The Spread:
Set on 15,000 acres in New Hampshire's White Mountains, the Balsams, dating back to 1895, is a sprawling 202-room hotel in that turn-of-the-century grand-resort tradition. The view from the back porch reveals gardens, manicured lawns, the golf course, rolling fields, and picturesque mountains. It's the kind of place where dinner is a five-course meal in a 500-seat dining

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room and all boys over 13 (and men, too) must wear jackets, but the kitchen always offers a kid-friendly entrée. The rooms, with their simple headboards and country night tables and bureaus, exude New England sparseness. The Balsams is located about a three-hour drive from either New Hampshire's Concord or Manchester.

Why Families Love It:
In summer, in addition to golf, families keep busy with tennis, mountain biking, and hiking as well as swimming, boating, and trout fishing in the resort's Lake Gloriette. All activities—except for golf carts, mountain-bike rentals, and special workshops-are incorporated into the room rate. This includes Camp Wind Whistle, the children's program, which operates daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., July 1 to Labor Day, for ages five to ten and older (including lunch with counselors). During the day program, children bike, go on nature walks, play tennis, golf, soccer, swim, make picture frames from popsicle sticks, and go on hay rides. In the evening, children may dine with parents or eat with their group followed by campfires with 'smores and ghost stories, a popcorn pajama party, or movies, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

In winter, the Balsams morphs into a ski resort. The mountain has a 1,000-foot vertical drop and there are 59 miles of groomed cross-country trails.

Special Activities & Events:
Go on a moose safari in summer. The naturalist-led van tour along backroads has an 80 percent success rate in encountering these icons of the Northeast.