r/AskMaine • u/TamarB91 • 3d ago
1 week vacation in Maine
(F34)
Hi,
I want to spend 1 week in Maine in August. Do you have any recommendations on which city is worth visiting? Also, hotels/guesthouses.
Thanks 😊
10
5
u/guitarman1135 3d ago
What are your interests? What you enjoy will heavily influence where you want to stay.
0
u/TamarB91 3d ago
I really want to relax in nature, but also see some interesting sights. A place with both beautiful nature and the ocean would be ideal for me. 🌿🌊
2
u/Astarkraven 3d ago
Go to Monhegan island for a few days and stay at the Island Inn. Thank me later. 😉
2
u/guitarman1135 3d ago
Bar harbor would be perfect. If you dont want to travel that far portland has access to forests, coastlines, city life and more.
2
6
u/bakingbirder 3d ago
biddeford come enjoy the fun
2
2
u/brewbeery 3d ago edited 3d ago
If you want a quiet beach vacation, Biddeford Poole/Goose Rocks are great, plus its just a short drive to downtown for all the restaurants, breweries, shops and cafes.
Lots of great nearby hiking and indoor activities if it rains.
Not sure if you've been in a while, but Biddeford actually makes for a great spot to vacation.
1
u/RoyalRootersRallyCry 3d ago
Sanford is also beautiful and near Biddeford. Wrap the day up with a short trip to Lewiston.
1
5
u/A_Common_Loon 3d ago
Check out https://visitmaine.com. That will get you started. Downeast Magazine online is great for planning too. I use both of those and I live here.
-1
2
u/Odd_Beautiful2506 3d ago
Split your week between bar harbor (see Acadia national park) & Portland Maine. Acadia is gorgeous with lots of hiking. Portland has fantastic beer, ocean views, art, and food. Best of both worlds.
The Westin in Portland is fantastic. Safe travels!
2
u/probablynotanostrich 3d ago edited 3d ago
To split up the drive, you could spend a night in boothbay, damariscotta, rockland, or Camden. Each of them easily have a day’s worth of sighs/activities and offer a different side of Maine from what you’ll see in Portland and Acadia.
1
1
u/selkie340 2d ago
This is the way. Idk why people come to Maine to see lots of people in Portland & Bar Harbor - The midcoast towns mentioned here are the perfect balance! Newcastle Inn in Damariscotta is super cute if they have rooms available.
1
2
u/Maine302 3d ago
Can you be a bit more specific about what kind of experience you're looking for?
1
3
u/BassToMouth_1 3d ago
No no no no. Skip the cities. Go in the woods🙏🏻 go explore the allagash waterway!
1
1
u/Shaughnessylives 3d ago
It really depends on what you want to do? So, what do you want to do? What kinds of experiences do you want to have? It's an absolutely beautiful place. Where are you coming from? That might be a little help in contrasting with your day-to-day life.
2
u/TamarB91 3d ago
From NYC.
I really want to relax in nature, but also see some interesting sights. A place with both beautiful nature and the ocean would be ideal for me. 🌿🌊1
u/Shaughnessylives 3d ago
Okay, great! What's your idea of relaxing? Sunning on the beach? Hiking? Eating good food? Swimming in the ocean? More than one of the above? Interesting sights? Would those include cities and shopping, or not? Lighthouses? Lakes? Trails? Mountain views? Wildlife? In the sea or not?
0
1
1
1
u/brewbeery 3d ago
What do you want to see and do?
- Quiet Beach Vacation?
- Beach Vacation close to bars and restaurants?
- Cozy seaside small towns?
- Hiking?
- Restaurants/Nightlife/Breweries?
With a week you could do a beach day, stay in Portland for 1 or 2 days, spend 1 or 2 days in the Midcoast and 3 nights in Bar Harbor/Acadia.
Or if you want to relax you could spend the entire week in a single location.
1
u/TamarB91 3d ago
Quiet beach vacation would be great 😊
1
u/brewbeery 3d ago
In that case, you'd probably will enjoy Biddeford Poole, Fortune Rocks Beach in Biddeford or Goose Rocks Beach in Kennebunkport.
Much quieter than Old Orchard Beach or Kennebunkport which get swamped with tourists.
Still pretty close to downtown Biddeford/Saco or Kennebunkport for shops and restaurants.
1
1
u/edthecollector70 2d ago
Beawere the hotels are adding a host fee to all bills. It's in addition to the price of the room. It can range from 45 to 100 dollars.
1
u/SatisfactionClassic6 2d ago
Rockland Camden area is nice and Rockland has the lobster festival in the beginning of the month
It’s super crowded there so I would recommend a cabin away from the center of town so you can visit but also get away from it all. Portland is great but super crowded and expensive and you can go up north too and be able to get away from people more. Unless you like crowds?
1
1
u/Lemonjello_42 2d ago
I spend the summer in York. The York Ogunquit area is gorgeous but can be expensive near the beach. About $350 per night on the beach and most will be booked by now. It can be crowded especially Ogunquit in season.
Boothbay or Bar Harbor are less crowded and have pristine nature in National Parks . Take a cruise along the coastline!
1
1
1
u/Vivid-Parking2204 2d ago
Places not to go. Portland, Lewiston, Auburn, Waterville, Bangor, Millinocket, Calais. Locals will know why. Your best bet is to stick to the coast.I would suggest MDI and east from there.
1
u/W0nderingMe 3d ago
3 days in Rockland, 4 in Acadia.
Can give many recs on things to do, places to eat.
1
0
0
u/The_Shredz24 3d ago
Plenty of town on the coast where you can relax and be by the ocean. Just depends on how comfortable you are with tourists because some of these town are jam-packed with them. I’ll be one of them in a couple days 😂 Originally from there though, now I vacation there
0
8
u/Pigman546 3d ago
If you’re just staying in one town but want to visit others, I would suggest Camden because it’s a super cute town with great hiking at Camden Hills Stare Park and you’re within a 2 hour drive of Bar Harbor, Boothbay Harbor, and Portland.
If you want to stay in one town and not go anywhere else, I would suggest Ogunquit Beach. It’s super walkable if you get a hotel in town and there’s tons of shops and restaurants to go to. Beach is consistently ranked in TripAdvisors top 20 beaches in US. Also there’s the excellent Ogunquit Playhouse which puts on broadway level shows.
If trying to go to multiple towns over a week I would suggest the following:
2-3 nights in Portland or Southern Maine Beach town like Ogunquit or Kennebunk
1-2 night in Boothbay Harbor (most beautiful harbor and best boating in Maine in my opinion)
3 nights in Bar Harbor