Road trips — the drive in

Road trips to the White Mountains

Driving up for the weekend? Here is the route from your city — the drive time, the stops worth making, and how to spend the days once you arrive.

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Photo: “Kancamagus Highway October 2021 HDR” by King of Hearts, CC BY-SA 4.0. Enhanced by Cavmir (light, sky and colour changed; cropped). This enhanced version is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Where to start

The last turn is always the same

Wherever you start, the drive funnels onto Interstate 93 North to Exit 32 for Lincoln — and the lodge is 5 min past it. These guides plan the rest: the route, the traffic to beat, the good stops, and the weekend at the end.

Road Trips

The drives in, city by city

~2 hours

From Boston, MA

It is one of the easiest mountain drives in the country: north on I-93 and basically nothing else, about two hours door to door.

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Skiers on the slopes at Loon Mountain ski resort, Lincoln, New Hampshire

~1.25 hours

From Manchester, NH

The closest real airport to the mountains is an hour away. Fly into Manchester, rent a car, and be in Lincoln before you'd have cleared the rental line at Logan.

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Peak fall foliage in the White Mountains near Lincoln NH

~2 hours

From Portland, ME

The prettiest approach to Lincoln comes from the east — over the height of land and, if you time it right, straight down the Kancamagus into town.

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Mount Lafayette and Eagle Cliff above Franconia Notch in October color, seen from Bald Mountain

~3.25 hours

From Hartford, CT

A half-day's drive that trades Connecticut's suburbs for the top of New Hampshire — and ends, like all of them, on I-93 North.

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~3 hours

From Providence, RI

Skirt Boston, get on I-93, and climb — about three hours from Rhode Island to the top of New Hampshire.

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The White Mountains above Lincoln, New Hampshire

~5 hours

From New York City

It's a real drive — about five hours — but it ends somewhere far from the city, and the last hour is the White Mountains rising in the windshield.

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Winter in the White Mountains near Franconia Notch

~3.75 hours

From Montreal, QC

South through the Eastern Townships, across the border, and down into New Hampshire — about four hours, passport included.

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The red Flume Covered Bridge over the Pemigewasset River in fall, Franconia Notch State Park

~1.5 hours

From Nashua, NH

Ninety-seven miles of Everett Turnpike and I-93 North, an hour and a half in normal traffic, and you trade the Gate City for the mouth of Franconia Notch.

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The Basin, a granite pothole on the Pemigewasset River, Franconia Notch

~1 hour

From Concord, NH

Sixty-three miles of I-93 North from the State House to the mouth of the Kancamagus. It is barely a drive — which is exactly the point.

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The view from Artist Bluff over Echo Lake and Cannon Mountain, Franconia Notch

~2.5 hours

From Worcester, MA

About 154 miles and two and a half hours — and the smart route never touches the city. Up I-190 and I-495 to I-93, then north into the notch.

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Avalanche Falls cascading through the granite walls of Flume Gorge, Franconia Notch State Park

~2 hours

From Portsmouth & the Seacoast

About 110 miles and two hours, ocean to mountains, across the middle of the state on Route 4 and I-93. New Hampshire's whole range in one drive.

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A tamarack turning gold in the bog on the shore of Lonesome Lake in October

~2.25 hours

From Burlington, VT

About 101 miles and two and a quarter hours — I-89 down the spine of Vermont, then the back door into the White Mountains over Kinsman Notch.

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October color at the Hancock Overlook on the Kancamagus Highway

~3.5 hours

From Springfield, MA

About 178 miles: I-91 North up the Connecticut River, then across into New Hampshire — three and a half to four hours, and the last of it is the good part.

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~4 hours

From Albany, NY

About 194 miles and four hours: east across Vermont on the two-lane routes or the interstates, then over the notch into Lincoln. Two ranges for the price of one.

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~4.5 hours

From New Haven, CT

About 239 miles and four and a half hours. The whole trick is leaving the coastal crush behind on I-91 North instead of fighting through Boston.

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~5 hours

From Fairfield County, CT

Stamford, Greenwich, Norwalk, Westport — about 280 miles and five hours either way you cut it. The route choice, the timing, and the reason to go anyway.

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Where to stay