Outdoors

Diana's Baths & Cathedral Ledge: A Half-Day Near North Conway

Two of the most photographed spots in the Mount Washington Valley, both easy to fit into an afternoon.

If Emerald Pool and Rattlesnake Pool are our closest recommendations, Diana's Baths and Cathedral Ledge are the pair we send guests to on a day they're already headed toward North Conway for shopping or dinner. Both sit in Bartlett/North Conway, a few minutes off Route 302.

Diana's Baths

This is one of the easiest, most rewarding walks in the White Mountain National Forest — a wide, mostly flat gravel path of about 0.6 miles each way, following Lucy Brook to a series of cascading falls and pools that drop roughly 75 feet in total. It's an easy walk for almost anyone, including kids, and there are enough ledges and pools along the way that people tend to spread out rather than crowd one spot. Bring water shoes if you want to wade in.

Cathedral Ledge

A short drive from Diana's Baths, Cathedral Ledge is a sheer granite cliff rising above Echo Lake, with a paved road that takes you almost to the top. It's one of the best easy-access viewpoints in the valley — no hiking required for the view, though the cliff face itself is a well-known technical rock climbing spot if that's more your speed. Time it for late afternoon and you'll get long light over the valley and the Saco River below.

How to sequence the day

Diana's Baths in the morning while it's cooler and quieter, lunch in North Conway, then Cathedral Ledge for the view before dinner — that's the loop most of our guests end up doing without planning it that way on purpose. If you want to add a swim, Echo Lake Beach sits right at the base of Cathedral Ledge.

Good to know

Both spots get busy on summer weekends — an early start makes a real difference at Diana's Baths especially. Parking is limited at the trailhead lot; overflow parking is available a short walk down the road in season.