The city of nearly 90,000 residents has worked hard to revitalize its downtown since the business bust of the 1980s. There are street fairs, holiday strolls, and even a trick-or-treat night where merchants hand out the candy.
"We have a vibrant downtown with scores of small shops and boutiques, a fantastic park system, and some of the best eating establishments in the state," said Mayor Bernie Streeter.
The city boasts a historical society and public library that are among the finest in the state. Holman Stadium is a bandbox-sized ballpark where Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella played minor league ball in the late 1940s. Today, manager Butch Hobson, a former Red Sox third baseman, and the Nashua Pride of the Can-Am League call Holman home.
"People are discovering Nashua. There's beginning to be some appreciation for what's available here," said Adelle Leiblein, an artist and poet with a studio in a former mill.
One of the best ways to experience Nashua is by taking a half-mile stroll up Main Street from the neoclassical City Hall, topped with a giant gilded eagle, to the ornate Civil War monument atop Library Hill at the other end of the business district.
"It's an eminently walkable city. The quintessential downtown experience," says booster Sarah DiSano, executive director of Great American Downtown, Nashua's downtown revitalization organization.
Don't miss the mural of the Yankee Flyer Diner by James Aponovich, the highly regarded portrait artist, on the wall of Coronis Cleaners, the building with the bold, red Art Deco sign just past City Hall .
The first restaurant you encounter is Surf, a gourmet seafood eatery ablaze in pastel neon. It's one of the trendier restaurants in town, so you might wait 45 minutes for a table on a Saturday night.
Across the street is Michael Timothy's, an upscale restaurant with an admirable wine list and strong lineup of local jazz groups.
If you have a sweet tooth, stop at Patisserie Bleu for a cappuccino and a slice of tiramisu. If you crave falafel, kibbee , or baba ghanouj, Mezza, a new Lebanese restaurant, is only a block away on Elm Street.
