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So, this would probably spark debate if posted in the main forum room. To me though, having looked at pictures of many mountains and traveling around a great deal, I would say that the White Mountains are likely the best stretch of Mountain Scenery east of the Rockies (those are just different, so hard to compare), with Katahdin in Maine probably being the superlative singular mountain. That being said, is there one town in particular that you would recommend for this criteria? Northeastern Historic (almost small town Europe type charm and active downtown) Think: Burlington, Charlottesville, combined with being right at the edge of, essentially, a "Gateway to the Whites" (trails on edge of town, etc.) Which place combines these best? Littleton? Hanover? Thanks in advance.
Hanover's claim to fame is being home to Dartmouth and its character is "college town." Its downtown is pretty active but it's more trendy and not really old world-ish, and it's definitely not a "Gateway to the Whites." Littleton has a small town atmosphere, although not so much European, and it's definitely more of a "Gateway to the Whites." A lot of the towns that are far enough north to be considered mountain gateways are either too small (i.e. population <2000) to have much of an active downtown or are too touristy because they're also gateways to the ski areas.
You should definitely spend a few days here driving around. You could hit the main streets of all the small towns in the White Mtn area in less than a week. Note there are a lot of other historic towns in the state, like Portsmouth, and many, many outdoorsy towns.
North Conway would be considered the gateway to the white mountains but it is no way european. Google North Conway images, there are many scenic pictures but they are deceiving, the town is more strip malls, stand alone restaurants and hotels than scenic village. This is from someone who loves North Conway and vacations there every year.
Market square in portsmouth is the closest you will find to European in the northeast. Think northern europe - more munich, Prague, lille or even milan to a lesser extent; not Paris or rome.
Edit - I am not saying portsmouth is anywhere near the size of any of the above mentioned cities, rather standing in market square on a Saturday feels more like the marienplatz or the square in Prague than anywhere else I have been in the northeast
In my opinion, the further north of the Lakes Region, the less old world/NH charm you will find.
Conway/N. Conway or Lincoln/Woodstock are devoid of any charm whatsoever.
I haven't had extensive experience in the Monadnock area, but the few times I've been around there, I thought it was more NHish than up around the Whites.
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