Maine's coast hardly needs a sales pitch. That juxtaposition of quaint and cozy against the ruggedly elemental has been the region's primary draw for nearly two centuries. But the trio of cities here—Portland, Camden, and Bar Harbor—form what I think of as the heart of the state's allure, those top three tracks on the greatest hits compilation you can't stop humming. These days, they go way beyond conventional Downeast charm. You'll find some of the most creative and delicious food in the country right now in Portland, and that restless urge for invention has begun working its way up the coast. It's all a reflection of the quiet artistic spirit and fierce independence that define Mainers: tough but beautiful, like their coast.
When to go
June through September are when the weather's best, and when the flora are at their most enthusiastic. Summers get hot, but stay close to the water and you'll find the heat and humidity eased by offshore breezes. Nights are almost invariably cool. You can certainly do this trip in October—the leaves are likely to have peaked by then, but they'll still be spectacular. Just dress warmly.
What to drive
You'll be spending some time on scenic coastal roads, but this isn't northern California; Maine's not an ideal testing testing ground for performance-driver chops—no cliff-hugging curves here—so save the Porsche 911 splurge for another trip. If you do feel like indulging, and you're going in the height of summer, a convertible will pay off nicely, especially on the mid-coast and in Acadia National Park. Just remember to put the top up when you park: Summer thunderstorms aren't unheard of.
Day 1: Portland
Even though it still makes me smile a little each time I say it, the single-terminal, 11-gate Portland International Jetport is Maine's biggest airport. It provides access from most major regions of the country, making Portland the perfect in and out. And there's no better tone-setter for this trip.
Park yourself at the Press Hotel, a boutique spot that opened in 2015 in the building that used to be home to the Press Herald. It's cleverly styled with typewriter and printing-press motifs, and well appointed with locally crafted leathers and textiles—best of all, it’s close to everything you'll want to see. Grab your breakfast at the Standard Baking Company on Commercial Street, where the smells alone will warm your spirits. Go for a pain au chocolat, but the brioche and croissant are great too, and if it's Thursday or Saturday you'll find rugalach—all baked fresh, of course. Then head up Congress Street to the Portland Museum of Art. The building alone's worth the visit, with its soaring modern atrium, minimalist lines, and surprise spatial cutouts; but the small, intense collection is what truly impresses, running the gamut from early moderns like Renoir, Cassat, and homeboy Winslow Homer (whose studio at Prout's Neck is actually part of the museum) to a charmingly idiosyncratic midcentury selection including Hopper and Alex Katz, plus a strong selection of contemporary work.
For lunch, hit perennial favorite Eventide Oyster Co. It'll be crowded (for good reason), so put your name in and use the time to pre-tour the Old Port. Once you're in you'll want a sampling of oysters, of course—as many as your party can manage, and stay local; it's why you're here. Other must-gets include the fluke ceviche, the lobster roll, and the peekytoe crab roll, when it's in season. Afterward, finish your waterfront walk with an ice cream in hand. I like Mount Desert Island Ice Cream Company on Exchange Street, where the flavors are original and everything's handmade. If you need an afternoon pick-me-up, stop by Bard Coffee on Middle Street—they roast in house, and the digs are airy and welcoming.
Your pre-dinner cocktail should come from the Portland Hunt and Alpine Club just across from cute Post Office Park. The decor's Scandinavian and the seasonal drinks are wide-ranging, creative, and refreshing, like the Lavender Collins, made with grenadine and aquavit instead of gin. They don't lean too hard on trends, which is my way of praising the fact that you'll actually find a handful that don't involve amari.
Dinner's at Central Provisions, just off cinematically bricked-and-cobblestoned Wharf Street. The game is small plates, heavy on seafood and veg; and while the front of house is relaxed, the kitchen's serious in its imagination and technique—and its flavor. Be sure to treat yourself to the burrata starter (exact composition will vary by season and chef’s whim), one or more of the crudo small plates, the Korean-inflected house frites, and rhubarb cake if it’s in season.
Day 2: Camden
The trick is to get out early: Grab your coffee at the Inkwell in the Press Hotel's lobby and get moving up the coast before it cools. It's less than two hours' drive if you plow straight through, but of course that's not what you're about. So head on 295 North out of the city but jam over to Route 1 around Brunswick. This is the coast road. Follow it to Thomaston, where you'll detour to 131 on the far side of town. Here things get a bit tricky: From 131 you'll grab 73 at St. George, and you'll follow it to Spruce Head Island, where you'll track down McLoon's Lobster Shack right on the water, south shore. That's lunch. Order a lobster roll and a crab roll, even if you're all by your lonesome, and know that what you're eating got caught that morning in the waters you're looking at.
After lunch, make your way back to 73 toward Rockland—but tack east on North Shore Drive before you arrive, to get out to Owls Head State Park. This is woodsy Maine coast at its best; park in the lot and get your phone’s camera ready for the brief but lovely hike to Owls Head Light, a functioning 19th-century lighthouse that's as severely gorgeous as the landscape over which it presides.
Stay just north of Camden at the Lincolnville Motel, exactly the brand of hipster retro you'd expect to find in Maine: laid back, warm, and friendly in an quiet way. The cabins are small (it really is a refurbed motel), but they're loaded with charm and whimsy, from the comic poolside blow-up floats to the Crosley turntables—and actual vinyl collections!—in the rooms, which are resolutely devoid of television and Wi-Fi. Owner Alice Amory is generous with local recs; you're likely to find her in one of the book-laden common spaces (where you'll also, yes, find Wi-Fi if you really need it).
In Camden, you owe yourself a walking tour. (It won't take long.) Stroll Main Street, aka Route 1, for the shops and scenery, and be sure to stop at Sea Bags to pick up one of their funky-chic tote bags made from recycled sails (the combo of design charm, water resistance, and ruggedness makes them the best all-purpose personal-item carry-ons I've ever found). Get off the streets for a walk through well-manicured Harbor Park, which gracefully notches the top of postcard-pretty Camden Harbor, on your way to grab a drink with a water view at the Rhumb Line (bar seats are best), then do dinner at Long Grain, a no-frills-in-the-dining-room, high-class-in-the-kitchen Thai joint on Elm Street. Yep, that's right: Skip the lobster (this time), and order their Pad Seuw, whose noodles are hand-made daily, and the Maine crab fried rice. They may seem like dishes you know, but they’re done here with a level of care and imagination that’ll render them fresh again.
Day 3: Bar Harbor
Camden to Bar Harbor takes roughly two hours, and while it's a decidedly scenic route—you'll be curling up Route 1 right along the coast—there's so much jaw-dropping scenery where you're headed that you'll be forgiven for keeping it brisk. (Though if you do have the time, by all means make your pace leisurely.) Both Bar Harbor and Acadia are on Mount Desert Island, a big volcano- and glacier-carved bulb dangling into Penobscot Bay that's nearly sliced up its center by Somes Sound, Maine's only true fjord.
If location's your priority, the Bar Harbor Inn's tough to beat, slung as it is along the waterfront's ridge just below the town's center. The sweeping slope of lawn runged with adirondack chairs lends it the genteel grandeur of an era bygone, and there's no better place than the Terrace Grille to grab a leisurely drink with an absolutely killer view of the harbor. (Go early. Seats are deservedly in demand.) But I like the quaint intimacy of the Balance Rock Inn, just down the coast a few hundred yards. The views are only slightly less epic, but you get a sweeping lawn, a small but lounge-ready pool, and the dormers and eaves of small(er) scale New England architecture.
Once you're checked in, cross that lawn to the Shore Path. It's a small but perfect work of Bar Harbor genius: about 1.5 miles of well-manicured walkway tracing the coastline from the Town Pier to Wayman Lane. Do the whole thing—it's flat and graveled, suitable for a leisurely stroll or, come the following morning, a jog. You'll get great views of the rock formations along the shoreline, and of course the sweeping harbor, the islands, the ships tacking in and out. If you finish on the south end, the path drops you right onto Wayman Lane, which in turn connects to Main Street; just turn left to head to the center. If you finish on the north end, you're already there, with the Terrace Grille's yellow umbrellas and the fountains of Agamont Park at your left and the town landing on your right. (If you're feeling landlocked, book a sunset sail on the schooner Margaret Todd or Bailey Louise Todd, both from Downeast Windjammer Cruises, on the pier just in front of the Bar Harbor Inn.)
For lunch, head to Side Street Cafe in the center of town. A lobster roll's the order here; it's generous and well regarded with plenty of tender claw and body meat dressed simply in butter. There's a strong list of beers, including several local options like Atlantic Real Ale on draft, and cocktails. There'll be a line, but look for a table on the streetside balcony—the seating there's self-service, and often overlooked.
Afterward, do some exploring. Take Main Street as your artery. If you're visiting in summer, there'll be crowds drawn by nearby Acadia; but as a rule they're genial, and nothing compared to what you'll find in park towns out West. The Village Green has a charm worthy of its name, and is worth a (brief) pause. Other stops should be Fair Trade Winds for handmade crafts; and Cool As A Moose for amusingly kitschy (and sure, sometimes serious) Maine and Acadia gear. Hit up CJ's Big Dipper for an ice cream. Every flavor has its fans, but I'm partial to the blueberry soft serve, because there's nothing quite so summer and there's nothing quite so Maine. It's made on premises. Don't be surprised if you find a line.
For dinner, head to Havana—also on Main Street, but away from the center of town. Get a mojito to start. (The joint's name should give you confidence, but don't be fooled: The menu's more pan-Caribbean than strictly Cuban.) Then try the seafood paella and the lobster curry; they're both loaded with flavor, and loaded with lobster, which lets you get a dose without resorting to yet another lobster roll. Eat quickly: These dishes run hot, and if you're neglectful the lobster can keep cooking till it's tough.
Day 4: Acadia National Park
Next day, you’re off on your grand one-day tour of Acadia. The truly ambitious will get up before sunrise to watch dawn roll in from the peak of Cadillac Mountain. But I’ll assume that, like me, you’re only of modest ambition; and so I'll suggest that, like me, you do Cadillac at the end of the day rather than the beginning. Still, there’s no great case for delay. The park’s quite close to the center of town: Just follow Paradise Hill Road to the Hulls Cove entrance. (Grab a map at the Visitors' Center.) Drive the Park Loop Road, which is as direct and efficient as its name suggests, roughly tracing the park's circumference to give access to all major attractions. First stop is Sand Beach. Bring a towel, or even a chair, because it's exactly what the name implies: a wide expanse of yellow sand with crystal-clear water that, depending on the time of year, just might be warm enough (low 60s on a good day) for the brave to swim in. When you're tired of sunbathing, give your inner amateur climber a workout on the south-side rocks. (Shoes recommended.)
Other Loop features include Thunder Hole, a rock crevice that booms spectacularly when the tides rush in (it would be worth visiting for the surrounding geoformations alone); the precipitous Otter Cliff; and pristine Echo Lake. Save some time (and energy), though, for that trip up Cadillac Mountain. It’s the highest point on the North Atlantic seaboard and, with its sweeping views of the harbor, one of the park’s most impressive features. There are hikes long and short around the summit. Do one or two of the half-milers that lead you through stunning summit views, and then, if you’re still feeling it, take the South Ridge trail (7.1 miles round trip) down from the summit across shifting landscapes—pine forest, bald volcanic rock, scrub meadow—to the Blackwoods campground and back. Finishing the hike around sundown puts you at the summit at magic hour. You'll believe the hype.
Finish your long weekend off with an evening snack at Jordan Pond House. Reservations are a good idea unless you plan to show up after 4 p.m. The restaurant is spacious; it sits above a wide meadow with access to the pond—and if you have time, by all means make the short hike to check it out. Specialties of the house are tea and popovers, which are like the delicious mutant love-children of muffins and croissants, and which can be added onto nearly any dish on the menu. As for tea, the reputation's rock solid. But if the day's been hot and you've done the South Ridge Trail and you're feeling both tired and righteous at once, consider yourself in possession of permission to order a beer. They've got a fine selection, including some locals, on tap. Some days—some trips—just need to end that way.
