Category Archives: New Hampshire

Weekend in Lincoln, NH

Posted in New Hampshire, Travel Tips, USA by

Here along the coast in Connecticut, we have had a pretty mild winter. I mean, it’s been beyond cold here, but this week was only our fourth snowfall of the season. So last weekend a few friends and I decided to head north to Lincoln, NH, a small town at the base of White Mountain National Forest known for their ski resort, Loon Mountain, and their Ice Castles.

Besides the New Hampshire location there are also ice castles in Midway, UT, Stillwater, MN, and Dillon, CO. You can also check out the Canadian locations in Edmonton and Winnipeg.

When you visit the Ice Castles I would recommend buying your tickets ahead of time as they do sell out. We took one of their last time slots and spent about an hour wander the castles, taking pictures, sliding down the ice slide. I am so happy we decided to go at night. The lights add so much beauty to the structures.

I loved that the Castles were sold out, but it never felt busy. There were definitely people there but you didn’t feel it. I don’t know what it would have been like during the day with kids around. I’m sure the feel at night is much more chill since everyone is just wanting to grab their photos and move on.

Where we ate

The Riverwalk Resort has an amazing Italian restaurant where we ate dinner: La Vista Italian Cuisine Restaurant. A-maz-ing. We started with Maine lobster ravioli, fried risotto balls and a duck confit flatbread special. For dinner I had probably one of the best chicken piccata with fresh pasta I’ve ever had but I was also able to taste their scallop pasta special. Literally delicious! But if you are visiting, without a doubt make a reservation. There aren’t many restaurants in town and this place is packed!

La Vista Italian Cuisine Restaurant also serves Riverwalk Resort’s own winery’s wine, Seven Birches. Before dinner we ran into the tasting room, just down the hall, for a quick tasting of some of their wines. I even ended up buying their Curico, a Chilean Malbec that is amazing. (So much so that I’m drinking a glass right now.)

For breakfast we woke up early and made out way over to Flapjack’s Pancake House, a local breakfast spot that was worth the 45-minute wait. Besides the breakfast special, a chorizo and hot pepper omelet, we also split the cranberry, buttermilk pancake that was absolutely amazing.

After breakfast we headed across the street, to the same parking lot that the Riverwalk Resort is in, to One Love Brewery where we had a quick tasting and headed out of town.

Being that I am not a skier, I think Lincoln is defiantly a place that I would want to visit in the summer. There seems to be a ton of different hikes and places to visit in the White Mountains that a warm weather lover like myself would love. But for now, I am glad to have found Lincoln because of these georgous ice castles.

Tips for Lincoln

  • Buy tickets to the Castles ahead of time! The Saturday we went they sold out and had very little standby availability. Also, if you’re going with a group and buying tickets separately, make sure you pick the same time for entrance.
  • Bring a DD if you’re going out at night: there’s no Uber here. The hotel we stayed in recommended a shuttle service, which seemed to be the only service in town, and it was pricey! I’m talking $5 per person no matter where you go pricey, and the town is maybe a half a mile long. We used it to get to and from dinner and drove ourselves after that.
  • Make dinner reservations. There aren’t many restaurants in town and with everyone wanting a good dinner after a day of skiing or snowboarding, restaurants get busy.
  • Riverwalk Resort looks absolutely amazing, but they had a two night minimum and unfortunately we only had one night to stay there, so the Holiday Inn had to do for this trip. But good news was it was steps outside of the entrance to the Ice Castles.
  • Riverwalk Resort had sleigh rides and ice skating but they closed during our day trip due to the rainy weather.