Your favorite Maine town to vacation in? (Portland, Kittery: 2014, renting)

[PullMyFinger]

I've never been and would like to plan a trip to Maine with my wife in 2014. What is your favorite vacation spot and why? Thanks!

[woxyroxme]

I always go to Eastport, it's not a tourist trap no L.L.Bean outlet stores, I doubt anyone goes there unless they have a connection to the town.

Since you have never been to Maine the best thing to do is just take a long slow trip up coastal 1 and explore the entire coastline, every town has something that makes it unique and worth seeing, start at Kittery and work your way down east.

[mainebrokerman]

pemaquid point,,,you can drive right to a lighthouse and walk along the rocks with the ocean right in front of you-great place for a picnic, and nearby is pemaquid beach...

you can look up on youtube,,,video clips..

rangeley and greenville are great areas to for camping,,or to see a moose- wilderness areas with huge lakes

[Spanky25]

Originally Posted by mainebrokerman

pemaquid point,,,you can drive right to a lighthouse and walk along the rocks with the ocean right in front of you-great place for a picnic, and nearby is pemaquid beach...

you can look up on youtube,,,video clips..

rangeley and greenville are great areas to for camping,,or to see a moose- wilderness areas with huge lakes

Boothbay Harbor, Bar Harbor & every town in between.

[IHeartMaine]

1. Boothbay Harbor
2. Portland
3. Old Orchard Beach
4. Ogunquit
5. Camden/Rockport/Rockland

[Easybreezy]

A must see for any first time visitor to Maine is Acadia National Park.

[western mass and love it]

York if you have kids.

[Okie Tex]

If you like the outdoors, try anywhere on Moosehead Lake. We always stay on the west side at an old logging camp in Rockwood. Very rustic. Friendly people. Trips to Jackman and Greenville at night almost always involve a moose sighting. A trip to Pitson Farm is really cool since you get to see the stands of trees ready for harvest. Easy distance to Quebec City, too. Traveling on the same roads as the big logging trucks is an experience.

[Q44]

Brokerman, Spanky, HeartMaine and Breezy are all right on the money. We've been vacationing on the Maine coast for over 20 years, before kids and with. We used to do a long week by starting in Bar Harbor, staying for 2-3 nights at the Bar Harbor Inn, beautiful views of Frenchman's Bay, great restaurant and conveinent to walk around town. Acadia is a must. the loop road, the trails, Jordan Pond for lunch, and of course the view from the top of Cadillac Mountain. We would then drive down US1 through Camden and Rockport till we got to Boothbay Harbor. Great walkable town, excellent restaurants, we stay at Brown's Wharf and walk over the pedestrian bridge. I love the ice cream parlor in town. From there we would finish in Ogunquit. Don't remeber the name of the place we used to stay? But plenty to do. The walk along the Marginal Way is awesome.

Once the kids came along we tried a week at Old Orchard Beach, we all hated it. Been a few years, maybe it's better now but it was like being at a carnival-county fair. Lots of deep fried food, mega-mini-golf, arcades . . . not at all relaxing.

Which brings us to the past 7 years. We've been renting a house in Pemaquid Point, as Brokerman pointed out it's great. By renting a house right on the water we're a 5 minute walk to the lighthouse. It is one of the top spots to look out over the ocean, walk down on the rocks or picnic. The beach is back in town, hang a left. It is one of the best kept secrets in the area. On the other side is New Harbor and Shaw's Restaurant is right on the cove that makes the harbor, really nice spot. Hardy Cruises next door is fantastic, we've done seal cruises, gone out to check out the puffins on Eastern Egg Rock and done the day trip to Monhegan Island to hike and check out all the artists. We use Pemaquid now as a launching pad, it's just a little over 1/2 an hour to Boothbay Harbor for more great restaurants and a good place to walk around. An hour plus will get you down to the Freeport Outlets - sorry, I have teenage daughters, that's a must. An hour's drive north will get you to Rockland/Camden/Rockport. A little more built up, the harbor in Camden is like a postcard. Plenty to do, and the Maine Lobster fest is held in the area (Rockland) in early August. It does get very crowded and traffic crawls around that week. We also will do Bar Harbor starting off from Pemaquid. I'ts a 3 hour drive, we start early, and we make it a point to stop at Jordan's Diner for breakfast as soon as we hit BH. Then it's Acadia, dinner in town and then the drive back. Kind of a long day but worth it. We get back to the house and the ocean is splashing against the rocks, there's a breeze coming in, it's why we've been going there for so long.

Sum it up, we love Pemaquid/New Harbor, Boothbay is great, the Rocks/Camden, up to Bar Harbor.

[mainebrokerman]

Originally Posted by Q44

Brokerman, Spanky, HeartMaine and Breezy are all right on the money. We've been vacationing on the Maine coast for over 20 years, before kids and with. We used to do a long week by starting in Bar Harbor, staying for 2-3 nights at the Bar Harbor Inn, beautiful views of Frenchman's Bay, great restaurant and conveinent to walk around town. Acadia is a must. the loop road, the trails, Jordan Pond for lunch, and of course the view from the top of Cadillac Mountain. We would then drive down US1 through Camden and Rockport till we got to Boothbay Harbor. Great walkable town, excellent restaurants, we stay at Brown's Wharf and walk over the pedestrian bridge. I love the ice cream parlor in town. From there we would finish in Ogunquit. Don't remeber the name of the place we used to stay? But plenty to do. The walk along the Marginal Way is awesome.

Once the kids came along we tried a week at Old Orchard Beach, we all hated it. Been a few years, maybe it's better now but it was like being at a carnival-county fair. Lots of deep fried food, mega-mini-golf, arcades . . . not at all relaxing.

Which brings us to the past 7 years. We've been renting a house in Pemaquid Point, as Brokerman pointed out it's great. By renting a house right on the water we're a 5 minute walk to the lighthouse. It is one of the top spots to look out over the ocean, walk down on the rocks or picnic. The beach is back in town, hang a left. It is one of the best kept secrets in the area. On the other side is New Harbor and Shaw's Restaurant is right on the cove that makes the harbor, really nice spot. Hardy Cruises next door is fantastic, we've done seal cruises, gone out to check out the puffins on Eastern Egg Rock and done the day trip to Monhegan Island to hike and check out all the artists. We use Pemaquid now as a launching pad, it's just a little over 1/2 an hour to Boothbay Harbor for more great restaurants and a good place to walk around. An hour plus will get you down to the Freeport Outlets - sorry, I have teenage daughters, that's a must. An hour's drive north will get you to Rockland/Camden/Rockport. A little more built up, the harbor in Camden is like a postcard. Plenty to do, and the Maine Lobster fest is held in the area (Rockland) in early August. It does get very crowded and traffic crawls around that week. We also will do Bar Harbor starting off from Pemaquid. I'ts a 3 hour drive, we start early, and we make it a point to stop at Jordan's Diner for breakfast as soon as we hit BH. Then it's Acadia, dinner in town and then the drive back. Kind of a long day but worth it. We get back to the house and the ocean is splashing against the rocks, there's a breeze coming in, it's why we've been going there for so long.

Sum it up, we love Pemaquid/New Harbor, Boothbay is great, the Rocks/Camden, up to Bar Harbor.

good post!

i was down in the pemaquid area yesterday, in south bristol, one of the prettiest fishing villages in maine (i'm biased, i grew up there)
went to visit my dad on fathers day - on christmas cove

damariscotta was just a bustling ,,i had to wait 3 times while someone crossed the street