Best 5 Magical New England Winter Experiences

Don’t sit back and allow winter days to run one into the next. Punctuate this hunkered-down season with wondrous experiences you’ll remember long after the snow and slush have vanished.

Cedar Grove Sauna Pop-ups

Midcoast Maine

Join the email list, and you’ll know when to book your private hour inside the coolest wood-fired sauna on wheels. All winter long, Jackie Stratton parks this ruby-red former horse trailer in idyllic coastal settings such as Glidden Point Oyster Farms, where, in addition to melting stress, you can shuck your own and jump into an oyster pen in the bay. The benefits of the cold-hot cycle “make winter survivable,” says Stratton, who also operates saunas at her Montville, Maine, homestead. cedargrovesauna.com

Headlamp Snowshoe Tours at Trapp Family Lodge

Stowe, VT

Moonlight is fickle, but your headlamp’s beam is strong. Dependable. So is the voice of activities director Bob Stafford, who leads most of these 90-minute after-dark excursions, pointing out trees and animal tracks and sharing stories of the singing von Trapps. It’s mostly easy, downhill terrain; you’ll be a pro in five minutes. And with the Bierhall and its award-winning lagers (and apfelstrudel!) as your finish line, motivation is baked in.

Live Music Packages at Snowvillage Inn

Eaton Center, NH

After a brisk snowshoe on Snowvillage Inn’s own trails, nothing warms a winter’s night like dinner and an intimate concert in a snow-globe setting. You’ll be chauffeured across the Maine border to Stone Mountain Arts Center, where a converted barn’s church-like windows frame starlit sky, and songs reverberate in the rafters. Talent onstage this winter includes a New Orleans–inspired jazz band and folk icon Judy Collins.

Night Skiing at Jiminy Peak

Hancock, MA

Fly down the slopes into the colorless dreamscape created by globes of light that keep more than half of Jiminy Peak’s skiing and snowboarding trails (even three black diamonds) open until 10 p.m. nightly. This entire mountain resort runs on renewable energy, so night owls needn’t fret the environmental impact of their nocturnal sport, nor cozying up at après spots that cater to the late crowd.

Winter Spectacular at Cava

Southington, CT

You’ve never seen a bauble-icious interior like this, even if meeting loved ones at Cava for molten cheese–stuffed garlic bread and pleasing pasta plates is already your wintertime tradition. Each year’s decor is all new in five themed-to-the-hilt dining spaces, and illumination has been ramped up to nearly 200,000 bulbs this go-round. Will you journey to Oz? Let your hair down with Rapunzel or chill in the Eggnog Pub? You have until March ends to experience all the sparkle.