Visit New Hampshire: A guide to NH travel, tourism, vacations, hotels, food, and attractions

60 Great Things to Do in New Hampshire

New Hampshire tourism brings a range of pleasures,
from rugged mountains to fine shopping near the beaches

From the magnificent White Mountains in the north of New Hampshire through the Lakes Region to the state’s strip of Atlantic seacoast, the Granite State is a vacationland of rugged outdoor adventure and urban charm. The White Mountains, with its muscular collection of ski areas, is home to every form of snow sports, as well as summer festivals and activities that exploit the best of the mountains’ features: hiking, rafting, scenic railroad excursions, even sky rides in gondolas used by skiers in the winter. Family activities in the White Mountains, from Santa’s Village for the little ones to heart-stopping zip-line canopy tours, are abundant. The Lakes Region, with its epicenter at Lake Winnipesaukee and the Squam Lakes, offers water sports all year, from the extremes of sunbathing in the summer to ice fishing in the winter. Lake Sunapee and its neighbors, Little Sunapee and Pleasant Lake, provide ample opportunity for all kinds of water sports. Nearby are Mount Kearsarge and Mount Sunapee, where winter sports enthusiasts can find skiing and snowmobiling.

Newcomers are sometimes surprised that New Hampshire has beaches. Although the state’s coastline is short, its salt water beaches are lush and lovely. Hampton Beach on the Atlantic is New Hampshire’s major saltwater ocean beach, and it pleasures include old-fashioned family fun, concerts in an open-air bandshell, fireworks, festivals, a sand-sculpting contest, and even a Casino Ballroom with live entertainment. Portsmouth, an old fishing and shipbuilding port city, has a refurbished downtown with plenty of great dining and shopping. Inland, the old mill city of Manchester is reviving its textile heritage by using the old mills as homes for fascinating historical and science and art museums. Concord, the capital, is a lovely, walkable New England city with beautiful parks and gardens and historic attractions close at hand. Shoppers flock to outlets in North Conway and the Lakes Region.

The Monadnock region, a landscape of rolling farmland below the shadow of Mount Monadnock, is a place where summer visitors can enjoy live chamber music at the Monadnock Music Festival and Apple Hill Summer Festival, or take in a play at the Colonial Theatre in Keene or the Peterborough Players Summer Theatre. Throughout New Hampshire, visitors can find the best of New England: lovely small towns that welcome strolling, dining, and shopping; exciting snow sports paired with the pleasures of the ski lodge, including a growing selection of luxuries like spas; lots of attractions for families and kids; and, of course, the ocean’s white beaches and charming port towns and cities. Accommodations cover the full gamut, from small, romantic inns to rugged campgrounds.

60 Great Things to Do in New Hampshire