Yes, you can drive at night in New Hampshire with a learner’s license — and 10 of your 40 required hours have to happen after dark. There’s no curfew on the learner’s license itself, so scheduling is flexible. Just know that New Hampshire’s licensing system is different from every other state, and if you’re searching “NH learner’s permit,” you’re already using the wrong term.

New Hampshire Doesn’t Issue Learner’s Permits

This confuses a lot of people. New Hampshire doesn’t have a traditional learner’s permit. Instead, teens who meet the requirements get a Learner’s License — a real, issued license document — which eventually transitions to a Teen License (Class D Conditional) after they complete all the requirements.

In most states, you get a paper permit, log your hours, then apply for a license. In New Hampshire, the progression looks like this: nothing → Learner’s License → Teen License (Class D Conditional). The Learner’s License is the supervised practice phase, equivalent to what other states call a permit. Your 40 hours get logged during that phase.

So when people ask “how do I get my NH learner’s permit,” the answer is: you don’t. You apply for a Learner’s License.

What “Night” Means in New Hampshire

Night is sunset to sunrise — no fixed clock time, just the actual position of the sun. When it goes down, your night hours start counting. When it comes up, they stop.

Manchester sunset runs from about 4:10 PM in early December to 8:20 PM in late June. That’s a 4-hour shift across the year. In winter, a 4:30 PM after-school drive qualifies. In summer, you’d have to wait past 8:20 PM for the same minute to count.

Paper logs require you to look up sunset for your city before each session, and New Hampshire residents in the north vs. the south of the state see meaningfully different sunset times. Easy to get wrong.

Getting Your 10 Night Hours Done

40 total hours, 10 at night. The ratio sounds manageable — and it is, if you don’t leave all the night hours until the last month.

The supervisor requirement is stricter here than most states: your supervisor must be at least 25 years old. That rules out older siblings and young relatives in a lot of families. In New Hampshire, a 22-year-old sibling can’t supervise. Plan around that early. If grandparents or a parent’s friend needs to be looped in for some sessions, give them lead time.

The New Hampshire winter works in your favor. December and January sunsets before 4:15 PM in Manchester means you can get a legitimate night hour on any weekday after school. Drive to practice, drive home — both legs qualify.

A consistent approach: 1 night drive per week, 30 minutes each. That’s about 2 hours per month. You’ll have your 10 hours done 2 months before the end of your Learner’s License hold period.

New Hampshire Learner’s License Requirements

Requirement	Details
Total supervised hours	40
Night hours	10
Day hours	30
Night definition	Sunset to sunrise
Minimum age to apply	15½
Hold period	No fixed minimum (see note)
Supervisor minimum age	25
Driver’s ed required	Yes
Permit curfew	None

Note on hold period: New Hampshire doesn’t have a traditional “hold for X months” rule the way most states do. The Learner’s License transitions to a Teen License after all hour requirements are completed and driver’s ed is finished.

Practical Tips

Confirm your supervisor qualifies. The 25-year-old minimum is the thing most NH families get surprised by. Check before you schedule a session with someone who might not legally qualify.

Winter is your night-hour window. The stretch from November through February gives you sunsets before 5 PM almost every day. A quick 30-minute loop after school or after practice and you’re building night hours without any schedule disruption.

Mix road types. New Hampshire has everything from Manchester’s urban grid to rural two-lanes in the White Mountains. A well-rounded 40-hour log should include both. Night drives on an empty rural road feel very different from a lit suburban strip — both are worth doing.

Check sunset for your town, not Manchester. Northern towns like Berlin and Lancaster see sunsets 5–10 minutes earlier than Manchester in winter. That matters when you’re deciding if a 4:45 PM drive qualifies.

Moda tracks sunset and sunrise from your phone’s GPS on every session, so the day/night split is automatic. No manual lookups, no guessing, no errors in the log when you go to apply for your Teen License.

For full New Hampshire permit requirements, see our New Hampshire permit hours guide.

Download: Moda on the App Store

Stop manually tracking hours. Moda logs driving automatically.

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