Experience the best of White Mountains

The White Mountains rise across northern New Hampshire and into western Maine, a rugged region of granite peaks, deep valleys called notches, waterfalls and dense forest, much of it in the White Mountain National Forest. The Presidential Range holds Mount Washington, at 1,917 metres the highest summit in the north-eastern United States, whose weather is famously violent. A road and a cog railway both climb to the top.

Franconia Notch State Park has the Flume Gorge, Echo Lake and an aerial tramway up Cannon Mountain, and the granite profile of the Old Man of the Mountain, which fell in 2003, once hung above the notch. The Kancamagus Highway, a scenic road from Lincoln to Conway, crosses the range and is crowded in October. Crawford Notch has waterfalls, and the Appalachian Trail runs along the high ridges.

Diners in the valley towns serve pancakes with local maple syrup, and farm stands sell apples and cider doughnuts. The leaves turn red and gold in late September and October, and winter brings skiing and deep snow.