Shopping in North Conway/accommodations

Planning to travel through New Hampshire in the summer en route between Halifax, Nova Scotia and Sherbrooke, Quebec. Last summer found parking was impossible, so had to miss out. Are there any accomodations within walking distance to the main shopping areas. Any info will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Shopping in North Conway/accommodations

Which shopping area are you referring to? There%26#39;s downtown, where there%26#39;s lots of little local shops; And Settler%26#39;s Green, where there%26#39;s the chain outlets.

But to answer you question, yes, there are lodging choices near both of them.

Shopping in North Conway/accommodations

And plenty of parking.

As mentiond in the other reply, Settlers Green is an outlet village. Attached to it is the North Conway Grand Hotel. If you are looking for something else along the %26#39;strip%26#39; our favorite is the Golden Gables Inn. In the village area itself is Eastern Slope Inn.

Thanks for the Info. So Settlers Green it is with lots of Parking!!!! I think it must have been the immediate downtown area where the parking was impossible.

It had to be. You shouldn%26#39;t have a problem parking at Settlers Green. I was in NC in February for our school vacation week. It should have been packed with people and I found just the opposite. It was dead. I%26#39;ve never seen it like that before.

To MSAR1076,

We went to Florida over Christmas, we also found the tourists lacking... think it has to do with the US Recession... Canada isn%26#39;t as bad, but then the CDN Dollar is down, so that in itself is keeping Canadians away.

Nonetheless, I%26#39;m due for a North Conway visit soon, I will report back regarding the crowds.

Cheers!

Wine-4-2

Hi Neighbor!

There%26#39;s lots of accommodations in North Conway itself. However, between shopping outlets in North Conway, it%26#39;s too far to walk. Once you%26#39;re there, you%26#39;ll find that it%26#39;s not practical to walk unless you happen to be staying next-door to your favorite mall.

We visited on Labor day weekend 2008. We found no shortage of parking. Every mall and shop of any size has a substantial parking lot.

Accommodation was another matter, especially on the long weekend. That particular time, we found most places in North Conway itself (which stretches over several miles of built-up area) booked. A few of the pricier places had a few rooms left.

We elected to stay in Saco Valley, east of Center Conway on US-302, about five kilometers from North Conway.

Three points:

- the problem in North Conway, we found, is not parking. It%26#39;s the traffic. What with all the shoppers driving slowly and making left turns, it can be a long, slow drive through town. You can defeat this by taking West Side Road, which starts at its southern end on Rt. 153 just north of the intersection with Rt 113 and before you cross the Saco River. As you can tell from the name, West Side Road is on the wrong side of the Saco River and there are no bridges, so you can%26#39;t use it for access to North Conway. Only as a by-pass.

- The White Mountains area is strewn with accommodations. You don%26#39;t need to stay in North Conway out of fear of not finding anyplace else. All along US-302 to the north is motel-a-mile country. More accurately, several motels-a-mile.

- North Conway is the long way to Sherbrooke and Montreal. From Halifax and Bangor, the most direct route is from Exit 157 off I-95; US-2 to Skowhegan; and then ME-16 and ME-27 through the Carrabassett Valley, past Sugarloaf, and along the Chain of Ponds (lakes, actually) connected by the charmingly-named Dead River, to Woburn, Quebec. Once in Quebec, the two-lane undivided highway to Sherbrooke is sparsely traveled and very fast. You take Autoroute A-610 to avoid Sherbrooke traffic, putting you just 150 freeway kilometers from the Champlain Bridge!

Happy travels, and let me know if I can help further!

David

capetien10@gmail.com