glacier, can be an adventure. Stairways and boardwalks connect crevices and passageways through several granite caves, which the whole family can easily explore in a two-hour self-guided excursion into the dark. And if it’s hot outside? Even better. The caverns stay a cool 55 degrees, even in summer.

Inspired spelunkers can test their rock scrambling skills at the Polar Wall, a natural granite climbing wall. The Polar Sluice lets neophyte miners try their hand at prospecting for gems and minerals. The facility also includes a picnic area, a petting zoo where kids will get a kick out of feeding the deer, and nature trails.

Eccentric French singer Antoinette Sherri moved to New York City in 1910s to work as a costume designer for the Ziegfeld Follies. She and her husband purchased land in the woodsy Connecticut River Valley town of Chesterfield. Here, she constructed a summer “castle.” Legend says she threw wild parties there and drove her car around wearing nothing but a fur coat. The place eventually succumbed to fire and neglect, “Madame Sherri” died in 1965, and her pleasure palace was no more.

But today, if you take the Ann Stokes Loop trail through the 488-acre Madame Sherri Forest, you can poke around the stony ruins—a decrepit staircase, archways, foundation walls, and a few teetering columns. The ancient-seeming ruins invite you to imagine what was and even conjure the spirit of Madame Sherri. While in the area, explore nearby college town Keene, or hop over the Connecticut River to artsy Brattleboro, Vermont, home to boutiques, bars, and cafes.

One of the oldest and best preserved Shaker settlements in the U.S. is Canterbury Shaker Village, founded in 1792. Today, via guided or self-guided tour, you can wander the site’s nearly 30 restored original and reconstructed Shaker buildings—including a schoolhouse, meeting house, bee house, creamery, and more. There are also 700 acres of herbal and vegetable gardens, woods, fields, nature trails, and mill ponds to explore.

Take a deeper dive into Shaker life by watching a traditional crafts demonstration like printing, oval box-making, or poplar weaving. Or sign up for a workshop and learn to forage for medicinal plants and edible mushrooms, or make your own Shaker chair, broom, or rug.

To gain a higher perspective on the Merrimack River Valley region, try a serene hot air balloon ride. High 5 Ballooning in Derry lifts off early mornings. Expect views of the White Mountains, Atlantic Ocean, and even Boston during your one-hour ride. Afterward, enjoy a picnic complete with champagne mimosas.

The Merrimack River Valley also throws two hot air balloon shindigs: the Hillsborough Balloon Festival & Fair (July 6-9, 2017) and the Suncook Valley Rotary Hot Air Balloon Rally in Pittsfield (August 4-6, 2017). Besides balloon rides, featured events include pancake breakfasts, carnival rides, stage acts, beer tents, and “night glow” displays of balloons that gleam like Chinese lanterns.

Unlike Mount Washington, the only way to conquer this peak is by foot. Immortalized in the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, and one of the most climbed mountains in the world, 3,165-foot Mount Monadnock is surrounded by pristine highland forest and stands a good 1,000 feet taller than any of its neighbors.

The summit is a massive, bare, and treeless rock, often swarming with hundreds of hikers at a time. But thanks to multiple trails, solitude can be found on the climb up. The most direct trails are White Arrow, White Dot, White Cross, and Birchtoft/Red Spot Trails, most of which take between two to three hours. Campers can pitch a tent at Gilson Pond Campground and Monadnock Campground in nearby Monadnock State Park, and hike from their campsites to the summit of “Grand Monadnock.”

Video by Smithsonian, Getty Images

At the meeting point of the Magalloway and Androscoggin Rivers is Umbagog Lake (pronounced “Um-BAY-gog”), the Abenaki name for “shallow water.” The lake is now the centerpiece of the remote, 25,000-acre Umbagog National Wildlife Refuge, a system of vast forests and waterways straddling the border with Maine.

The best way to experience these quiet waters—and catch sight of wildlife—is by boat. ELC Outdoors offers a three-hour tour on a 24-foot pontoon boat; guides help you spot bald eagles, osprey, loons, river otters, and the region’s ubiquitous moose. Or rent a canoe or kayak to explore Lake Umbagog’s islands, coves, bogs, and inlets, including Harpers Meadow, designated a Floating Island National Natural Landmark.

For a longer wilderness stay, head to Lake Umbagog State Park on the lake’s southern shore and score a lakeside campsite or a rustic cabin. Hardier souls can paddle out to a remote tent site, accessible only from the water, and be lulled to sleep by haunting loon calls. (Note: Some campsites and cabins are closed for renovation in 2017; check before visiting.)

Irish-born Beaux-Arts sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848-1907) was best known for his striking portrait relief work seen in Civil War monuments like the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial (still standing on Boston Common), and on notable American coins. He also founded the Cornish Colony, an arts colony for painters, sculptors, writers, and architects at his summer home in the village of Cornish.

Today, the converted inn and hay barn that became Saint-Gaudens’s residence and studio are preserved as a National Historic Site. You can snoop about the first-floor parlors and dining room of Aspet, his home, as well as other buildings, where more than a hundred of his works are displayed.

In summer, a Sunday afternoon summer concert series brings weekly performances of chamber music, blues, funk, and jazz to the grounds. Ask the sculptor in residence how Saint-Gaudens made his art, or take a class and try your hand at sculpting a bust. Check out the changing contemporary art exhibits, or take to the nature trails in the surrounding 100-acre forest.