Study Names Portsmouth, NH Among America’s Best Small Towns For Autumn

Portsmouth has officially earned a spot among the coziest towns in America for a fall getaway.

The New Hampshire city came in at No. 3 nationwide in a new study from travel company LateRooms.

Portsmouth is my backyard, and seeing it get national recognition is pretty cool!

Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Named One of the Best Towns for a Cozy Weekend

LateRooms analyzed 50 small towns across the country, looking at the ingredients that can turn a regular weekend away into a cozy fall escape.

Researchers considered things like walkability, highly rated coffee shops and bakeries, restaurants, independent bookstores, hotels, and fall weather.

Portsmouth, NH via Getty Images

Portsmouth scored 76.18 out of 100, landing behind Newport, Rhode Island, and Hood River, Oregon.

Jasmine Granton of Chalkboard Creative called out the top-tier New Hampshire ranking, saying "Pumpkin spice is everywhere, Gilmore Girls is back in the rewatch rotation, and travelers are chasing that very specific kind of fall getaway: crisp weather, walkable streets, great coffee, independent places to stay and somewhere cozy to retreat to at the end of the day. And according to new travel research, Portsmouth is one of the best places in America to find it."

How Walkable is Portsmouth, New Hampshire?

One number really stood out to me: Portsmouth earned a downtown Walk Score of 97, the highest among the top three destinations.

So you can park your car and spend the day simply wandering, grabbing coffee, checking out local shops, finding a great restaurant, and taking in the history.

And isn't that one of the best things about Portsmouth?

You don't necessarily need a big itinerary. Sometimes the magic is just walking around downtown on a crisp fall afternoon, grabbing something warm to drink and enjoying the fact that this is right here in our backyard.

Portsmouth, NH via Getty Images

LateRooms revealed, "Once you're downtown, 17 restaurants sit within a mile, the third highest of any town in the whole study, alongside 12 bakeries for good measure". They went on to say that Portsmouth is "the kind of place where deciding what to eat is genuinely the hardest part of the weekend."

And I couldn't agree more!

Their study used a one-mile radius around each town's downtown area and included five years of October and November weather data, along with accommodations and other factors.

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So, New Hampshire, we may be a little biased, but apparently we're not the only ones who think Portsmouth is pretty darn cozy.