Acadia National Park. All photography is ours.
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Maine with Kids
If you’re planning Maine with kids, give Acadia two days and drive up the coast to get there. Stop for a lobster roll on the way, climb Cadillac Mountain, and save a morning for Jordan Pond. We did it in July 2024 at the end of a Boston trip, and the drive was as much fun as the park.
Maine is slow in the best way. Little coastal towns, lighthouses, and a national park that’s easy for families, with no strenuous hiking required.
Destination guide · Updated November 2026 · Last visited July 2024
Best months
June–early October
National parks
1 + 5 NPS sites
Fly into
PWM · BGR · BOS
How long
4 days for the coast and Acadia
Book ahead
Cadillac Mountain vehicle reservation · Bar Harbor hotels in summer · Jordan Pond House
Our drive up from Boston took most of the day, on purpose. We had lunch at Duckfat in Portland, saw Portland Head Light, and stopped at the L.L.Bean flagship in Freeport for the photo with the giant boot.
Then we spent two days in Acadia from Bar Harbor. Our first lap of the Park Loop Road was fogged in, but luckily the second day was clear. We drove from Bar Harbor and spent a half-day exploring Bangor before dropping off the car and flying home. Keep reading for the Maine essentials and the coast road trip that got us there.
Your Maine guide
Enjoy exploring Maine with kids!
Keep scrolling for the essentials, three Maine road trips, and where we stayed.
Essential Maine
Why we love Maine
We think you’ll love it too.
Maine is where we’d send a family that wants a national park without the lines, and a road trip with a lobster shack at every turn. Acadia is a laid back, easy park to visit. No big climbs, a loop road that does the work, and a mountain you can drive up. Add a lighthouse in the fog, blueberry pancakes, and Red’s Eats, and it’s a trip the whole family can agree on. Northern Maine and the lakes are still on our list. Scroll down for the Maine essentials.
Acadia National Park AftT Visit
The Park Loop Road is the whole park in one drive: Sand Beach, Thunder Hole, Otter Cliffs, and Jordan Pond. Our first day was fogged in and the second was clear, so give it two days if you can. Nothing we did required technical hiking.
Cadillac Mountain AftT Visit
The highest point on the East Coast, and you can drive to the top. Vehicle reservations are required from late May through October, including daytime. We took a 7 am slot on our second morning, after the sunrise crowd had cleared out.
Jordan Pond House AftT Visit
Jordan Pond House serves popovers on the lawn, with the Bubbles across the pond. The carriage road loop around the pond is flat and good for kids. Reserve a table in summer or expect a wait.
Portland Head Light AftT Visit
Portland Head Light is Maine’s most photographed lighthouse, in Fort Williams Park outside Portland. We came after dinner and the fog rolled in, which made it better. It’s free to walk the grounds.
And the rest we’d drive Route 1 for
Red’s Eats AftT Visit
Red’s Eats is the lobster roll shack in Wiscasset with the line on Route 1. Ours was 45 minutes around 7 pm. The roll is cold lobster with drawn butter on the side, and the kids thought it was worth the wait.
Duckfat AftT Visit
Belgian frites fried in duck fat, in Portland. The Frites Shack is the quick version, and it’s a good first stop on the drive north.
The L.L.Bean flagship AftT Visit
Open 24 hours in Freeport, with the giant boot out front for the photo. We spent an hour here, and it’s where Cadence got the hiking boots she wore in Acadia.
Bar Harbor AftT Visit
Bar Harbor is the town at Acadia’s front door. We ate at Salsa Verde Grill, had our second lobster roll of the trip at Bar Harbor Lobster Co., got ice cream at CJ’s Big Dipper, and had breakfast at Jeannie’s Great Maine Breakfast. Blueberry pancakes were the order of the day, naturally.
Bangor AftT Visit
Bangor was a logistics stop for us before the flight home. Stephen King’s house with the bat and spider gate is a quick drive-by that older kids will get a kick out of.
Schoodic Peninsula
Schoodic Peninsula is the quiet side of Acadia, an hour from Bar Harbor on the mainland. It has a rocky shoreline, a loop road, and a fraction of the crowds.
Kennebunkport and the southern beaches
You’ll find sandy beaches at Ogunquit, Wells, and Old Orchard Beach, and the pier at Old Orchard has rides. This is the warm-water end of Maine, relatively speaking.
Baxter State Park and Katahdin
Baxter State Park has the northern end of the Appalachian Trail and Maine’s biggest mountain. Camping is reservation-only and fills early. We haven’t been yet.
Moosehead Lake
Moose tours leave by boat or van from Greenville, and there’s a seaplane base on the lake. It’s the classic North Woods trip.
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Routes
Three Maine road trip itineraries
Route 1 up the coast is the Maine trip. Here it is as we drove it, plus a shorter southern version and the North Woods. See all the best stops on a map.
Start
Portland and Freeport
Get frites at Duckfat, spend an hour at L.L.Bean, and see Portland Head Light at Fort Williams Park. We came from Boston, so this was our afternoon.
Then head to
Wiscasset and Route 1
Stop at Red’s Eats for dinner, then take the long two-lane drive north through Camden and Belfast to Bar Harbor. It’s slower than the map says.
Finish
Bar Harbor and Acadia
Spend two nights here for two laps of the Park Loop Road, Cadillac by car on the second morning, and Jordan Pond. Fly home from Bangor an hour away.
Home base
Kennebunkport or Ogunquit
You get sandy beaches and walkable towns an hour from the Portland airport.
Then head to
Portland
Take a day for the Old Port, the lighthouses, and Duckfat. The Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine is downtown.
Add on
Old Orchard Beach
Old Orchard Beach has a pier with rides and arcades, and a seven mile beach. It’s old-school, and kids love it.
Start
Bangor
Fly in, stock up, and head north. Drive by Stephen King’s house on the way out of town.
Then head to
Moosehead Lake
Base in Greenville for a moose tour and a seaplane ride. Plan on two nights.
Finish
Baxter State Park
Baxter is home to Katahdin and the quiet end of the Appalachian Trail. Day-use parking reservations are required in summer.
When to go
Time your visits with the weather and the region
We went in early July. It was busy but the weather mostly cooperated, with one fogged-in day in Acadia. Pack layers and rain gear in any month. We were glad we did. Fall is the other big window, with foliage and fewer people.
Swipe the chart sideways to see the full year.
June – August
When we went. Warm days, cool nights, and every lobster shack open. Acadia is busiest, so book Cadillac and Bar Harbor early.
September – early October
You get foliage and cool air, and the crowds thin after Labor Day. Some shacks close by Columbus Day.
April – May
It’s mud season inland, and black flies come out in late spring. The coast is quiet and some things are still closed.
November – March
It’s cold and snowy. Acadia’s loop road mostly closes to cars, and most of Bar Harbor shuts down for the winter.
Where to stay
Pick a good base to start your Maine adventure
Bar Harbor is the obvious base for Acadia, and we used points to make it work. Here’s where we stayed and what we’d change.
Acadia
Bar Harbor
We stayed at the Hampton Inn Bar Harbor on points. It was unremarkable, but it was free and ten minutes from the park entrance. The town is walkable for dinner and ice cream.
- Hampton Inn Bar Harbor on Hilton points
- Inns in town if you want to walk to the Shore Path
- Southwest Harbor for the quieter side of the island
Southern Maine
Portland
The Old Port puts you near the restaurants and a short drive from the lighthouses. It’s the natural first night if you fly into PWM.
- The Old Port for walking to dinner
- Points hotels along the waterfront
- Freeport if you want to shop in the morning
Inland
Bangor
We spent our last night at the TownePlace Suites in Bangor so we could fly home from BGR in the morning. A points stop, not a destination, but it made the logistics easy.
- TownePlace Suites Bangor on Marriott points
- An hour from Bar Harbor
- The gateway to Baxter and Moosehead if you keep going
Good to know
Questions families ask us about Maine
Yes, you need one for your vehicle from late May through October. Sunrise slots sell out fast, but we booked a 7 am slot for our second morning and had no trouble. Reservations are released in blocks on recreation.gov, so check the dates for your trip. The road is a short drive from Bar Harbor and the view from the top covers the whole island.
It was for us. We did no technical hiking at all. The Park Loop Road gets you to Sand Beach, Thunder Hole, and the Ocean Path, and you can walk as much or as little of each as you want. Jordan Pond has a flat loop and popovers at the end. Two days was the right amount.
We think so. Our wait was about 45 minutes around 7 pm. The lobster roll is cold lobster meat with drawn butter on the side, more lobster than roll. There are other shacks on Route 1 with shorter lines, and we’d try one of those too next time.
Pack layers and rain gear, even in July. Our first day in Acadia was fogged in and cool, and the second was sunny. Bring a light jacket, a rain shell, and real shoes for the rocks at Thunder Hole. We bought Cadence new hikers at L.L.Bean on the way up, which worked out.
Bangor is an hour from Bar Harbor and the easiest, which is why we flew home from there. Portland is three hours but has more flights. Boston is about five hours and often the cheapest, and it turns the drive into part of the trip, which is what we did.
Acadia is the one national park. There are five other National Park Service sites, including Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument and the northern end of the Appalachian Trail. We’ve been to Acadia and the trail. Our Maine national parks guide has the rest.
Map
Essential Maine, mapped
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