Where To? (Portsmouth, Hampton, Rye: neighborhoods, high school, living)

[lutarian]

I keep looking at New Hampshire over and over due to the overwhelming beauty.

Is there any place that has sunshine 200 days out of the year and is not TO cold during the winter?

[GregW]

All 26 miles of our seacoast or close inland. Everything else is TOO cold much of the winter.

[fishnfool]

cold is cold. If it's 20 or 10 or 0, it's still cold out. I'm not going walk around in a T shirt in any of those temps so if I just dress accordingly the actual temperature doesn't really matter. There is a major difference between 70 and 90 degrees....if its 30 or 10 I don't notice it much.

We do get spared a lot of weather on the coast though. It buffers alot of the fronts coming in from the west. Hold on though when a good nor'easter hits.

[lutarian]

Thank you. Any towns under 30k on the coast that are very nice?

[Verseau]

Under 30,000 people? I think all the towns on the Seacoast have less than 30k. There are only 4 or 5 cities/towns in the state with more than that.

Even so, Portsmouth, the "heart" of the coastal region, has a dense, vibrant urban center with wonderful historic preservation and lots of amenities in the surrounding area. So it feels relatively large compared to the other towns in the region, which range all the way down to under 2,000 people.

Frankly, I think *all* of the Seacoast towns are nice, but you should wait for the locals' input. In the meantime, here's a map of the area to familiarize yourself with:

[fishnfool]

all the seacoast towns are nice, but not all are affordable. Hampton is your best bet, just stay away from the "beach". That doesn't mean the ocean, it means the strip on the southern end of town. the rest of the town and beaches are great. If you visit you'll know what I mean right away.

Rye and North Hampton are gorgeous but VERY pricey. Portsmouth is about my ideal town (~20k) but pricier than hampton. Not too big but has everything I want...good restaurants, vibrant nightlife, mix of younger and older crowds, gorgeous historic neighborhoods, close to beaches, highway, etc. The rest of the towns on the coast are below 10k but all are on top of each other so the small town is sort of a misnomer. My idea of a small town in Ohio was under 10k and isolated in seas of corn separated from the next form of civilization by 40 miles. People shop only at walmart, live for high school football and the county fair, and know everyone elses business. That is NOT at all like the small towns on the coast. Each town is distinct but basically makes up one big city called the seacoast.

[Bronx_bomber123]

The coast might not get as much snow but you get the absolute bitter hurting cold off the ocean. I was there in Feb and it was so cold in Portsmouth we scratched the entire day trip because we couldn't be outside for more than 10 minutes without it literally being painful on open skin.

[eastcoastgrl]

i have fallen absolutely in love with portsmouth, basically for all the reasons fishnfool mentioned above, its an amazing town. was there years ago, loved it, and then spent a few days there last month and we can really see ourselves living there. i am however afraid of extreme cold, i guess i'm going to have to pay a winter visit there b-4 we do any major looking.