Apres-Ski / Nightlife

If you strike it rich, you may find midweek action at Sunday River and in Bethel, but the real fun heats up on weekends.

SUNDAY RIVER ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE

Immediate apres-ski is at the base of the slopes. Foggy Goggle, in the South Ridge base area, is the liveliest of the mountain spots. Also try the Barker Pub in the Barker Mountain base area or Pugsley's Pub at the White Cap Base Lodge. The Well, opposite the South Ridge Base Lodge, provides great views of the slopes while you sip a brew or cocktail and watch big-screen TVs. It has live entertainment on Saturdays, both for apres-ski and for late nights, and occasionally during the week.

Off mountain, head to the Sunday River Brewery, at the base of the access road. Matterhorn is the place for 48-ounce Glacier Big Bowl drinks and extensive beer choices, including Guinness. Suds Pub in town has 29 beers on tap.

At night, the Matterhorn rocks until the wee hours of the morning, with great bands; if you’ve been seated for dinner, you don’t pay the cover. The Sunday River Brewery has live music and excellent homemade brew. Downtown, the very-local Funky Red Barn has the only pool tables in town. At the Sudbury Inn, Suds Pub has bands ranging from blues to bluegrass on weekends, but for local flavor, nothing beats Thursday for Hoot Nite, an open-mike forum that has been running for about 20 years. A sedate crowd fills Legends at the Summit Hotel for its acoustic music. It has family entertainment every Saturday. Thumper's is an on-mountain nightclub run by Shipyard BrewHaus that is open only during the Budweiser Rocks the River Concert Series.

BETHEL PUBS AND TAVERN PAGES