The boat launch with the deepest channel. The trail to the gorge. The farm stand that takes Venmo. The icon you've heard of and the one you haven't.
The hike most people mean when they say they hiked at the lake — a 3-to-4-mile round trip to a rocky, treeless summit with a close-up, wide-open view down the length of Winnipesaukee. The Route 11 trailhead lot fills by mid-morning on a summer weekend; expect to park on the shoulder if you're not there early. The Boulder Loop climbs steep and rocky; the Brook Trail is gentler but runs wet.
The only state-owned sandy beach directly on Lake Winnipesaukee — 600 feet of shoreline in Gilford with views across to the Sandwich and Ossipee ranges. Accessible bathhouse, a small park store, and a car-top launch area beside the beach for kayaks and canoes. Quieter than the town beaches on the east shore, and the one state park where you can actually swim in this lake.
Fifty-acre lifeguarded beach on Lake Wentworth rather than Winnipesaukee itself, a short drive from downtown Wolfeboro — sandy bottom, picnic tables, grills, and a group-use area that makes it workable for a family reunion. Calmer water than the big lake, which matters with younger kids.
Downtown Wolfeboro's waterfront park, home to a summer concert series at the bandstand running June through August and a front-row seat for watching the boat traffic move in and out of the docks. No admission, no schedule to plan around beyond checking concert nights. The easiest free hour in town.
Five-minute walk from the Route 109 parking area in Tuftonboro to an 80-foot fire tower with an enclosed cab at the top — recent tree clearing has opened up the view of the lake and the Belknap Range considerably. Short enough to do with kids in tow, and quiet compared to the Mount Major crowds a few miles south.
A 1.5-mile trail with a 740-foot vertical rise from the Gilford trailhead, past the high school and up Belknap Mountain Road to the parking area. Shorter and steeper than Mount Major, with a fire tower at the top and views that take in the lake and the ski trails at Gunstock below.
Ski hill in winter, mountain-bike and hiking trail network the rest of the year, with lake views from the upper trails that rival Mount Major without the parking-lot competition. The zip line and mountain coaster round out the warm-weather side for anyone traveling with kids who've had enough of the beach.
Free public beach on Wolfeboro Bay off Route 28, smaller and more active-feeling than Wentworth since it sits right on the main lake with boat traffic passing close by. No admission fee and no lifeguard chair to speak of most days — check conditions before letting younger kids swim unsupervised.
The actual sand, separate from the boardwalk behind it — a lifeguarded swimming area that gets crowded fast on a hot July day given how much foot traffic the boardwalk funnels past it. Best early, before the arcade crowd spills over toward the water in the afternoon.
Thursday market at The Nick Recreation Park on Route 28, bringing together more than thirty local vendors from late spring through early fall. Produce, baked goods, and prepared food without the boardwalk crowd. Go early for anything baked; the popular tables sell through before the market's midpoint.
One of the lake's largest rental fleets — wakeboard boats, pontoons, jet skis — running May through October out of Meredith. New model years turn over often enough that the boats don't feel like the rental-fleet version of the real thing. Reserve ahead for a July Saturday; walk-up availability disappears fast.
The oldest marina on Lake Winnipesaukee, founded in 1903 by Nathaniel Goodhue and Chester Hawkins on Lovejoy Sands Road in Meredith. Full-service for anyone keeping a boat in a slip for the season rather than trailering in for the day. More than a century under the same name tells you what the service record looks like.
Forty-one boats in the rental fleet at the Weirs channel — pontoons, bowriders, deck boats — the largest and newest rental operation on the lake by their own count. Formerly Channel Marine under different ownership; North Water Marine, formerly Thurston's, sits just down the channel with a smaller fleet as the backup option. Ask for a deck boat if the group's more than six people.
Wolfeboro-based rental operator specializing in wakesurf boats and full-day pontoon rentals, with captained charters available for anyone who'd rather not run the boat themselves. The wakesurf-specific fleet is the reason to call here instead of a general marina if that's the actual plan for the day.
Boat launch and full-service yard on Varney Point Road in Gilford, with a posted fee scaled to boat and trailer size. Less crowded than the free state ramps on a summer Saturday, which is worth the few dollars if you're launching mid-morning instead of at dawn.
Free state launch at the southern tip of the lake where Routes 11 and 28A meet — the largest ramp on this end, with parking to match. No fee, which means it fills first on a holiday weekend; get there before nine for one of the closer spots.
Ramp just east of the Route 11 bridge in Alton Bay with a $15–20 launch fee — busier than the free state ramp on a bad-weather day when everyone consolidates onto the one working ramp. Good backup when the free ramp's lot is already full by mid-morning.
Family-owned full-service marina on Main Street in Alton Bay — seasonal slip rentals, winter storage, and dock service for owners keeping a boat on the south end rather than trailering in. The practical counterpart to the free state ramp two minutes away for anyone who wants a season-long slip instead of a daily launch.
Full-service dealership and marina on the lake's quiet northeast shore, running for more than seventy years and now spread across eighty slips and four parcels. Boat sales and service more than a rental counter — the stop for an owner rather than a weekend renter, and a marker for how much less developed this stretch of shoreline is than Weirs Beach or Wolfeboro.
The lake's flagship cruise ship, docked at Weirs Beach and running scenic tours at 10, 12:30, and 3 from late May through October, plus dinner and brunch cruises with live music some evenings. The vessel has been rebuilt and lengthened more than once since it first went into service — the one tourist-track outing on the lake actually worth doing, even if you live here.
Guinness World Records' largest arcade in the world — more than 600 games running from 1970s cabinets through modern redemption machines, plus twenty lanes of bowling, indoor mini golf, and cash bingo. Opened in 1952 above an arcade building across from the boardwalk before moving to its current Route 3 home in 1964. Budget half a day if the kids are along; the classic-arcade section alone eats an hour.
Sixteen-room Arts and Crafts mansion built in 1914 by shoe-industry retiree Tom Plant, up in the Ossipee Mountains above Moultonborough with the lake spread out below the terrace. Twenty-eight miles of trails, waterfalls, and carriage roads surround the house, maintained by the Lakes Region Conservation Trust. Open seasonally, roughly late May through mid-October — confirm the current calendar before driving up.
Ice cream and candy shop on Route 3 in Weirs Beach, running as a family business since Otto Keller took over a Laconia candy store in 1906 and started making ice cream with lake ice and rock salt in the 1920s. The self-serve sundae smorgasbord, introduced when the family opened this location in 1966, is still the reason people cross town for dessert. The candy room was added in the 1970s and hasn't changed much since.
Vintage rail cars running the old Boston, Concord & Montreal line along the lake's western shore — a two-hour round trip from the Meredith station, a shorter one-hour version boarding at the Weirs Beach ticket booth by the boardwalk. Snacks and ice cream sold on board. A rainy-morning plan that still delivers lake views without getting anyone wet.
WWII history museum on Center Street in Wolfeboro, built around more than twenty running military vehicles and a walk-through recreation of the 1940s home front. Open seasonally, May through October, with shorter Sunday hours. The rainy-day answer in Wolfeboro that isn't a tasting room — plan on ninety minutes if the kids are into the tanks.
The oldest floating post office in the country — a 1945 Navy supply boat that's delivered mail to the lake's islands since 1969, out of the same Weirs Beach dock as the Mount Washington. Mid-June through mid-September, Monday through Saturday, two runs a day to nine island stops. Buy a postcard on board and get it stamped with the Sophie C.'s own postmark.
A 9,000-seat outdoor amphitheater in Gilford, on the lake's south shore — northern New England's main touring-concert stop, not a lake attraction in the boating sense, but the reason a summer week here sometimes includes a headliner instead of just a boat day. Check the season schedule before booking a stay around it; shows run roughly May through September.
Small museum in Wolfeboro (with a second site in Moultonborough) tracing the lake's wooden-boat era — restored Hacker-Crafts and antique runabouts rather than a generic maritime collection. Runs the Millie B tour, a 28-foot mahogany Hacker-Craft replica, out of the Wolfeboro Town Docks; museum admission is included with the boat ride. Open by appointment in the Wolfeboro location through the season — call ahead.