Ice Castles in Lincoln, NH

My family visited the Ice Castles in Lincoln, New Hampshire on Friday afternoon.  The Ice Castles were truly amazing and breathtaking.  New Hampshire Kids is currently running a Giveaway for a 4-pack of tickets to see the Ice Castles.  Please visit our Giveaway Post linked here for more information.

Parking: When you arrive you will enter a parking lot and an attendee will direct you to a parking spot.  Parking is free.  There was no crowd when we arrived at around 4:00 p.m. on a Friday afternoon and we were able to easily park very close to the entrance of the Ice Castles.

Tickets: Once you’ve parked you will be able to purchase tickets or, if you pre-purchased tickets online you can head directly to the entrance of the castles where you will get your hand stamped.

Ice Castle: As I stated above, the Ice Castles are amazing.  I can’t say that enough.  Throughout the Castles there are tunnels, slides and “secret passageways.”  There are also ice thrones and benches which are great for photos.

 Is this Elsa’s Ice Throne?

Can you spot the ice slide?

Check out this video of my crew making their way through an ice tunnel.  My husband was a very good sport and he took our littlest one through the ice tunnel. She loved it!

It took us about 20-30 minutes to walk through the Ice Castle in its entirety.  That said, my family spent about an hour and a half in the Ice Castles.  My kids loved exploring every corner, tunnel and slide.

At around 5:00 p.m. the Ice Castles’ lights are turned on.  The lights are synchronized to music that is playing throughout the Ice Castles.  The lights were beautiful and my children were mesmerized by them.

 

 

I highly recommend seeing the Ice Castles during both the

day and night.  If you are able to visit the Ice Castles at around 4:00 p.m. then you will be able to watch the day to night transformation.  Or, if you’d prefer, you can visit the Ice Castles earlier in the day, grab a bite to eat, and then revisit them during the night.  Your ticket allows you to exit and re-enter throughout the day.

When exiting the Ice Castles you will be able to visit their gift shop.  The shop sells souvenirs with the Ice Castles’ logo, candy and gifts.  Hot food and drink is not available for purchase.

The Surrounding Area: The Ice Castles are located in Lincoln, NH.  Lincoln is full of restaurants, shops and family fun.  You could very easily spend an entire day in Lincoln.

My family made a whole day trip out of our visit to Lincoln.  We began our day snow tubing at Loon Mountain, had some lunch at one of the local restaurants and then visited the Ice Castles.  For many, it is a drive to get to the Ice Castles.  I think that the Ice Castles are worth the drive.  That said, I suggest taking advantage of Lincoln’s restaurants and other  attractions while in the area.

NH Kids’ Suggestion: 

• Dress Warmly and wear heavy winter clothes to include coats, snow pants, boots, hats, gloves and scarves.
• Be prepared to help your children with some of the ice slides.  There was one particular ice slide that almost every child needed assistance with.  The slight incline to get to the point where the kids could slide was very slippery and the children needed an adult to get into the tunnel and give them a little boost.  In my opinion the slide was safe, just slippery at first.  If you are the adult that ends up crawling into the tunnel you will be very happy that you wore your snow pants!
• Do your research and plan a time to visit that will work well for your family.  Timing is important when planning a trip to the Ice Castles.  My family visited the Ice Castles on a Friday afternoon and there was no crowd.  That said, I understand that there are busy times and sometimes long lines to park and purchase tickets.  Please follow Ice Castles NH on Facebook and contact them if you have questions about the best time to visit.
• Queen Elsa visits the Ice Castle every Saturday from 12:00 – 3:00 p.m.  If you’d like to see Elsa in the Ice Castles then plan to visit at this time.
• Purchase your tickets in advance by visiting icecastles.com.  This will save you time.  Tickets range from $6.95 to $12.95 depending on age and whether you are visiting on a weekday or weekend.
• Looking for more information?  I read Mom’s Lifesavers Ice Castle Review prior to our trip.

Disclosure: I received complimentary passes for my family and I to visit the Ice Castles.  All opinions are my own.