Last year I went on an amazing coastal Maine road trip and documented my trip through various travel guides. Now that it’s summer in the U.S. I thought that it was the perfect time to wrap all the travel guides and advice given throughout all my Maine posts and put it into one single post. I hope this post not only encourages you to visit Maine but also helps you decide where you should stop on your coastal Maine road trip.
To give you a little background about our specific trip, we were traveling from Vermont to Maine so we decided to make our way down the coast of Maine. However if you’re coming from Boston or anywhere down South, you may want to adjust the direction of your travels and flip-flop what we did or adjust it to your needs.
Lastly, we were doing this all in a weeks time. If you’re fortunate enough to have longer than a week, there’s plenty more to see. However, I think we saw a great chunk of the coast of Maine in our week. With all that being said, here’s where you should stop on your Coastal Maine Road Trip.
First Stop: Bar Harbor/ Acadia National Park
Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park were last-minute additions for our coastal Maine road trip and I’m so happy that we added it. If you haven’t heard of Acadia National Park it’s a stunning national park stretching over 47,000 acres around Maine’s coast. Acadia National Park was honestly my favorite spot on our road trip and I would love to go back one day. If you’re traveling along the coast of Maine, Acadia definitely needs to be one of your main stops.
You can easily spend a few days in Acadia hiking and take in all the views, however, we only had two days to pack in both Bar Harbor and Acadia. Acadia is perfect for hiking, picnics, gorgeous views, and stunning sunrises or sunsets.
Bar Harbor is only located about 20 minutes from Acadia National Park. Bar Harbor is the perfect town to get your seafood fix, a little shopping and to enjoy the beautiful harbor. There are a lot of accommodations in Bar Harbor, however, if you go just a little bit outside the area you’re able to find a lot more affordable options which is what we did.
I have travel guides on both Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park so if you want a more in-depth guide of what to see in do, definitely check those out.
Second Stop: Rockland, Maine
Rockland was the next stop on our coastal Maine road trip. Rockland is such a cool, up and coming town that I’d honestly never heard of until I started doing some research on Maine. If you’re into art, Rockland is definitely a must-see for you. If you stop in Rockland, I highly recommend you stay at 250 Main. I was lucky enough to partner with them for a blog post and I honestly think if you want the best Rockland experience, this is the place to stay!
At 250 Main you get the art feel inside your hotel. Not only is everything hi-tech and super comfortable, but there’s local art throughout the whole hotel, motivational quotes, free breakfast, happy hour daily, and dogs are allowed! So awesome! It’s also in a perfect location for exploring the town, so I highly recommend you stay here.
Same as Acadia and Bar Harbor, we were in Rockland for two days and we spent those two days exploring the art museums, eating tons of delicious food, a little bit of shopping and some other touristy things such as the Breakwater Lighthouse.
Check out my full in-depth travel guide for Rockland, Maine here.
Third Stop: Portland, Maine
When you think of Maine, Portland probably comes to mind. It is after all the biggest city in Maine. Portland has so much to do. We, unfortunately, didn’t really get to spend the time the city truly deserves, however, I do think that we saw a decent amount of the city in a short time there. To see everything we did, check out my in-depth Portland guide here.
We didn’t stay in Portland, we actually stayed outside of Portland in Kennebunk for two days and made the 25-minute drive to Portland to explore. If I was to do things again, I would spend at least one night with accommodations in Portland so we could spend more time there and truly appreciate everything the city has to offer.
Last Stop: Kennebunkport and Kennebunk, Maine
Our last stop on our Coastal Maine Roadtrip was Kennebunk and Kennebunkport. We stayed in much cheaper accommodations in Kennebunk than we would have stayed in Portland, so if you’re on a budget, staying outside of the city is a great, money-saving option.
Kennebunk and Kennebunkport is a breath of fresh air from the busy Portland. It’s a picturesque town with a lot to see and do in the areas surrounding. There’s history in the area, shopping, landmarks, great restaurants and it’s in close proximity to major areas such as Portland. It was the perfect place for us to end our Coastal Maine Road trip and I definitely recommend you stop here. To check out my more in-depth guide of both Kennebunk and Kennebunkport, click here.
I hope you enjoy and found some inspiration of what you should see and do on your Coastal Maine Road trip. I recommend doing some research on Pinterest for anything you’re interested in seeing. I have a Pinterest board dedicated to our trip to Maine which you can check out here.
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