I just came back from the White Mountains. We stayed in Lincoln, NH, which was very nice and would recommend staying there. The locals even say that Lincoln is the new Bethlehem...
Things to do:
Almost everything is outdoors so you'll need nice weather.
* Mt Washington, beautiful views from the highest point in the northeast - 6288 ft.. We came on a sunny day and had 80 mile visibility. There are several ways to get to the summit:
**Mt. Washington Auto Rd; Drive yourself ( $23 + 8 per pass.) or take the stage couch.
**The Cog Railway.
**Hike.
Make sure to check the weather at the summit before you go up. Also, the Auto rd is very narrow with no guardrail, and can be quite scary driving up. They don't recommend it if you are afraid of heights (I am, and still had an excellent time).
*Glen Ellis Falls. It's about a 10 min. drive from the M.W. Auto rd. A short easy hike down the Ellis river brings you to a beautiful 60 ft. falls ($3).
*Kancamagus Scenic Byway. Passes through the heart of the white mountains with beautiful scenery. At some point you see a sign that says "No Gas Next 32 Miles". There is no cell coverage either. There are several lookout places to stop and take in the view. Also you have a good number of hikes with falls, and several camping and picknick areas. The hikes are easy for most although there is quite a bit of climbing to do. You'd have to be very careful with small kids.
Among the places we hiked there:
**Sabbaday Falls.
**Rocky Gorge.
Right near Lincoln you have Francania Notch. In there you have, aside from magnificent scenery,
*The Flume Gorge. A 0.3 mile hike up the flume that takes you to a 90 foot falls (in several stages, not one big one). You walk bet. a gorge that gets continuously narrower (12 ft.) and higher (60 ft). This is one of the best things to to IMO. We saw people with kids and the elderly doing the hike. Charge is $13 per person. You can also upgrade the tickets to take a cable car about 4000+ ft into the mountains which is supposed to be very nice but we did not do it because the mountains were in a cloud at that point. There are also several other places to take a cable car up nearby.
*There is the "Old Man of the Mountain which collapsed in 2003 but people still go to see the spot were it once stood.
*Clarks Trading Post, in Lincoln. They have many things to do especially for kids. They have black bears putting on shows and Segways among many other things.
*Mountain Sliding.
*The Conway scenic railroad.
*ATV's in Berlin, and Lincoln. The one in Berlin said he charged $75 for two hours min.. The one in Lincoln charged $79 for a one hour guided tour. Does anyone know if these prices are good? We did neither.
People are generally very nice and helpful there.
We stayed in the Franconia Notch Motel in Lincoln. they had nice clean rooms, AC, mini fridge and microwave, and best of all, a river right in back that can be seen through the window. We climbed the rocks and chilled right in the middle of the river. They motel is a bit dated but everything is great there. We brought all our food from home.
Thanks to Dan I got a copy of the Lonely Planet guide to New England which is were we got most of our ideas from, including the motel. I also took Frommer's and Eyewitness books but Lonely Planet was all we needed.
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