The Lunenburg area offers plenty of outdoor family-friendly activities year-round, but the New England winter adds a whole new list of joyful activities to engage in with the kids. For example, if you've never tried snow tubing, you're missing out.
For those who don't know, snow tubing is when you ride down a snow-covered slope in an inner tube, enjoying a descent down a long, high winter slide. It's an excellent activity for the whole family or a group of friends. If you want to hit the slopes without needing skis or a snowboard and just enjoy a fun day in the snow, check out some of the following snow tubing spots around the Lunenburg area.
Bousquet Mountain Tubing Park
Time Elapsed Slide by keith.bellvay is licensed with CC BY 2.0
Whether you're looking for a fun weekend destination or a nice road trip to enjoy the snow, Bousquet Mountain Tubing Park in Pittsfield has a lot to offer families. Check out the 450-foot tall, five-chute snow tubing park. Getting up and down the hill is easy with the park's lift, which takes you up to the top, so you can ride down the slope all over again.
You can buy passes to the tubing park in 1.5-hour increments, so you'll have plenty of opportunities to test out the slopes and find the best way to get down. Every visitor needs a waiver in order to ride the inner tubes. If you visit the park's website, you can fill out an individual or family waiver, as waivers for minors on the slopes need to be signed by a legal guardian.
Bousquet Mountain also makes for a great birthday celebration. If you have a child turning a year older, call the park and ask for the special group rates they give out for parties of 15 or more, then book a day on the tubes. The park is open from 4:30 p.m. on weekdays, 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays, and 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Sundays.
Berkshire East Mountain Resort
Berkshire East Mountain Resort is so popular that tickets for tubing sessions tend to sell out fast, so make sure you book your tickets in advance. The resort offers three 500-foot-long tubing lanes for an ultimate fun ride down the slopes on the Pepsi of Brattleboro tubes.
Getting back up the slopes is easy as pie with the resort's magic carpet lift. The only requirements for guests are that they must be at least 42 inches tall, and only one rider is allowed per tube. As with most locations, tubing down the slopes requires a waiver signed by the guest or, for minors, the guest's legal guardian.
Nashoba Valley Tubing Park
If you love all winter activities, you'll have a great time at Nashoba Valley Tubing Park, where you can ski and snow tube on the same day. The park is very family-friendly, as it's open daily from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays during school vacation weeks. On weekends, the tubing park is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturdays and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays.
Tickets to the park are sold in two-hour blocks and are only available the week before you want to book. When you reserve a session at Nashoba Valley, you must show up in the 15-minute window you selected to start your fun tubing session. Make sure you're not late.
Guests are required to be at least 6 years old or 42 inches tall. The owners of the park caution visitors that it's best to come when it hasn't recently snowed, as fresh snow can complicate tubing conditions by making it difficult to get back up the slopes and move around.
Whether you just want to spend a day in tubes with the entire family or want a relaxing activity after a long day of skiing on the neighboring slopes, Nashoba Valley Tubing Park is here to offer you a marvelous winter experience.
Ski Butternut
Talk about a full-service winter resort; Ski Butternut offers its guests skiing, snowboarding, and of course, snow tubing. The resort is located in the Berkshires, close to the town of Great Barrington. If you want to visit the resort and combine winter fun with a weekend away, you'll enjoy the town's multiple dining and lodging options.
Children have to be at least 5 years old to ride, and since only one rider is allowed per tube, you must make sure your child can snow tube alone. Keep in mind that Ski Butter tubing lanes are closed Mondays through Thursdays. They're open from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Fridays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturdays, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sundays.
Of course, there are exceptions for school holidays, when the tubing lanes remain open so kids can enjoy a day off in the snow.
Ski Ward Ski Area and TubaSlide
Head to Shrewsbury to explore all the activities that this 45-acre ski and tubing park has to offer. Ski Ward Ski Area has 12 different lanes, two lifts, and over 200 tubes for you to choose from. However, the park is also very popular with families all around the Lunenburg area, so make sure you reserve your tickets online ahead of time.
Before you go down the TubaSlide, be sure to check the local conditions in terms of temperature and snowfall. On weekdays, you can book either one-hour or two-hour time slots, while weekend and vacation time slots are sold in two-hour increments. Guests must be at least 6 years old and 42 inches tall.
Instead of huddling by the fire to avoid the winter cold, take your whole family out for the day to enjoy the snow with a fun time snow tubing at any of the above parks. If you know of a great snow tubing spot we missed, please contact us at North End Subaru to let us know, as we would love to include it in a future post.
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