Passport/Visa Requirements: Beginning January 2007, all U.S. citizens must have a passport when traveling by air to or from Bermuda, Canada, the Caribbean, Central and South America and Mexico. Citizens of Canada, Mexico and the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda also must have a passport or other designated secure document to enter the U.S.
Beginning 1 June 2009, passports are required for land crossings at the Canadian and Mexican borders with the U.S. and for cruise passengers returning to the U.S. from Mexico, the Caribbean, Canada or Bermuda.
Reconfirm travel-document requirements with your carrier prior to departure.
Population: 1,299,500.
Languages: English..
Predominant Religions: Christian (Protestant, Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic), Jewish..
Time Zone: 5 hours behind Greenwich Mean Time (-5 GMT). Daylight Saving Time is observed from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November.
Voltage Requirements: 110 volts.
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As is true in most states, debit and credit cards rule in New Hampshire, and ATMs abound. Although traveler's checks are accepted in high-tourist areas, clerks in other locations may never have come across them before. In most establishments, however, even in restaurants, personal checks will be accepted with a valid driver's license.
For changing money, avoid those storefront establishments in the inner-city areas in Nashua and Manchester. Go to a bank, but pick the main branch of a large bank. Most of the smaller banks don't keep foreign currency on hand. If you are coming into the area through a major airport, it may be more convenient to exchange cash there.
New Hampshire has no sales or state income tax. There is an 8% tax on meals and hotels.
New Hampshire is a year-round destination, but only for those who enjoy winter snow and cold. As in most of New England, the weather is unpredictable, but there are four distinct seasons. The mountains are generally cooler and wetter than the rest of the state. Unless you're intrested in winter sports, you'll want to visit between late spring and fall, when days are warm and nights cool. Summer can be humid but is comfortable for the most part. Expect July to produce some days with temperatures above 90 F/32 C and nights with lows in the 50s F/10-15 C.
Early fall is our favorite time, when the leaves have started to turn colors, and other attractions are still available (some sights close during the winter). Expect warm to brisk days and cool nights in the fall (43-70 F/6-21 C, cooler in the mountains). Take along a warm sweater and a jacket.
Winter sees flocks of skiers. Though snowfall in any one area varies from year to year, there's usually snow cover all winter inland, with average snowfall 50-70 in/127-178 cm in the south and 60-100 in/152-254 cm in the north. January temperatures range from lows of 5 F/-15 C to highs of 31 F/-2 C, though most places experience some days below 0 F/-18 C. Watch for severe windchill: At the summit of Mount Washington (not a place most people will want to visit in the winter), temperatures can go down to -100 F/-73 C.
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If you're visiting New Hampshire in the winter, dress in layers. Even if it's frigid outside, the heat will likely be cranked up inside a building. And please don't forget hats and gloves or mittens—frostbite happens. In the summer it can be very hot and humid. Take what you would for a tropical climate, but throw in a wrap, sweater or jacket in case the temperatures drop at night.
Casual is really the word in New Hampshire. It's a rare occasion when formal wear or even a suitcoat and tie are required. It's not unusual in most restaurants to find customers in sundresses, shorts or capris in the summer and jeans or sweatclothes in the winter. New Hampshire's dress-up is other places' business attire.
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Most hotels and resorts have Internet access, but not all—not even many—are Wi-Fi yet. In fact, ask if they're Wi-Fi ready, and you're likely to be met with a blank stare. We've found in some places that do advertise Wi-Fi that it doesn't always work, so have a backup plan if it's an important issue.
There are Internet sites that list hot spots, and local libraries are usually more than accommodating. Of course, there are lots of Barnes & Nobles, Starbucks and Paneras in the bigger cities. Starbucks and Barnes & Noble have Wi-Fi, but it costs. Panera is free.
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The Union Leader, published in Manchester, is the only statewide newspaper, but the Boston Globe and The New York Times are available just about everywhere. There are also excellent local newspapers—such as the Nashua Telegraph, the Portsmouth Herald, the Keene Sentinel and the Concord Monitor—as well as some good free weeklies, such as the Hippo Press (distributed in several locations around New Hampshire).
Just because you've taken your cell phone to New Hampshire doesn't mean it will work everywhere in the state. Southern New Hampshire has a lot of cell towers, but even just north of Concord there are many dead zones. It's not just the lack of towers, however; the mountains interfere with reception. We suggest getting prepaid phone cards for use in hotels or phone booths, which are still around in some places.
But this is also New Hampshire, and if you're really in need of a phone, just ask someone. They're likely to let you use theirs—even their cell phones—if it works and yours doesn't.
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Manchester Airport (MHT) is the state's largest. The airports in Lebanon and Keene are served only by regional carriers. Travelers to New Hampshire often fly into Boston's Logan International Airport (BOS), although more and more major airlines have direct flights to Manchester from other cities. From Boston, connections can be made to Manchester and Portsmouth (buses run to Portsmouth several times daily). We recommend renting a car at Logan or Manchester and making a driving tour of New Hampshire. Major car-rental companies maintain branches at the airports.
Amtrak service has The Downeaster, which stops in Dover, Durham and Exeter, New Hampshire, as it makes five round trips from Portland, Maine, to Boston each day. The Vermonter, which runs between St. Albans, Vermont, and Washington, D.C., has only one New Hampshire stop—at Claremont station. Greyhound provides bus service between cities in New Hampshire and to points outside the state.
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| Additional Reading | Top |
Peyton Place by Grace Metalious. Set in the Lakes Region and considered quite scandalous in its day, it's a good portrait of the complex, sometimes petty interactions of small-town life.
Our Town by Thornton Wilder. The Pulitzer-Prize-winning play (later a movie and performed since by innumerable school and local groups) is set in a fictionalized Peterborough.
Collected Poems by Robert Frost. The life and landscape of rural New England, by a four-time Pulitzer Prize-winner.
String Too Short to Be Saved: Recollections of Summers on a New England Farm by Donald Hall. A memoir of the author's grandfather and of life on a small New Hampshire farm.
The Dogs of March by Ernest Hebert. Ostensibly a children's book, it examines change vs. status quo, flatlanders vs. natives. Hebert also has written a popular series of novels set in the fictionalized town of Darby.
Little Red Riding Hood by Elizabeth Orton Jones. Her version of the illustrations was inspired by a house still open to the public in Mason.
Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall. Hall is now the U.S. Poet Laureate.
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New Hampshire Office of Travel and Tourism Development, Box 1856, Concord, NH 03302-1856. Phone 603-271-2343. Toll-free 800-386-4664. http://www.visitnh.gov.
The state operates 17 tourism centers, most along major roads and highways. Most stay open year-round and have knowledgeable representatives and plenty of brochures and maps.
