Best Attractions for Kids in the White Mountains

No matter where you are in New Hampshire’s White Mountains, there is plenty to keep kids happy in the summer.

Storyland

Storyland in Glen isn’t just for little ones, although they will love riding a pumpkin coach up to Cinderella’s Castle, spinning around on Alice’s teacup ride and steering swan boats around the pond. Older kids will find full-scale amusement park rides and everyone enjoys the safari ride through the jungle. One of the bonuses here is the ability to bring a picnic lunch and stow it away in the on-site lockers. Everything here is family-friendly, with thoughtful details like free strollers and a kennel for pets.

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Clark’s Trading Post

On the Western side of the White Mountains, you’ll find more than the famous bears at Clark’s Trading Post in North Woodstock, a family-run park that offers a steam train ride, boat rides, wacky fun houses and museums along with the trained bear shows. Animal lovers can rest easy knowing these are some of the happiest, healthiest creatures in captivity. While here, don’t miss the acrobatic and contortionist routines by international circus performers.

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© Stillman Rogers

Whale’s Tale Waterpark

Whale’s Tale Waterpark in Lincoln is the place to go on a hot day, when kids and adults can spend the day in the giant wave pool, on water slides or floating down the lazy river. Green lawns provide plenty of lounge space in sun and shade; you’re welcome to bring your own cooler or several cafés provide kid-friendly lunch options.

Polar Caves

© Stillman Rogers

Hot days are also a perfect time to explore the Polar Caves in Plymouth, where you can find patches of ice hidden among the rocks even in the middle of July. Retreating glaciers scraped loose an entire mountainside, tossing boulders into a jumble of narrow passages and deep caves. While spelunking, the kids will hardly notice they’re learning plenty about history, with audio narration explaining the former uses of the caves by Native Americans, runaway slaves and Prohibition-era smugglers. Be sure to wear good shoes and bring carriers for infants — strollers are no match for the narrow stairs that lead from cave to cave. Kids love the small zoo and duck pond here, too. Most can be hand-fed the grains available from inexpensive vending machines around the park.

Lost River Gorge

The glaciers that once covered the White Mountains with ice more than a mile thick left other geologic fun-houses, too, as they scraped and gouged the granite beneath them. Kids can wiggle through narrow passages and follow a river underground at Lost River Gorge, created as moving ice dislodged giant chunks of granite and created a deep channel of tumbled rocks that hid the river.

You can get a season pass that includes these and several other White Mountain attractions, including the Hobo Railroad, Loon Mountain’s Summit Skyride and the Cannon Mountain Aerial Tramway. Most attractions are open on weekends until mid-June, then daily throughout the summer.