The tasting room with a fire going. The bookstore that doesn't mind if you stay two hours. The museum nobody on TripAdvisor mentions. Rain on a lake is one of the better problems to have.
Gilford taphouse with sixteen local drafts and thirteen lanes of axe throwing built into the same room — five to ten minutes of coach-led safety instruction before anyone picks up a hatchet. Elevated pub menu beyond the usual basket of fries. Book the throwing lane ahead on a weekend; walk in for just the bar.
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.
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.