Recommendations for 16 days in lovely Maine (Portland, Bangor: hotels, house, wedding)

[FrannyBear]

Greetings! I have never been to Maine but coming for a wedding the third week of July. I am so excited as I have always wanted to visit your beautiful state! We will have a car and want to spend the PRECEDING 16 days seeing the most beautiful parts of Maine. So we will be coming up from Massachusetts (visiting family there). We have been told to go to Kennebunkport, Camden and Bar Harbor (we are interested in Acadia). But other than that -- where would you recommend we stop for 2 or 3 nights? Any particularly great little hotels or towns or restaurants would be so appreciated. I know it is HIGH season and will probably have crazy traffic -- so maybe design from south to north and staying away from the SUPER trafficy areas on the weekend? We love the ocean but we also love history and parks and walking -- we don't need to stay in the most expensive swanky places -- something quaint and clean with local flavor is more to our taste. We are recently retired but fit and healthy.

[LilyMae521]

As you enter Maine, stop in the Welcome Center and get the brochure for "The Bold Coast"

Several hikes and State Parks listed therein. It is up around Eastport.
Kept us busy for more than a week two springs ago.

Meanwhile google "the bold coast" if you want to get a head start.

Sounds like a great trip, have fun.

[Fern435]

Definitely plan to spend part of a day or an afternoon/evening at Reid State Park, south of Woolwich. It is a stunningly beautiful section of the coast and perfect for strolling on the sand. Wear sturdy watershoes with good grippy soles so you can walk on the large, mostly flat rocks that cluster around the beach. You can pick up ready-made sandwiches, baked goods and other treats at a grocery store like Hannaford or other local markets and have a picnic at the beach. There are very clean changing areas with showers at Reid, too.

York Harbor, just north of Kittery, is very scenic and charming. In terms of lodging, make reservations well in advance! And the imperative rule for travel is: Never drive south on the Maine Turnpike on a Sunday. Just....don't do it! It's not recommended.

[American girl]

Maine‘s premier historic house museum is in Ellsworth, on your way to Bar Harbor. And, in addition to the lovely house, there are several miles of walking trails on Woodlawn’s 180 acre grounds. Then have lunch in Ellsworth’s downtown You will find several great restaurants there and some interesting shops.

https://woodlawnmuseum.com/

[Cuffler]

MDI (Mount Desert Island) history is really incredible. Before you go, be SURE to watch this video which you can now see on YouTube free:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9teAdBu89k

It's the only way you'll really appreciate what you're going to see. There were many many stately mansions there that burned in a fire mid-last century. There are still some you can see, however, that survived. The movie is worth every second you watch it.

When on MDI visiting Bar Harbor and Acadia, poke around Southwest Harbor and Northeast Harbor. They are tiny communities that wreak of Maine. You can't get a bad meal.

Two museums I can highly recommend, Owl's Head south of Camden and also on MDI , Seal Cove Auto Museum. By far one of the most preeminent very early car museums in the country. Put it this way, Jay Leno has offered to buy some of their cars and Stanley Steamer #1 is there!

In Brunswick you'll find General Chandler's home and museum along with an excellent community to enjoy. Many other here will be glad to steer you in the right direction.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua...berlain_Museum

You will have loads of fun! The Mainers up there are very friendly to tourists and willing to help.

[quietnights]

Take your car on the Maine State Ferry from Rockland out to North Haven island and spend a night or two at Nebo Lodge. The people are wonderful and the views are incredible. There are many bridged and unbridged (but accessible by state ferry) island communities in Maine.

[FrannyBear]

Thank you SO much for all these great suggestions -- they are exactly what I am looking for. I am going to include each one of these on my itinerary -- and thanks for the heads up about Sunday driving. The plan is to drive from south to north and then ultimately end up in Bangor for the wedding but will get there on an early Friday morning -- before dawn if necessary! I am ALL about avoiding traffic.

[rosebud1]

Spend a couple of days in Eastport/Lubec. Have a lobster roll at Quoddy Bay Lobster and take a whale watching trip in Eastport.

Lubec has West Quoddy Lighthouse and is where you take the bridge to Campbello, New Brunswick, for FDR's summer home and East Quoddy Lighthouse. Don't forget your passport if you're heading to Campobello.

As long as you're not there for the week of the 4th of July [which is well worth it for a traditional July 4th experience] the traffic should be light. It's a great taste of Maine away from the swarms of tourists further south.

[corgis]

Originally Posted by rosebud1

Spend a couple of days in Eastport/Lubec. Have a lobster roll at Quoddy Bay Lobster and take a whale watching trip in Eastport.

Lubec has West Quoddy Lighthouse and is where you take the bridge to Campbello, New Brunswick, for FDR's summer home and East Quoddy Lighthouse. Don't forget your passport if you're heading to Campobello.

As long as you're not there for the week of the 4th of July [which is well worth it for a traditional July 4th experience] the traffic should be light. It's a great taste of Maine away from the swarms of tourists further south.

I totally agree - love the Eastport/Lubec area.

[OutdoorLover]

It's hard to really go wrong in Maine for places to see Here are some thoughts, since you seem to have a good deal of time.

Bar Harbor is very nice, but can be a little over-run with people during high season, making parking, getting a table at a restaurant, etc difficult. I would consider staying in Southwest Harbor instead - it's even prettier in my eyes, still has enough tourist infrastructure, but is less congested and competitive. It's worth it to get a travel guide and if you like nature, a best easy day hikes guide to Mt Desert Island and Camden too.

On the way up, overnighting in Brunswick/the Harpswells would be nice, and so would the Belgrade Lakes area, Deer Isle/Stonington, and Castine or Blue Hill, and the Schoodic Peninsula. If you like hiking, have good boots and are in pretty good shape, going up to Baxter State Park and hiking Mt Katahdin is a fantastic experience - the views are fabulous around the summit and walking "the knife edge" is
exciting, the surrounding forests are beautiful and quiet, marshy areas in the lakes offer a good chance to see moose feeding at sunup/sundown.

Some other nice places to at least stop in midcoast would be: Cape Elizabeth (Crescent Beach, Two Lights and Fort Williams parks), downtown Portland along the waterfront (Commercial St), Bath(Front St/Waterfront Park area), Edgecomb (gotta hit Edgecomb Potters for a souvenir), Rockland (the strip of Main St between park St and Talbot Ave, breakwater and lighthouse - at low tide!), Owl's Head (lighthouse), Rockport, and Belfast (downtown, harbor walk and rail trail).