Have You Been to Acadia National Park in Maine?

Updated on October 28, 2015
E.B. asks from Sour Lake, TX
7 answers

Will be going this summer to Acadia National and while I have lots of information, there is nothing like word of mouth. Would love to know your experiences there, what to do and what to maybe skip. Also, I'm unsure how much time to spend there. We are doing it in combination with a trip to Boston and I'm trying to budget the time wisely. I'm thinking 3 full days is enough?? 4??? Oh and when we go to Boston we are looking for a place near the Freedom Trail or Faneuil Hall where we could walk everywhere. Since we need to look by neighborhood, which neighborhoods would be the closest to those sites??

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C.T.

answers from Santa Fe on

I have been there twice. It's wonderful. We are outdoorsy and we spent our time hiking on the beautiful trails in Acadia. And we also spent a lot of time just hanging out on the beach. We bought live lobsters one night for dinner from a fisherman. We walked around the little town one day and did some shopping, ate out, got ice cream. We women spent one other day going antiquing while the guys watched the kids. But I am person who isperfectly happy spending a week hiking and getting in beach time. One house we rented was a short hike through the woods to a rocky beach and to a sandy beach. At the rocky beach if the tide was low you could hike across to an island. But you had to hike back before the tide became too high again. The kids LOVED this. They all thought they were pirates I think. I can spend whole days beach combing, walking beaches, hiking, reading on the beach and finding new trails. It's an extremely beautiful place.

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S.P.

answers from Washington DC on

We went a few years ago with 1 baby in towe. Spent 4 days and majority of time was in Acadia. If you're on a time budget 3 days is enough. Our favorite sites/activities were a hike around Jordan Pond with lunch (or just a snack) at the Jordon Pond House, they take reservations and are famous for popovers and tea, lobster stew, homemade ice cream. We stayed at Asticou Inn, they had a free standing room (we called it a birdhouse). Wasn't a 5 star hotel but cool set up and I would stay there again. We even walked around a trail from the hotel one day, great views of a scenic harbour (it may have been seal harbour, can't remember). Thunder cove is cool, waves crashing on the rocky coast, it's dramatic. Bar Harbour - a walk around town and dinner one night was good enough for us. Cadillac mountain is a well known site but we drove to the top, took a look and drove off, I prob didn't do enough research about it but it's not something I would do if I were on limited time. You definitely have to eat lobster, previous poster veruca salt mentioned good ones. And 2kidmama post makes me want to go again! Spending time on Maines beautiful rocky coast is an experience you don't forget.

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W.W.

answers from Washington DC on

YES!!! It was beautiful!! We were in a motor home.

Make sure you have lots of room on your SD card for pictures and batteries or chargers!!!

There is much to see....we were there 2 days. We were in a motor home and pulling a car. So we camped at the Schoolic (I think?) campground, I believe. I'd have to go back and look. Any way - since we were in a motor home, we wanted hook-ups...I know...rustic camping!! LOL!!

Any way - there's much to see!!

We made our trip from DC, to Central Massachusetts using I-91 North, to Vermont through White Mountain National Forest, to New Hampshire, to Maine, and then down to Boston, then back to DC.

Have a blast!!

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V.S.

answers from Reading on

It depends on what you like to see. We usually go for about a week and rent a house. June is less expensive than July and August. Bar Harbor is very touristy, so we only spend an afternoon there, but there are a couple of nice galleries there. The Lobster Hatchery is also really interesting, as is the Margaret Todd (four mast schooner) and Diver Ed (an educational tour of the harbor). We've taken a carriage ride in Acadia, and there are lots of different hiking trails you can explore. Sand beach, if it's warm enough, is where you can have a beach day. Definitely hit Young's or Beal's Lobster Pound. You can also go out to the Cranberry Isles, which are a couple of islands in the harbor - there is an artist colony there and only about 150 year round inhabitants, so the islands are pretty and quaint. There are more things to do in Boston, of course, so I'm not sure how much time you're planning overall and how old your kids are. The new england aquarium and the children's museum and the freedom trail are all requirements of any Boston tour, as are the duck boats. Good luck!

ETA: I totally disagree that one day is enough, unless you're not an outdoor person. But even if you don't like hiking, there's quite a bit to do. We have been there four times, a week each time, and we still haven't seen everything. If you're bored by the end of only one day, you haven't done your homework, in my opinion.

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M.R.

answers from Seattle on

I went years ago in a VW Eurovan Camper and the best part were the bicycle trails, the lobster, the blueberry pies and the hikes. Take or rent bicycles if you can.

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M.M.

answers from Chicago on

One day at Acadia is enough. Honestly.
Go down into Bar Harbor, get some dinner, and finish your day. There's a bit of shopping in town if you want to do tourist stuff, but you'll find that it's your basic small town in the middle of the woods. While quaint, there's not much else to do.

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O.O.

answers from Los Angeles on

I was there briefly as a piggyback on a business trip. Beautiful park! Don't know that I could spend days there. But if you're the type of person that can spend several days in a national park, that's a nice O.!
Agree--check out Bar Harbor!

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