Best small towns in New Hampshire?

I%26#39;m planning a trip and enjoy interesting out of the way places. What do you suggest?

Best small towns in New Hampshire?

This is such a subjective question. I don%26#39;t know about ';best'; but Budget Travel Magazine just named Peterborough one of its Top Ten ';Coolest'; small towns.

I of course am bias...there are way too many to choose just one!

Best small towns in New Hampshire?

Thank you LittleRiverBB! I will look into it!

Lily

Any other great small towns besides Peterborough? I hope to visit several. I appreciate any suggestions.

I%26#39;m replying because I just happen to be working on a future visit to New Hampshire not two months after my first ever, and you asked.

For the record, I found nothing but interesting, out-of-the-way places the last time I was there. In fact, I believe the entire state is an interesting, out-of-the-way place, comfortably nestled between other interesting, out-of-the-way places.

I thought Seabrook and Hampton Beach were beautiful on a blustery day. It was the end of the season, and we had the seacoast all to ourselves. Portsmouth is a great-looking big town, perfect for a pub crawl at least, with its antique architecture and attitude. Wolfeboro, now there%26#39;s an interesting small town. Downtown Wolfeboro was about a block and a half wide, thoroughly congested, and good for a short stop to do something, I just don%26#39;t know what yet. Bath has a nice covered bridge, but it%26#39;s not the only town that does. Campton and Franconia are hard to see from the street, so get out of the car, but only if you have somewhere to go. Jackson is picturesque. Lisbon, forgettable, but we%26#39;re staying near there next month. Littleton is a charming New England hamlet, but I%26#39;ve never been there. Conway has some sort of big-howdy strip mall, so I haven%26#39;t seen that either. Sandwich makes me hungry. Have breakfast in Sugar Hill, like everybody else.

I could go on. If New Hampshire doesn%26#39;t do it for you, there are several other states within the chucking range of a pumpkin, if you have the proper apparatus.

What do you find interesting? What is it that you enjoy? When are you coming? How long will you stay? Will you have a car? What else are you hoping to do on your vacation? How much/little do you want to drive?

I think the comments about many such places is true. There is no area of the state that you would not find interesting little places and things to do. A restaurant here, a pub there, a museum, crafters, live music or a contra dance, local fairs, presidential candidates, etc.

Keene, Swanzey, Walpole, Milford, Charlestown, Newport, Hanover, you can%26#39;t miss where ever you go you will be pleasantly surprised.

Thank you for all of the suggestions! It sounds like I%26#39;ve chosen a great state to explore! I will try to look up all of those places. Do any of you have ideas for good websites so that I can do research about those towns? (I know sometimes small towns group themselves and then have county/regional websites that can be more informative for tourists than the town websites that tell when the electric bills are due.)

Since I%26#39;m still in the early stages of planning, I%26#39;m not sure when I%26#39;ll be there or how long I will be able stay. I do plan to rent a car and would probably fly into Portsmouth because it looks like I could get a good deal on plane tickets.

I would love to see the fall foliage sometime, but since I don%26#39;t enjoy crowds, I would probably choose a season other than fall to visit. That is, unless you know about places that are really pretty but not very crowded that could use a couple of extra tourists! :-)

Otherwise, I%26#39;m thinking about visiting in spring or summer so that I can do some outdoor activities as well. (My fear of sudden pine tree impact prevents me from skiing.)

I don%26#39;t mind driving as long as most of the route is pretty. I enjoy a lot of things: art, history, nature, taking way too many pictures, shopping for unique local items, music, talking to friendly people, etc.

This would be my first visit to the area, so any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Thank you so much!

Lily

A good website to start with is the state tourism website:

visitnh.gov

You can explore the regions of the state that way, find out about the different kinds of and specific activities the state and particular regions offer. There are 237 Census designated towns in NH. Each of them will boast something special to attract visitors. I think that the tourism site will have links toe ach of the towns%26#39; websites.

Re: fall colors, and for that matter tourism in NH in general, the White Mountains are a big draw. Also the Lake Winnipesaukee area and Seacoast, espcially during outdoor water weather. But there are a lot of mountains, hiking trails everywhere, maple, birch and other colorful trees, and twisty roads with cute towns and impressive sights throughout the state. For fall colors, consider the Monadnock Region or the Dartmouth-Lake Sunapee Region. Beautiful areas of the state with many interesting attractions, and less crowded in any season than the ones I mentioned above. There are also a lot of small and medium size lakes for summer fun.

The coast of NH and continuing up through 1500 miles of Maine Coastline, is worthy of its own trip. Expect crowds in summer, but this can be planned for and optimized. Late spring and early fall can be ideal, if you have that option.

As for skiing, yes there are pine trees. But really, the trails, especially the ones you will ski as a beginner, are plenty wide. Choose one of the smaller mountains that are more family oriented, and they will have good beginner trails. And all mountains offer ski lessons, which I would certainly recommend.

Thank you so much for the information!

I can%26#39;t wait to visit!

Lily

Hi, I live in Southern NH - when are you planning to visit? How far are you willing to drive? (Two plus hours north into the Mts./Lake region? This could impact your trip as less is open on the seacoast in the late fall/winter but it is still beautiful (imho) Do you want to ski? Are you looking for fine dining or more casual fare?

Although not super small, we love Portsmouth and the surronding areas - Newington area, Exeter is charming.