1. Inn By The Sea
City: Cape Elizabeth, ME
Category: Accommodations
Telephone: (207) 799-3134, (800) 888-4287
Address: 40 Bowery Beach Road
Description: The Inn By the Sea is a sprawling, luxury hotel that overlooks Crescent Beach, one of the most popular stretches of shoreline in southern Maine. It recently completed a multimillion-dollar renovation, which included adding a full-service spa, renovating and redesigning the guest rooms and opening Sea Glass, a welcome addition to Portland’s already impressive roster of fine-dining restaurants, in 2007 was ranked one of the best 100 hotels in the United States and Canada by readers of Travel & Leisure magazine. Here, you have your choice of guest room suites, one-bedroom lofts and garden cottages, and two-bedroom beach house units, each immaculately decorated with a decadent modern flair. The inn is a popular spot for locals and visitors alike and is often booked for wedding ceremonies and receptions and small corporate meetings. A stay at the inn could be both relaxing (take a leisurely stroll along the beach or order gourmet lobster dishes at the inn’s restaurant) and active (outdoor activities at the inn include tennis, cross-country skiing, and swimming in the outdoor heated pool). Golfers can also fit in a game or two at the nearby Purpoodock Golf Club. Eco-friends can also take heart—the Inn By the Sea has been named one of the top 10 green hotels in the country by Forbes Traveler and prides itself on its environmentally-friendly practices, which include heating with biofuel, offering carbon offsets to guests, and caring for five acres of indigenous gardens.Pets are welcome in certain “pet-friendly” suites that come with special pet amenities. The inn also offers a gourmet pet menu and a dog-walking service. To reserve with your pet, you must give the inn advance notification, including your pet’s name.
2. Inn By The Sea
City: Cape Elizabeth, ME
Category: Accommodations
Telephone: (207) 799-3134 or (800) 888-42
Address: 40 Bowery Beach Rd.
Description: From the road this modern complex has a shingle-style air to it that harks back to the halcyon days of Maine summers past, but inside it’s a thoroughly contemporary facility—newly made over in a large, multi-million-dollar way—with 57 one- and two-bedroom suites that overlook the smashing sea. A variety of choices are available—from decor to layout to view—with balconies, sunken tubs, Chippendale cherry furnishings, full kitchens, fireplaces, and all sorts of other posh amenities. With an excellent dining room, tennis and shuffleboard courts, an outdoor pool, a full-service spa, bicycles, and walking paths to popular Crescent Beach, this is the sort of inn where you could happily set up for weeks. The inn also has an exclusive arrangement that allows for use of the private Purpoodock Golf Course a couple miles down the road. The inn can be very busy in summer, and recent kudos from Travel + Leisure, which called it one of the top 100 hotels in the United States and the Maine Sunday Telegram, which gave it top marks as “Best Maine Inn,” will only make it more so. Reserve early.
3. Crescent Beach State Park
City: Cape Elizabeth, ME
Category: Parks & Recreation
Telephone: (207) 799-5871
Address: Route 77
Description: There are several popular Maine beaches called Crescent Beach, but this is probably the best, a 1,560-yard expanse of fine sand not too far from Portland. As such, it’s always busy in summer. Because it’s a state park, there are plenty of amenities—a playground, a picnic area, a snack bar, a group site, nature trails, and a bathhouse with cold showers—which makes it a good option for families. The water is maybe even a tad warmer here than at other beaches, which is a welcome benefit. There’s even a boat launch, but it requires a permit from the Cape Elizabeth Public Safety Office (on Route 77). The park is technically open from Memorial Day through Columbus Day, but the state welcomes skiers and hikers in the winter and even folks just out for a walk in the off-season.
4. Two Lights State Park
City: Cape Elizabeth, ME
Category: Parks & Recreation
Telephone: (207) 799-5871
Address: 66 Two Lights Rd.
Description: You can look awfully hard for the pair of lighthouses that lent Two Lights State Park its name, but you won’t find them in the 41-acre preserve. The first twin lighthouses built on the Maine coast, going up in 1828, they’re down a nearby road and are inaccessible. What people will find on this rocky headland are sweeping vistas of Casco Bay, the ruins of a World War II fort, picnic tables, and some trails along the shore. The park is very popular among picnickers, Frisbee tossers, Portland houseguests, and hand-holding couples, and it’s just a skip from Crescent Beach State Park. Hard to beat its prospect of the bay and the open Atlantic.
5. Fort Williams
City: Cape Elizabeth, ME
Category: Parks & Recreation
Telephone: (207) 799-2868
Address: Park Shore Rd.
Description: If you have houseguests and you live in Greater Portland, chances are you’ll all end up here at some point. Surrounding Portland Head Light in Cape Elizabeth, town-owned Fort Williams Park is the go-to place for visitors to the area (the place sees nearly a million visitors a year). Ninety-four acres of fun are what we’re talking about, a Frisbee thrower’s dream. Expansive lawns, some of the best ocean views in Greater Portland, a small waterfront, neat ruins of forts, perfect picnicking facilities, tennis courts, and ball fields—the park has a lot to like. And more than a million people a year take advantage of it. Commissioned in 1894, Fort Williams was integral to keeping Portland Harbor safe in the Second World War, but it was deemed unnecessary in the wake of the conflict and was decommissioned in 1963. The town purchased it shortly thereafter. What’s left of the actual fortifications are interesting to explore. Hardly a day goes by, year-round, that someone isn’t having fun at Fort Williams.
6. Cape Elizabeth Trails
City: Cape Elizabeth, ME
Category: Parks & Recreation
Telephone: (207) 767-6054
Address: 330 Ocean House Rd.
Description: Who knew Portland’s affluent neighbor had so many nice hiking paths? Like a much smaller sibling of Portland Trails, the Cape Elizabeth Land Trust has preserved several parcels of land and opened them to walkers. The best of these might be the Robinson Woods Trail, which meanders for 3 miles in a bosk just to the west of the Shore Road. Some of the woods in question are more than 300 years old, and they connect to shorefront on Pond Cove. Other highlights might be the Cross Hill and Dyer-Hutchinson Farm trails, which intersect and provide miles of walking through forest, marsh, and meadow.
7. The Lobster Shack
City: Cape Elizabeth, ME
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (207) 799-1677
Address: 225 Two Lights Road
Description: This little “shack” just across the bridge from Portland is both a local favorite and a tourist hot spot, mostly for one reason—the spectacular view. Located at the entrance to Portland harbor and just below a lighthouse, the Lobster Shack sits atop the classic craggy Maine cliffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. It’s just down the road from Two Lights State Park, a must-see for visitors to the Portland area. After hanging out at the park for a while, just head to the end of Two Lights Road, and that’s where you’ll find the Lobster Shack. There is indoor seating, but most people (in good weather, anyway) prefer to sit at the picnic tables outside and listen to the crashing surf as they crack into their lobster dinners. The food is typical of what you’d find at any Maine lobster pound—lobster and crabmeat rolls, clam cakes, fried clams, lobster stew, clam chowder, as well as hamburgers and hot dogs, french fries and onion rings, and coleslaw. The Lobster Shack is closed in winter.
8. Sea Glass
City: Cape Elizabeth, ME
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (207) 767-0888
Address: 40 Bowery Beach Rd.
Description: When this seaside inn went through its multimillion dollar makeover recently, it updated its dining room as well. The old Audubon Room at this seaside inn had a reputation as one of the best places to eat in Maine, so you have to assume the new Sea Glass will be good. Like that eatery this one specializes in well-done surf and turf, using mostly local ingredients, but it will take a light and fresh approach, allowing the food to speak for itself. Look for dishes like the macadamia-crusted northern halibut ($25), the grilled lobster ($26), and the Gulf of Maine seafood paella ($25).
9. The Good Table
City: Cape Elizabeth, ME
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (207) 799-4663
Address: 527 Ocean House Rd. (Route 77)
Description: A devastating 2002 electrical fire didn’t stop this local favorite—it rebuilt in no time, bringing Greater Portland residents the “honest food and honest prices” they want. The family-style fare is a mix of hearty comfort foods with Greek overtones here and there (spanakopita, gyros). The turkey dinner is pretty much perfection, the lobster roll is fine, the desserts are tempting, and the cinnamon buns swoonworthy. Sunday brunch here fills up fast. Open Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Closed Monday.
10. Lobster Shack
City: Cape Elizabeth, ME
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (207) 799-1677
Address: 225 Two Lights Rd.
Description: You don’t have to be a fan of seafood to enjoy a visit to the Lobster Shack, just below the twin towers that give the Two Lights area of Cape Elizabeth its name. The view of the open Atlantic from the picnic tables outside the small eatery is simply jaw-dropping, and it alone is worth the trip. It certainly helps if you enjoy fried clams, haddock, shrimp, lobsters, or scallops, though. (No fear, landlubbers—fried chicken, hot dogs, and hamburgers are also “specialties.”) See why Gourmet and Bobby Flay paid the place visits.
11. Fort Williams Park
City: Cape Elizabeth, ME
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (207) 799-2868 (for event regi
Address: 1000 Shore Road
Description: Fort Williams Park has it all—breathtaking views of the ocean, a small beach, the oldest lighthouse in Maine, and, of course, a few very interesting old forts. The 14 acres that would become Fort Williams was purchased in 1872 as a sub-post to Fort Preble at Spring Point. Fort Williams was active during World War I and World War II and served as the headquarters of the Harbor Defenses of Portland during the latter war. Today, the park is a popular stop for picnickers, joggers, and kite flyers. The park has a great set of swings for kids (and their parents) near the rocky beach and a few hills popular with sledders during the winter. Be sure to check out the remaining military batteries, which are built into the ground as camouflage; and, overlooking the park, the castlelike skeleton of the Goddard Mansion, which housed Colonel John Goddard and his family during the 1800s. Admission to the park is free, and the gates close at sunset. To get here, cross the Casco Bay Bridge and bear left onto Broadway. Follow Broadway to Cottage Road and take a right. At Red’s Dairy Freeze (the next light), bear left to remain on Cottage Road. Cottage Road becomes Shore Road once you’re in Cape Elizabeth. Follow Shore Road for about a mile until you see the entrance to Fort Williams on your left. Parking is free in lots inside the park.
12. Portland Head Light
City: Cape Elizabeth, ME
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (207) 799-2661
Address: 1000 Shore Road
Description: Portland Head Light was completed in January 1791 on a spot that had historically been used as a defensive lookout for British attacks during the Revolutionary War. The tower measures 72 feet from base to lantern. The light and fog signals are manned by the U.S. Coast Guard, but the surrounding land is owned by the town of Cape Elizabeth. There is a museum in the former keeper’s quarters, which is open daily from Memorial Day to the Friday after Columbus Day and on weekends from mid-April to Memorial Day and from Columbus Day to Christmas. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $2 for adults, $1 for children ages 6 to 18, and free for kids under 6. Museum tours are designed to be self-guided; the tower is not open to the public. To get there, cross the Casco Bay Bridge into South Portland, bear left onto Broadway at the end of the bridge, and then take a right at Cottage Road. At Red’s Dairy Freeze a block down, bear left, remaining on Cottage Road. Cottage Road becomes Shore Road once you’re in Cape Elizabeth. Continue on Shore Road until you see the gates and sign for Fort Williams on your left, about a mile down. There is ample free parking inside Fort Williams.
13. Two Lights State Park
City: Cape Elizabeth, ME
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (207) 799-5871
Address: 66 Two Lights Road
Description: Located off Route 77 in Cape Elizabeth, Two Lights State Park features 40 acres of shorefront land, a rocky shore with views of the bay, the remains of a World War II coastal defense system, picnic table and group sites, and, of course, the famous twin lighthouses. The lighthouses were originally made of stone but in 1874 were replaced with 65-foot towers of cast iron. Today, only the eastern light is active, and it is the brightest lighthouse in Maine. The automated station can be seen 17 miles away at sea. Neither lighthouse is open to the public, but the park is open year-round from 9 a.m. to roughly a half hour before sunset. The peak-season entrance fee is $3 for adults, $1 for children ages 5 to 11, and free for children under 5 and adults over 65. Pets are allowed, on a leash, at all areas of the park except the beach.
14. Portland Head Light
City: Cape Elizabeth, ME
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (207) 799-2661
Address: Shore Rd.
Description: When people picture a Maine lighthouse in their mind’s eye, this is probably the one they conjure up. Like the Nubble, the Portland Head Light is one of the most painted and photographed lighthouses in the world and is among the most visited lighthouses in the country. It’s also often called the oldest beacon on the Atlantic Coast, and whether or not that’s true, it has to be close, built by order of George Washington in 1791. The light itself is a 58-foot conical tower built of white fieldstone and rising above a restored keeper’s house. Since the light was automated in 1989, this pretty building has been converted into an excellent little museum, telling the story of this sentinel, Portland Harbor, and the surrounding area. It’s open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily from Memorial Day through Columbus Day and weekends only from mid-April to the Sunday before Memorial Day and between Columbus Day and Christmas. Admission is $2 for adults, $1 for children age seven or older, and free for youngsters age six or younger. The grounds on which the light sits are truly magnificent, looking out over the open sea in one direction and back toward Portland Harbor in another. The surf rages here, and several ships have wrecked on the rocks below the light, even when the light was working. The worst was the Annie C. Maguire, which went aground on its way from Buenos Aires to Quebec in 1866. The crew of 15 was saved by the quick actions of Portland Head’s fabled lightkeeper, Joseph Strout, but the ship was bashed into splinters. People have been flocking here ever since poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow used to walk over from his home in Portland to enjoy the views. Ninety-four-acre Fort Williams Park wraps around the headlight and is the place where Portlanders take their houseguests—to the tune of nearly a million people a year. It’s particularly popular among picnickers and kite flyers and features a beach and tennis course in addition to sweeping lawns.