Planning a Trip

Getting There -- Manchester is accessible from both I-93 and I-293. From the south, the easiest path is by taking exit 2 off I-293, then following Elm Street into town.

Manchester Regional Airport (airport code MHT; tel. 603/624-6556; www.flymanchester.com) is a growing air hub that is slowly siphoning regional traffic away from Boston. It all started when Southwest Airlines (tel. 800/435-9792; www.southwest.com) began routing flights here from Florida, California, Baltimore, Chicago, and Philadelphia; this quickly became the preferred alternative gateway to northern New England, and other airlines now serve Manchester including Delta (and its subsidiary Delta Connection) (tel. 800/221-1212; www.delta.com), which flies in from Atlanta, Dallas, and New York's JFK; Continental (tel. 800/525-0280; www.continental.com), which flies from Newark and Cleveland; Northwest (tel. 800/225-2525; www.nwa.com), coming from Minneapolis and Detroit; United (tel. 800/241-6522; www.united.com), from Chicago and Washington, D.C.; and US Airways Express (tel. 800/428-4322; www.usair.com), flying to and from New York's LaGuardia as well as Charlotte, Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Nashville.

Bus service is provided primarily by Vermont Transit (tel. 800/552-8737; www.vermonttransit.com) and Concord Coach (tel. 800/639-3317 or 603/228-3300; www.concordcoachlines.com), both of which stop at the Manchester Transportation Center, at 119 Canal St., at the intersection of Granite Street (tel. 603/668-6133) behind the Radisson hotel.

Visitor Information -- The Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, 889 Elm St., Manchester, NH 03101 (tel. 603/666-6600; www.manchester-chamber.org), dispenses brochures, maps, and a handy city guide from a facility at the corner of Elm and Merrimack streets. It's open daily from 9am to 5pm.