Plan Your Fall Adventures

Planning Your Fall Adventure: Places to Visit in New Hampshire

Life doesn’t get much better than New Hampshire in the fall. Hickory, maple, and mountain ash trees are bursting with red, yellow, and orange, and the air turns crisp and cool—the perfect temperature for heading outdoors.
New Hampshire stirs with life in the fall, with foliage tours, cultural and agricultural festivals, and more fun activities than one person could ever tackle in a single season.

With so much happening, it’s hard to decide where to begin in planning your fall trips. Where should you go? What should you do? And when’s the best time to schedule the trip?

At Silverstone Living, we promote an active lifestyle, so we’d like to help you take the first steps in planning your fall trips, so you can enjoy the season in New Hampshire fall to the fullest.

Start Picking Dates Today

New Hampshire is a popular choice for fall adventures, so it’s no surprise that even small-town inns and B&Bs are filling with reservations. So if you’re planning to make this more than a day trip, or if there aren’t friends in the area to host you, book a room at a New Hampshire hotel at least 2-3 weeks beforehand.

Consider mid-week trips if you’ve retired or can take the time off work if your schedule allows it in order to beat the weekend crowds.

And don’t forget to follow the changing foliage! The trees will start to change the last week of September, with peak colors occurring in the White Mountains around October 7th and in southern New Hampshire around October 15th.

Try using New England Today’s Peak Fall Foliage Map to help schedule your trip.

Make Travel Part of the Fun

One of the easiest ways to take in the fall colors is to see them on the road, so consider making your route through New Hampshire a scenic one. Consider one of TripSavvy’s foliage drive suggestions.

If you don’t want to stress over driving, coach tours are also a great option for getting you to your destination via scenic routes.

And if you can fit in a trip between Meredith and Lakeport, NH, you should definitely consider the Winnipesaukee Scenic Railroad. This tour provides great views of the lakes and forest, all from the comfort of your own seat on a restored ALCO diesel-electric train from the 1940s, with commuter coaches originally built in the 1930s for the Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad.

Do What You Love

It seems obvious to do the activities you love on your trip, but with New Hampshire transitioning into fall colors, all your favorite leisure activities take on a new look and feel.

Enjoy golfing? Why not take in the foliage while playing a few holes at the Mountain View Grand Golf Course in Whitefield, NH, named one of the 10 Best Golf Courses for Leaf-Peeping by USA Today?

Or if you love leisure hikes, visit some of New Hampshire’s great trails or mountain paths, such as the four-mile Ridge Trail at Fox Forest, which takes you through maples, pines, hemlocks, and birch trees on your way to Mud Pond.

Or if you want to visit a quaint New Hampshire town for some great food and a view, visit Sugar Hill. The town not only overlooks the White Mountain National Forest, but is also home to the famous Polly’s Pancake Parlor and the Sugar Hill Sampler, which has a small museum and sells local foods, gifts, and quilts.

Check Out One of New Hampshire’s Many Fall Festivals

You’d really be missing out if you didn’t attend one of the many cultural and agricultural festivals happening in New Hampshire this fall. They’re a great chance for fun, whether you’re attending with a spouse, friend, or bringing children.

Perhaps the most established festival is The Deerfield Fair (Sept. 28 – Oct. 1), which will be in its 141st year. The fair offers horse and oxen pulling, games, amusement rides, giant pumpkins, and an assortment of fall foods.

There’s also Dover Apple Harvest Day (Oct. 7), which is the largest outdoor festival on the New Hampshire seacoast, with live entertainment and music as well as more than 400 artisans selling their crafts in downtown Dover, NH.

And if light displays appeal to you, check out RiverFire (Oct. 14) in Berlin, NH, where they decorate a bridge with more than a hundred candle-lit pumpkins, and upon nightfall, if you look down at the Androscoggin River, you’ll also see little fires floating on the water.

So Start Planning!

As you can see, there are a lot of activities, tours, and festivals to choose from. The most important thing is to start planning your fall trip now, so you don’t miss out on anything New Hampshire has to offer!