A Travel Guide for Maine

We just returned from our vacay to Maine, and I am recapping our whole trip for you! If you haven't been to the Northeast, you need to make it a point to visit this beautiful area of our amazing country. A few years ago, we went to Boston, Martha's Vineyard, Cape Cod, and Salem, Massachusetts. During that trip, I wanted to try and squeeze in Maine and Acadia National park, but we couldn't make it happen before we had to head home. Therefore, when the opportunity arose for us to make the trek to Maine for a week, I was ready to jump on the opportunity! I was so excited to get to experience this part of our country, but the best part was we were able to take our baby girl along with us on this journey!

This is the Bush Family Summer Home in Kennebunkport, Maine

For this trip, we decided to fly into Boston Logan Airport and rent a car to drive up the coast to Maine. We chose to break up the trip by staying in Kennebunkport, Maine on the way to Bar Harbor. This was about 2 hours from Boston. Kennebunkport is a small coastal town in South Maine that is most famous for the vacation home of the Bush family. We stayed at the Break Water Inn and Spa during our stay and the restaurant across the street, Mabel's Lobster Claw, is where we had dinner that night. The hotel was a great location and the restaurant was delicious! The downtown area of Kennebunkport is definitely worth checking out as well. You can drive or walk to Walker's Point to see the Bush family compound. Due to security and obvious reasons, you can't get close to the property, but you can get a great photo from the road. It's hard to imagine that this is the family's summer home!

VIew from our hotel - The Breakwater Inn and Spa

After spending the day in Kennebunkport, we made the trek to Bar Harbor, Maine. It was about a 3 hour drive to Bar Harbor from Kennebunkport. Upon arrival, we checked into the Harborside Hotel which was really NICE! I highly recommend this hotel if you go to Bar Harbor. Everything about it was wonderful... the location, the accommodations, the bed...all amazing. Because of the fabulous location, we were able to walk pretty much everywhere within the town.

Overlooking the bay in Bar Harbor

Bar Harbor is a town on Mount Desert Island along Maine’s Frenchman Bay. It serves as a gateway to the mountains and cliffs of neighboring Acadia National Park. Towering over the park, Cadillac Mountain has trails and views of the town, the bay and the Cranberry Islands. It's seriously so beautiful, and I highly recommend visiting this beautiful location. It's a much slower way of life and was a welcome change from the hustle and bustle of our normal day-to-day routine. While there we ate at a few different restaurants. The restaurant inside of our hotel was actually really good. The name is La Bella Vita and it served Italian for lunch/dinner. We also had breakfast here and it was pretty good as well. The best meal we had while here was at a restaurant across from our hotel called, The West Street Cafe. The fried clams, salmon, and grilled shrimp salad were all on point! Another awesome meal was from Side Street Cafe. They have so much to choose from and the kids meals were great as well. No matter where you decide to eat, you have to try lobster since that is what Maine is known for! A lobster roll is where it's at if you want to try lobster. I tried to eat seafood at every meal since it is native to that area. Speaking of, BLUEBERRIES are everywhere! Blueberry pie, blueberry muffins, blueberry ice cream, blueberry pancakes...seriously, you name it, they have it. Blueberries grow wild in Maine so they are everywhere! I even brought home a few souvenirs from a shop named, The Naked Blueberry. This is a must visit while in Bar Harbor.

The Naked Blueberry is a must visit for a souvenir and a cute photo-op!

Acadia National Park is just a quick drive from Bar Harbor. One thing we figured out is there are different entrances to the park, and some charge you for entrance and some don't. We drove into the park everyday during our stay in Bar Harbor because there is so much to see. My must see list includes, Cadillac Mountain, Jordan Pond, and Sand Beach. There's a restaurant at Jordan Pond called Jordan Pond House. You have to stop in there for the popovers and a lemonade after a day of hiking! There are so many trail stops on the roadway, basically it's a hiker's paradise!

View from trailhead at Jordan's Pond

View of Bar Harbor from Cadillac Mountain

This view was from the side of the road!

We spent four days in Bar Harbor and then decided to head back towards Boston before our flight home. New Castle, New Hampshire is about an hour and 15 minutes away from the Boston airport, so we decided to stay a day/night here before returning home. I love a small coastal town and New Castle did not disappoint! We stayed at Wentworth by the Sea in New Castle, NH, which was also a Marriott property. This was probably the nicest hotel of our whole stay. It was absolutely beautiful and very charming. There were two restaurants on the property, and both were delicious! My favorite was Latitudes Waterfront Dining because of the spectacular views and the food was amazing. They were very accommodating for our daughter as well. The grounds of this hotel were absolutely gorgeous! I probably could have stayed another night at this location, because it was so nice.

View from the property grounds of the Wentworth by the Sea hotel

View from the dock at the Wentworth by the Sea Hotel

View from Latitudes Restaurant on the Wentworth Hotel property

I hope you have found this recap of our vacation useful! If you decide to check out these recommendations, I would love to know! Additionally, if you have recommendations that I haven't included as part of this post, feel free t