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Maine coast trip suggestions?

I have a friend who work for the port of Halifax,NS we meet at Down east Rally /Hermit Island,Me. each yr.
 
For future visitors;

Take it from someone with local knowledge who lives 10 miles from Belfast. Stay in Belfast or Camden. MDI is nice, but as you can see from the recommendations all the folks from away go there, as do the cruise ships, as do the workers.....get my drift...EVERYONE goes there and I have seen backups to get on the island at times over the causeway due to a light at the end. Yes it is pretty...but so is the rest of the coast and just inland. Honesty MDI got ruined when they started catering to the cruise lines...now Bar Harbor is overrun.

If you want to see the real Maine on the cheap, Belfast, Bucksport, and inland is the way to go. If you have money and time to blow...MDI is the place to be.
 
For future visitors;

If you want to see the real Maine on the cheap, Belfast, Bucksport, and inland is the way to go. If you have money and time to blow...MDI is the place to be.

Nothing wrong with Belfast, Camden, etc. except Acadia isn't there. It doesn't take much effort to avoid crowds, spend next to nothing, and take in the best views on the Maine coast, which are mostly on MDI. Those other towns can be just as spendy as Bar Harbor if you don't travel like a local.

Traffic? Get up with the sun and the first 4 or 5 hours on the roads are yours alone.
 
Nothing wrong with Belfast, Camden, etc. except Acadia isn't there. It doesn't take much effort to avoid crowds, spend next to nothing, and take in the best views on the Maine coast, which are mostly on MDI. Those other towns can be just as spendy as Bar Harbor if you don't travel like a local.

Traffic? Get up with the sun and the first 4 or 5 hours on the roads are yours alone.

Yep, have to agree with this! We stayed in Belfast and did the quick trip up to MDI in the morning (on Labor Day weekend no less) and had a great day touring Acadia and environs. Not to say that there isn't also great scenery and nice towns inland and elsewhere along the coast... there definitively is! Make a week of it if you can and enjoy Maine... one of my favorite places in the country!
 
The Mid-Coast Area

One of the great things to see in the Rockland area is The Owl's Head Transportation
Museum (http://www.ohtm.org/). It is well worth a look, if you are looking for a place
to camp in the area, I would recommend The Lobster Buoy campground which is about
3-4 miles down the road from the museum. There is a great place to get cooked lobsters
about 1/2 mile down the road from the campground and you can eat them outside by
the ocean. If you are a Blues Fan the best time to visit
this area is in July during the North Atlantic Blues Festival
(http://www.northatlanticbluesfestival.com/2012/07/2013-north-atlantic-blues-festival/).
 
I don't know...I was in Bar Harbor today for work. Yeah...it is pretty, but everyone but Beemup and I posting here are from "away" all you guys are drawn to Bar Harbor because it's simply where tourists like to go. It's not the real Maine. I was laughing to myself while passing all the lobster pounds, trinket shops, and driving ranges on RT3 that all these shops close up in September, in October Bar Harbor is a ghost town. It's like an abandoned amusement park.

Tourist Lobster "pounds"? The only place I see them are in the tourist areas...only a tourist would want to sit on the side of the road in the sun to eat a hot lobster and corn from what is basically old boiling water in a pot.

What really killed the appeal of Bar Harbor were the damn cruise ships. Sure the locals love them down there as they are making money.....but the congestion, prices and compromised views of a previously beautiful vista are not worth it.

To each thier own....but if you come to Maine to see Maine...then spend some time exploring beyond MDI. If you want to come to Maine to see what LLBean and Downeast likes to pretend what Maine is...then hit MDI and take it all in.

Do I ever go for pleasure? Yes....in October after the NPS shuts down saasonal activities. The tourists are mostly gone, the park loop is free to ride and unpatrolled. The ships are gone leaving the natural views. The best local eats are still open. But before that...no thanks.
 
I'm all over New England for work and go to MDI plenty of times and never set foot in Bar Harbor, but I do like to people watch there on summer nights. I have customers and friends on MDI and get there at least half dozen times a year, times the past 35 years. Avoiding crowds is easy even in July and August -- there's a whole lot more to the place than BH. To me, it's often a jumping off point for a Quebec or Nova Scotia ride. I would have moved there 35 years ago but never did figure how to make a living from there.
 
Bar Harbor and Western Maine

I read the earlier posts and I although I like Bar Harbor during the off season, I wouldn't
get near it during the summer months, the traffic is awful. There are a lot of nice rides along
the coastline in Maine that will show you the "real" Maine as was said earlier. Another place that
is well worth going is the mountains in Western Maine, some great riding there.........The Old
Quebec Road from Solon will take you all the way to Quebec or you can peel off in Jackman and
take a ride down "Moose Alley" to Greenville and Moosehead Lake. Route 11 that goes to Fort Kent is
a nice ride too and a ride from Fort Kent down route 1 is really nice too. There are lots of great places
to ride in Maine, although if you've never been to Bar Harbor, it's worth a look and the ride up Cadillac Mountain and the view is really nice. Have a great trip, explore the little places that are off the beaten
path........you won't regret it. Have a safe trip.
 
If you get near Wiscasset, Main, you may want to check out Red's Eats (seafood stand).

I am told that it is a must if in the area.

My wife found the place in Country Living Magazine June 2013 issue. pg 124

We will be making a trip to Maine in July. A little over 9 hours to get there, about 400 miles.

Ride safe and enjoy the ride & life.
 
Another nice short scenic excursion is taking RT 24 from Brunswick out to Orrs and Bailey Island. At the end of the peninsula there is a nice little gift shop and plenty of rocks to sit on and take in the coastal view..awesome!
 
The lighthouse depicted on the quarter for Maine is based on the Pemaquid Point Light located near Bristol, Maine.

My grown daughter and I visited there several years ago while my wife watched the grand kids. We found it to be quite interesting. A short way north of there, we stayed in a bed and breakfast that overlooked a fishing harbor. Sorry, can't remember the name of the place...there were lots of decent mom and pop places to choose from.

We went to a local seafood restaurant that the boats backed up to and unloaded...my daughter enjoyed her first lobster dinner there.:wave

The ship on the quarter is the Victory Chimes, http://www.victorychimes.com/
We took a sail on it last year and can't say enough good things about the boat and the people.
 
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