Photo: EgorovaSvetlana / CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
New Hampshire's largest lake runs about 21 miles long, covers 69 square miles, and holds at least 258 islands. Most first visits land at Weirs Beach in Laconia, where a 1,300-foot boardwalk rebuilt after the 2008 floods fronts the water and arcades, bumper cars, and fried dough stack up across Lakeside Avenue. The M/S Mount Washington docks mid-boardwalk for a narrated scenic loop of roughly two and a half hours, calling at Wolfeboro, Meredith, Center Harbor, and Alton Bay on rotating days. On the east shore, Wolfeboro has billed itself America's oldest summer resort since Governor John Wentworth built his lake estate there in the 1760s, and its Main Street runs quieter than the Weirs. Cruises sail May into October; July and August fill the lots, the weeks after Labor Day are the sweet spot, and lakeside foliage peaks in early to mid October. Endicott Rock Park parking is metered hourly in season.
Others worth the drive in New Hampshire.
