10 Best Things to Do in Hanover, NH

By VI Staff on July 1, 2020 - Updated

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The city of Hanover, New Hampshire is full of the charm, culture, history, and beauty for which New England has become widely known. Situated by the Connecticut River within the state’s scenic Upper Valley, Hanover is a great destination for both outdoor adventure and a weekend getaway. Tourists and locals alike can spend an afternoon canoeing or kayaking down the river, take a tour of Dartmouth College or the Hood Museum of Art, or catch a show at the Hopkins Center for the Arts. There are also several outdoor recreation opportunities, shops, and restaurants to try as well. CDC information for travelers. Hours/availability may have changed.

1.Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College is a world-renowned university that’s part of the famed Ivy League. Located just across the road from the Hanover Inn, it’s easy for visitors to take a few hours and explore the historic campus. The private liberal arts Dartmouth College is set on more than 250 acres of land, surrounded by scenic landscapes, winding rivers, and the White Mountains. Activities on the campus include taking a tour of the buildings, rooting for Dartmouth’s Big Green at one of the exciting athletics events, playing a round of golf at the Hanover Country Club, and skiing at the Dartmouth Skiway.

Hanover, NH 03755, Phone: 603-646-1110

2.Hood Museum of Art

When it was accredited in 1990, the Hood Museum of Art was considered to be an excellent example of university and college museums. The collection art features at the art museum includes a wide variety of media types, time periods, and cultures. The Hood Museum of Art has also undergone a renovation and physical expansion in order to provide additional galleries, object-study classrooms, and much more. Art exhibits at the museum include displays of sculpture, ceramics, print and photography, paintings, and mixed media. The Hood Museum is open Wednesday through Sunday and there is no admission fee.

6 E Wheelock St, Hanover, NH 03755, Phone: 603-646-2808

3.Baker-Berry Library at Dartmouth College

The Baker-Berry Library at Dartmouth College first opened its doors back in 1928 with funds from George Fisher Baker with a collection of 240,000 volumes. Visitors can take a look at the College History Room, a permanent exhibit at the main hall’s west end. The room features portraits of the College’s presidents and a replica of the Dartmouth College charter, as well as changing exhibitions of photographs and documents. The Baker-Berry Library also includes the Woodward Room on the building’s Mezzanine level, dedicated to the College’s first professor of natural philosophy and mathematics and its first librarian.

6025 Baker-Berry Library, Hanover, NH 03755, Phone: 603-646-2567

4.Hopkins Center for the Arts

Established in 1962, the Hopkins Center for the Arts was designed by the same architect behind New York CIty’s renowned Lincoln Center, Wallace Harrison. Every year, the Hopkins Center hosts more than one hundred theater productions, concerts, film screenings, and live performances, as well as hosting studio art exhibitions, student workshops, dance ensembles, and music ensembles, including the Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra and the Dartmouth College Gospel Choir. Home to Dartmouth College’s music and drama departments, the Hopkins Center for the Arts is also easily accessible for guests at the Hanover Inn thanks to its location right next door.

2 East Wheelock Street, Hanover, NH 03755, Phone: 603-646-2422

5.Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park

Located on the campus of Dartmouth College, the Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park is the home field of the Big Green baseball team of Dartmouth College, which is a team in the county’s NCAA Division I Ivy League. The Red Rolfe Field stadium is able to hold around two thousand spectators for baseball games and the field is named after Red Rolfe, former player for the New York Yankees, Dartmouth Class of 1931, and the athletic director at Dartmouth from 1954 until 1967. The Red Rolfe Field at Biondi Park was ranked by Eric Sorenson as Division I baseball’s third best small venue.

Crosby Street, Hanover, NH 03755, Phone: 603-646-1110

6.Nugget Theater

The Nugget Theater is a quaint movie theater with just four screens that shows new releases. The movie house first opened its doors back in 1916 in a very simple setting, but today, the Nugget Theater now shows movies in 3D and is fully digital, just like its much larger competitors. For anyone wanting to catch a movie at the Nugget Theater in Hanover, New Hampshire, the movies and times are updated on Tuesdays and can be checked either on the movie theater’s website or in the theater’s weekly Tuesday email. Tickets can be purchased in advance online.

57 South Main St, Hanover, NH 03755, Phone: 603-643-2769

7.Morano Gelato

Morano Gelato in Hanover is a New England-based small gelato company that dedicates itself to the promotion of the “art of gelato-making” through producing concentrated, small batches of authentic Italian-style gelato. In 2001, the gelato shop opened on Main Street next to the city’s Nugget Theater and features a menu that includes hot chocolate and Italian espresso in addition to its thirteen different flavors of gelato, all made on-site every morning. Morano Gelato also sources its ingredients from local businesses and farms in the community, committed to serving the highest quality and freshest product, and creates community-specific flavors of gelato.

57 South Main St, Hanover, NH 03755, Phone: 603-643-4233

8.Lou's Restaurant and Bakery

Lou's Restaurant and Bakery in the city of Hanover, New Hampshire has been a tradition in the local community since the year 1947. The local eatery serves its breakfast menu all day and offers weekly specials, along with operating a full-service bakery. The “certified green” Lou’s Restaurant and Bakery proudly offers a variety of farm-to-table foods, care packages for students at Dartmouth College, and full-service catering. Both breakfast and lunch dishes are served throughout the entire day, as well as donuts, pies, and cakes. The restaurant is open until 3:00pm, while the bakery closes at 5:00pm.

30 S. Main St. Hanover, NH 03755, Phone: 603-643-3321

9.Jesse's Steak and Seafood

Originally a dinner house inside of a log cabin, Jesse's Steak and Seafood was founded by Patty and Marc Milowsky back in 1976, consisting of a bar area that could seat 40 people and a dining room that could seat 86 guests. The atmosphere was something like the Victoria Old West. Since then, an outdoor deck, the Adirondack Lodge, a brick patio, and a greenhouse has been added to the restaurant. Jesse’s has become known for house-aged and hand-cut steaks, homemade Sequoia bread, a lively tavern atmosphere, and one of the best happy hours within the Upper Valley.

224 Lebanon St, Hanover, NH 03755, Phone: 603-643-4111

10.Skinny Pancake

The Skinny Pancake is a local restaurant chain that serves breakfast, paninis, and crepes in a casual setting. There’s also the occasional live music for customers to enjoy during their meal. The restaurant boasts a “Love Local” philosophy, sourcing local ingredients, and has a mission of changing the world “by building a healthier, safer, more delicious food shed” while also creating affordable and fun everyday enjoyment. The Skinny Pancake in Hanover, New Hampshire is open Monday through Thursdays from 8:00am until 8:00pm, until 9:00pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and until 3:00pm on Sundays.

3 Lebanon St, Hanover, NH 03755, Phone: 603-277-9115