Experience the best of Portsmouth

Portsmouth sits on the Piscataqua River a few kilometres from the Atlantic, on the border with Maine, and has been a port since the 1620s. Brick and clapboard buildings of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries line Market Square and the streets around it, and Strawbery Banke Museum preserves a whole waterfront neighbourhood of historic houses, gardens and workshops, named for the wild strawberries early settlers found here.

Prescott Park's waterfront gardens host summer concerts, and historic houses such as the John Paul Jones House and the Wentworth-Gardner House can be visited. Portsmouth Naval Shipyard lies on islands across the river in Maine, and the Isles of Shoals, nine rocky islands offshore, are reached by boat. Odiorne Point State Park and the lighthouse at New Castle stand on the coast, and Hampton Beach lies to the south.

Lobster, fried clams and local oysters are served in brick-walled restaurants by the water, and craft breweries have settled in old warehouses. Sea breezes keep summer evenings comfortable, and the autumn light is clear and bright.