I’d put a vote in for the Penobscot Narrows Bridge Observatory and Fort Knox, which are right next to each other and along the route you’re traveling. Penobscot Narrows Bridge & Observatory & Fort Knox
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We went to Acadia yearly for about 20 years and now go as often as we can, every 3 years or so. We could spend a week or two there and never be bored. Get a good hiking book (I recommend A Walk in the Woods) and find some hikes that interest you. We love the ladder trails. Also, the park rangers are a wealth of info and can make recommendations. We avoid typical touristy stuff but do hit thunder Hole every few years. We have camped, rented houses, and stayed at b&b’s. There are a lot of options. We prefer the quieter areas like Mt Desert, Somesville, Southwest Harbor and Northeast Harbor.
Agree with PP on Thurston’s (a must!!) and a day exploring the Schoodic Peninsula.
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Portland, Camden, Belfast, Stonington, Acadia. My family has always visited in Blue Hill, a beautiful small town on Penobscot Bay.
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Well…if you’ve never been to Maine, I would suggest a stop in Freeport to see the flagship LLBean Store.
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We go to Bar Harbor nearly every year. Always stay at the West Street Hotel - great location - not cheap, but worth it. Rates will be lower as it is later in the season. We make a straight run from Boston, typically stopping at Freeport or Portland as our bathroom/lunch breaks. Highly recommend Tuscan Brick Oven Bistro in Freeport (suggested by a CCer several years ago)
Please note they have changed access to Cadillac Mountain, you now need a timed pass which you get in advance. The other difficult place in Arcadia is getting into Jordon’s Pond. We have only gotten lucky once, grabbing a quick parking spot, but the view and popovers are great. It is a stop on one of the shuttle buses. Note the Shuttle buses will be on their fall schedule when you go.
There will definitely be things that are closed, which only stay open through Labor Day. Most of these are tourist stuff (min golf, etc.)
Have been to Thurston’s Lobster Pound and enjoyed their lobster rolls.
In downtown Bar Harbor, in addition to the shops and food - there is the shore path and walking over the bar during low tide - both fun.
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Ooh, forgot about popovers at Jordan Pond House! We do love that.
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Rent a bike in Bar Harbor and ride the carriage trails at Acadia. You can get your popovers that way, but do book.
Maybe too late in the seasons, but we had a fantastic rafting experience with Moxie rafting. Full cooked lunch on an island in the river.
Boothbay is fun. We did a lobster boat tour. Saw lobsters being pulled up, lots of lighthouses, overall really lovely.
We enjoyed walking all the little beach trails away from Acadia on the Southwest harbor side. Much less busy than around Bar Harbor.
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If you want to have popovers at Jordan Pond, make sure to go earlier in the day and get on the list. If you wait until mid-afternoon, you won’t get in, most likely.
I’m a little sad at how crowded Acadia and Mount Desert Island have gotten. I used to say that the tourists stuck to the immediate coastline so the carriage roads and hiking trails weren’t crowded, but even that’s not true anymore.
Best thing in Maine are the islands. Pick one and see if it has a hotel/B&B then take a ferry to visit for a few days. Maine is gorgeous but people go to the same old places. Try to stay a town (or two) away from the rest. You mentioned Acadia, for example. You can stay at some of the towns in the park or even go to one of the islands. Think Southwest Harbor not Bar Harbor. These places have many who live there part time and the ease of finding restaurants and a slower pace of life is great. Not going to share all my favorite places in Maine because we like solitude and no tourists. But believe me it’s there. We’ve found that 1/2 hour or more away from the known places means no one and the same views, lobster and beautiful vistas.
If you are a hiker don’t miss Cadillac mountain at sunrise. You can hike up or drive up. But either way, it’s something to be done. And some of the best hikes are in the park. My youngest who is now a teenager, fondly remembers going up the beehive. Barely tall enough to reach the rungs, it took great effort to do some of these hikes as an 8-10 year old. Undaunted, perseverance paid off with a great view and appreciation of nature.
Family motto: If you can walk it, hike it, if you can hike it, climb it, if you can climb it, push, then enjoy the view.
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Vinalhaven.
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250Main is a great hotel in Rockland. There is a great transportation museum in Owls Head not far from Rockland. Rockland is next to Camden. Not sure if the schooners are running to the end of Sept. But would be stunningly gorgeous to go out that time of year. Camden Hill state park and Mount Battie are great for hiking. The Farnsworth art museum and the small contemporary art museum in Rockland are great. Camden/Rockland is about 90 minutes from Portland.
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Been to Acadia for 30+ years. As the kids were growing up we did every peak in the park, just about. Now that the nest is empty and the knees, hips, etc. are “angry” we restrict ourselves to flattish walks as opposed to hikes. A few favorite easy ones: 1–trail around Jordan Pond, 3.3 miles, east shore is gravel, west shore has a couple of rock scrambles and a long boardwalk stretch.
2–any of the carriage roads. Get a good carriage road map and you can walk and walk and walk! The Hadlock loop takes you to a 40 ft waterfall that is a torrent in the spring and a trickle in the summer. Any part of the carriage road around Eagle Lake is gorgeous.
3–Jesup path: If you visit the Wild Gardens of Acadia at Sieur de Monts, walk away from the visitor center and gardens for a wide boardwalk path through a beautful birch forest. At the end you can loop around Great Meadow, where we often see deer. Return to park via the boardwalk.
BTW, from Augusta there are 2 ways to Acadia: continue north to Bangor, then head south on Rt 1A, or go east from Augusta on Rt3, following a more coastal route–more scenic, but takes a bit longer–this route will take you across the Penobscott Narrow Bridge, by Fort Knox.
We stayed at Bar Harbor Motel in 2014 when we took our 3 teens and all really liked the location and the feeling - like a vacation from my youth in the 1960s/70s. Rented bikes and road to and through the park. Years earlier my husband and I did a boat tour to Eagle Island where the Admiral Peary home is. Really beautiful trip but it was supposed to be a 3 hour tour and we sat for over an hour on the way back in fog so thick you couldn’t see five feet out from the boat. We also drove to Campobello Island to the Roosevelt home and really enjoyed it.
Second the recommendation for Vinalhaven and add to it a neighboring island–North Haven. Both are beautiful islands and not crowded. We’ve rented places on both islands and really enjoyed the area.
If you like gardens–there are several amazing gardens in Maine. Thyua Garden in Northeast Harbor is stunning. It’s a semi-formal herbaceous garden located on the grounds of an old lodge. Another great garden spot is Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay. Great walking paths and a variety of gardens. Boothbay is a very nice town to visit as well.
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Wejust got back from Maine (our family owns a camp in western Maine, has for 72 years). We like Bath and Camden for the coast. Portland is very vibrant and Cape Elizabeth is postcard pretty.
I have never been to Acadia as family deems that for “people from away”. You might consider going across the NH border to Portsmouth, or to any part of the White Mountains depending on where you are staying (too far from Bar Harbor). Our kids have always been partial to the Ogunquit Footbridge beach, which has parking if you get there early and is less crowded. Even has sand – but the water will still make you numb 
Thanks -
so far i’ve got flights to Boston, rental car, and the first night in Bangor (at a Marriott…I know so un-maine - but i have points). I actually wonder if Bangor is too far because we lande at 2:40 and our first day/night want to see Ogunquit - my wife said it sounds cute and it’s been mentioned here.
I was thinking Augusta might be better - just closer to Ogunquit - if we’re there til 9 or 10P.
Day 2 - get up, get to Acadia and not sure how many days - but will stay at a local place - they’re all $300 a night which is hard for me to envision - but I might have to suck it up!!!
But we need to work on the rest - and I’ve sent my wife the thread - lots of great info - can’t thank you all enough.
I said to her - maybe we should go ten days. Who knew Maine had so much. But she said - we’ll go back if we love it that much!!! But just one week.
Our other choice was the top of Michigan…sounds similar. Maybe that’s next year - and Costa Rica.
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Bangor to Ogunquit would be at least 2 1/2 hours, depending on traffic. That’s a lot of driving to go from Bangor to Ogunquit to Acadia. It’s 3 1/2 hours with no traffic issues from Ogunquit to Bar Harbor, and it’s mostly on Route 1, not an interstate.
I would recommend checking out Camden instead. Instead of 6 hours minimum driving (Bangor - Ogunquit - Bar Harbor), it would be 3 (Bangor - Camden - Bar Harbor). I like Camden as much if not more than Ogunquit. You could hike or drive up Mount Battie outside of Camden for an incredible view.
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Exactly. and sure, Ogunquit is cute, but in the kinda way all resort places are cute. Camden is wonderful and much less crowded
got it - part of our issue is we land at 2:40P - in Boston - so what’s realistic that first day. But maybe we go Camden Day 2 and then Acadia from there - rather than go all the way to Acadia from Boston - which is in essence what we’d be doing - with the stop for a few hours in Ogonquit.
Per google maps, Boston to Bangor is a bit short of four hours. But Camden is just 15 mins. less.
If you land in Boston in the afternoon, I’d suggest driving up to Portland and spending the night there. Great places for dinner out there - although if you are doing this after labor day, some places won’t be open.
You could spend the next day in southern maine - portland, the islands (Peaks island is a favorite), Kennebunkport, Ogunquit, Marginal Way - lots to see/do here for the day. You could always make your way up to Acadia later that evening.
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