My Favorite Things to do with Young Children in The White Mountains of New Hampshire

After spending several years living in New Hampshire and exploring the The White Mountain area, here are my favorite things to do for families with young children during the summer.

We are settling into our new area up in here in Northern Maine and gearing up for a season of camping, preparing to explore a brand new area. Although, our trips will be fewer this season due to the apartment Jamie is currently renovating, we have one trip a month booked from now until October.

It’s exciting to be venturing into uncharted territory and I’m finding myself seeking the guidance of blogs written by parents with kids like us. Ruby’s on the Road was game changing for me when learning about the Maine State Park Campgrounds. These blogs inspired me to share some of the knowledge I’ve acquired. We’ve spent the past several years exploring the White Mountains of New Hampshire. I know the area quite well and some easy spots for families with young children. I decided to throw together a blog post for anyone who might be searching for spots to go in New Hampshire, just like I’m doing up here in Maine!

These are my favorite things in the White Mountain area that are super easy and doable with young children.

The Kancamagus Highway

Lovingly referred to as “The Kanc”, probably because it’s so hard to pronounce, this is a 35ish mile scenic road (honesty not quite sure on the exact mileage but it’s somewhere around that number) that stretches from Conway, New Hampshire all the way to Lincoln. The drive takes about one hour if you don’t stop, but that’s not the point. You’re going to need to stop. One of our favorite things to do is drive up along the Kanc, enjoy the stunning views, then find one of the rivers along the way to play, splash, swim and cool off in then have a picnic.

The Kanc gets busy, but it’s easy to drive just a bit out of the way from the popular spots and easily find a place along the river that is empty. We park along the road where it is safe and walk down until we find a gorgeous spot, some with tiny sandy beaches, mountains in the background and always a crystal clear ice cold river. We’ve spent many afternoons in places like this….exploring the tiny waterfalls and playing on the rocks. The kids turn giant rocks into their own personal water slide. A few of my favorite things to do with young children in the White Mountains of New Hampshire are located directly off of the Kanc.

Sabbaday Falls

Sabbaday Falls is a short, very kids friendly hike (.7 miles round trip) on the Kancamagus Highway that follows a rushing stream until opening up to railed stairs that give you a view of a beautiful waterfall. There’s also a bridge that allows you to cross and walk right by the waterfall too. Our kids loved this. There’s also plenty of spots at the river at the bottom for kids to splash and play in. Parking is easy and five dollars, but the parking pass is good at any of the stops along the Kanc for the whole day you purchase it. 

Jigger Johnson Campground

This is a no reservation campsite along the Kancamagus Highway and a perfect spot to set up as a home base while exploring all the Kanc has to offer.

The spots here are for the most part great; mostly private, shaded with woods surrounding. Some sites have the added benefit of being close to the river. The river here is great for kids to swim in. There are spots only a short walk from the campsites that have sandy beach areas. We’ve also started at the top of the campground’s access to the river and floated down to the bottom. It’s perfect to do it here with small children as the river is very gentle and the perfect short distance for small kids.

Covered Bridge Campground

The Covered Bridge Campground in Albany New Hampshire located directly off of the Kancamagus High Way. This campground is a reservable campground making it another excellent option for a home base when exploring the Kanc. We’ve stayed a site number 34. It was a large, mostly private site surrounded by trees. There is a river within walking distance from the campground that is perfect for exploring with young children. There is also a hike within walking distance of the campground that I’ve read is very kid friendly also.

North Conway, New Hampshire and Jackson, New Hampshire

We absolutely love both the North Conway and Jackson New Hampshire area, both in the summer and in the winter. I’m lumping them together because they are only about 10-15 minutes away from each other. They have mountains, lakes, rivers, waterfalls and of course Storyland (see below) all in the surrounding area (all within 30 minutes). There is also shopping and scenic train rides. We’ve stayed at a variety of places each time we’ve visited.

My top three hotels with young children are The Eagle Mountain House in Jackson (amazing pool), Golden Apple Inn in Glenn New Hampshire (also great pool and really nice playground too) and Hampton Inn and Suites in North Conway (because they have a pretty sweet small (perfect for young kids) water park area free to use when staying at the hotel.

Tuckerman’s Restaurant and Tavern is my favorite restaurant in the North Conway area. I am also a big fan of the restaurant inside of the The Eagle Mountain House, Eagle Landing Tavern. The BEST meal I’ve ever eaten in my whole life from here. Both places are super kid friendly.

Storyland

Storyland is an adorable theme park located just outside of North Conway and Jackson in Glenn, New Hampshire. It is great for young kids and a large amount of rides are for the whole family with no height restrictions. We have done an annual trip most years since Anika turned one and it’s one of my favorite days of the summer. 

Lincoln, New Hampshire

Headed to the other side of the White Mountains is Lincoln, New Hampshire. Not only is this area gorgeous, there is so much to do. Whether you like hiking or shopping or camping or hotels this area has it all. We just started to explore it the last couple of summers in New Hampshire. Franconia Notch has so much, the drive just to get there is gorgeous. The Flume Gorge is perfect for young kids.

Lost River Valley Campground

The Lost River Valley Campground, located in North Woodstock New Hampshire (near Lincoln) is a gem. We’ve stayed at site 66 and 166. Both were great with enough trees in between to provide privacy. They are also directly on the river, providing your kids with their own campground swimming/wadding pool.

Besides having a river at our campsite there is also a pirate ship playground. So really do you need anything more then that to entertain young kids?

The kids spent hours while we were here playing in the water, collecting rocks and splashing through the tiny waterfalls. The river at our campsites were mostly shaded with occasional sun hitting all the right spots. 

There is also the Lost River Valley Campground store with affordable treats.

Littleton, New Hampshire

Littleton is where Elenor Hodgdon Porter was born, the writer of the book Pollyanna and they have fully embraced this. It’s the “be glad town” with bright rainbow colored stairs and upside down umbrellas, “stop look and wave” directions in their crosswalk and musical instruments scattered about for people to stop and play as they wish. Seriously, there are multiple pianos for people to play…and they did. While there I waited with our dog outside for the rest of my crew, while they went in Chutters Candy Counter, the longest candy counter in the world. A man stopped by a near by piano and played one of the best renditions of Elton John’s Benny and the Jett’s I’ve ever heard. Others agreed as cars driving by cheered him on and groups of people stopped to listen. This town has a vibe…a good one. Definitely come and explore it.