Bretton Woods Vacations Blog

The White Mountains sit far enough from Boston and Manchester that the sky actually looks like a sky. On a clear August night, the Milky Way shows up as a real band of light overhead, not a rumor you half remember from childhood camping trips. This year gives stargazers an extra reason to stay up late: the Perseid meteor shower peaks August 12-13, 2026, and it lines up with a...

North Conway sits at the center of everything the White Mountains offer in summer. Within a 30-minute drive in any direction from the village, you can reach some of the best hiking in the Northeast, one of the most beloved family theme parks in New England, New Hampshire’s only aquarium, a tax-free outlet village, scenic train rides through mountain passes, and Echo Lake, a swimming beach at the foot of...

Golf in the White Mountains is not a consolation prize for a trip that ran out of hiking ideas. The courses here are the real thing: historic layouts from the early twentieth century, set against the Presidential Range with views that most golfers in the Northeast never experience. Two of the four courses covered in this guide opened before 1920. One has been rated Golfweek’s Best Course You Can Play...

Summer is when the White Mountains show off. The trails are dry, the days are long, and the high ridges are cleaner and more dramatic than at any other point in the year. If you are based out of Bretton Woods, North Conway, Franconia, or anywhere along the Route 302 corridor, you have access to some of the best summer hiking in the White Mountains of New Hampshire within 45...

The White Mountains have over 100 waterfalls. Not all of them are worth your time. This guide narrows it down to 15 that absolutely are: the ones that look like what you imagined, the ones you can actually reach without losing your mind on a trail, and the ones with cold pools made for jumping into. Sorted by difficulty, with exact distances, June water temps, and honest notes on which...

The White Mountains summer vacation your family keeps talking about? This is the guide that makes it happen. Waterfalls running cold from snowmelt. Trails with actual views. The weather is warm enough to enjoy but cool enough that nobody melts by noon. And kids who actually want to be outside, not because you forced them, but because there is a new waterfall around every corner. Whether your kids are 4...

If you’re a craft beer fan, Bretton Woods Vacations is perfectly located for exploring many of the best breweries in northern New Hampshire. With more than 120 vacation rentals throughout the region, you’re never far from outstanding local beer, great food, and scenic mountain towns.  Schilling Beer Co. – Littleton Housed in a beautifully restored 1797 grist mill along the Ammonoosuc River, Schilling specializes in European-inspired lagers and ales. The...

Few experiences in New England birding match a May morning in the White Mountains. The valley trails are alive with warbler song before the sun clears the ridge, the spruce forests at elevation hold species found nowhere else in the region, and the whole thing is accessible from a vacation rental porch with a cup of coffee and a pair of binoculars. The White Mountains’ elevation range is the key....

If you’ve spent the last 20 minutes googling “what to do in the White Mountains in April,” you’ve probably noticed that most of what comes up is either a generic seasonal page that could describe any mountain region anywhere or a travel forum thread where the answers contradict each other. So let us be direct. April in the White Mountains is genuinely worth the trip. Not in a way that...

The first time you stand at the base of Arethusa Falls in late April, you understand immediately why hikers who visit in spring come back for it every year. The water does not fall. It thunders. The mist hits you before you even see the main drop. The sound is physical. And standing at the base of a 140-160 foot waterfall running at near-maximum volume is one of those outdoor...