Justin Smulski Itching for a Maine vacation with lots of adventure, salty air, and open spaces? As Maine’s coastal towns and villages become more popular destinations, tourists are driving farther up the shoreline for quieter getaways. We love Portland, Boothbay, and Bar Harbor, but all these well-known destinations aren’t without issues—crowds, parking, and rental availability most of …
Photo Credit: Justin Smulski When visitors start planning a trip to the Maine coast, a few things immediately come to mind—lobsters, lighthouses, diminutive fishing villages, and lots of scenic vistas. But if you time your trip just right and are up for some planning, you might be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of a …
Exploring Maine—taking in its farmland vistas, lowtide hikes, and scenic mountaintops—takes a whole lot of driving. That often means that the cities and towns you’re driving through feel like just that: somewhere you’re sorta-kinda passing through temporarily. Yet Maine’s meteoric rise in tourism over the last ten years hasn’t just been about outdoor adventure and …
It takes just under three hundred miles of driving to make your way up the Maine coast from the New Hampshire state line in Kittery all the way to the Canadian border. That slow meander up the shoreline takes you through countless towns and fishing villages filled with fry shacks, lobster pounds, and stunning scenery …
Portland’s food scene is having kind of a moment right now. Actually, at this point it’s fair to call it a hot streak more than anything else. While some of the city’s well-established restaurants and bars that helped put Portland on the map are always worth writing about—Fore Street, Local 188, Duckfat, Eventide, Mikaye, and …
So you want to go camping in Acadia National Park, huh? Good. You should. It’s beautiful and we’ve got some great suggestions. But, to start, let’s set some expectations. Acadia draws enormous crowds to the small and rugged coastal paradise of Mount Desert Island on the quiet Downeast coast of northeastern Maine. In fact, the …
The call for exploration on Maine’s Downeast coast is understandable: rugged cliffs limned in salty mist and yet somehow, miraculously, sprinkled with sand beaches and chilly swimming holes. It’s the perfect place for summer coastal adventures, and Acadia is the true crown jewel of Downeast outdoorsmanship. Where else, it’s worth asking, can you venture from …
There are 3,166 islands on the Maine coast. Some are large enough to accommodate multiple towns and a national park (we’re looking at you Mount Desert Island and Acadia), and others are small enough that they’re reduced to a diminutive spire of rock with a few trees at high tide. Many are bridged and easily …
Fun fact: often credited as the most photographed lighthouse in the world, Portland Head Light isn’t actually in Portland. Indeed, there are exactly zero lighthouses in Portland Maine proper. The gorgeous shots of lighthouses on the front of every tourism brochure for the area sure don’t make that obvious, but the 20-minute drive from Portland …
At the eastern extremity of the continental United States, Maine’s more than 3000 miles of coastal frontage lends itself to an endless array of beautiful destinations to watch the day’s early light race across the horizon. The sun’s rays hit Maine’s coast first before anywhere else in the country. The region’s relationship with the sunrise …