Wanderlust World Wanderlust World New Hampshire packs extraordinary variety into its compact borders—from alpine peaks to sandy Atlantic beaches, from colonial history to modern recreation. Here are five iconic places that capture the state’s character.
This rugged range dominates the north-central part of the state. Its crown, Mount Washington (6,288 ft), hosts the world’s oldest mountaintop weather observatory and some of the planet’s most extreme weather. The Whites offer hundreds of miles of hiking trails (including a stretch of the Appalachian Trail), cascading waterfalls like Arethusa Falls, and classic notches—Crawford, Franconia, and Pinkham—that frame spectacular drives.
“The Kanc” is a 34-mile National Scenic Byway winding through the White Mountain National Forest from Conway to Lincoln. It’s renowned for panoramic overlooks, swift rivers (the Swift and Pemigewasset), and especially its autumn foliage—when the hardwood forest erupts in reds, oranges, and golds. Numerous pull-offs invite short hikes to waterfalls, covered bridges, and swimming holes.
This glacially carved notch packs multiple attractions into a narrow corridor:
New Hampshire’s 18-mile seacoast may be short, but Hampton Beach makes the most of it. A broad, sandy strand backed by a classic boardwalk, it hosts summer concerts at the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom, weekly fireworks, and a famous sand-sculpting competition. The adjacent Hampton Beach State Park offers camping, picnic areas, and access to the Hampton River estuary.
While not in the original list, no survey of New Hampshire is complete without the state’s largest lake—72 square miles, 274 islands, and 288 miles of shoreline. The region blends boating, fishing, lakeside villages (Wolfeboro, Meredith), and the Mount Washington steamship, a floating piece of history.
Whether you seek summit solitude, a scenic drive, a gorge walk, or a day at the shore, New Hampshire delivers outsized experiences in a small package.