Maine had been on my to-travel list for soooo long and I’m not sure why I waited so long to go. It’s beautiful, full of delicious lobster, and a nice, short flight from Chicago. I think I just had trouble selling the idea to my husband – but now I can very easily explain why Bar Harbor is worth a visit!
Acadia National Park
Of course, the star of Bar Harbor is Acadia National Park! Even if you’re not a seasoned hiker, Acadia offers lots of outdoor activities, where you can enjoy the sights and soak up the summer sun.
Quick notes if you’re driving: You’ll need a parking pass to park at Acadia, which you can buy ahead of time and just show from your phone. As far as parking, the easiest way to avoid the summer crowds at trails is probably to arrive as early in the morning as possible. Howeverrrr, we are not those people – we sleep in and putz around. If you’re like us, the second best option is probably to arrive in the late afternoon or early evening.
Hiking the Great Head Trail
I spent way too much time searching online to find exactly the right trail for our 5 and 7 year olds, and ultimately decided on Great Head. We parked near Sand Beach, and walked across the beach to start the path going clockwise. Altogether, it ended up being almost 2.5 miles of hiking, which was ambitious for little legs! But I thought Great Head was a cool trail with beautiful views of the water and was well-marked. The rocky section near the end of the trail was challenging for our daughter, who had hit her hiking limit, but she did it!
Splashing at Sand Beach
I’ve gotta say that the water here is COLD. Like, 56 degrees cold. But, after hiking Great Head, getting splashed by the chilly Atlantic water at Sand Beach was super refreshing! The kids played in the sand for a couple of hours here and, honestly, we could’ve stayed even longer. Beautiful scenery too!
Sand Beach has bathrooms, changing rooms, and a foot wash, which made it very convenient to visit.
Taking a sunset drive down Cadillac Mountain
Cadillac Summit Road is a scenic drive that brings you to the highest point in Acadia. As I mentioned, we are NOT early birds, so my goal was to snag a sunset ticket to Cadillac instead of one of the highly-coveted sunrise spots. I was lucky enough to grab a ticket for 7-7:30 pm, so we drove up during that time and spent a while walking around, checking out all the different views. As the colors got prettier and prettier, we started driving down – it was amazing that way! Who doesn’t love a nice sunset drive?
Tidepooling at Wonderland Trail
I pushed my luck a bit with the Great Head trail, so our next hike at was much lower key. The Wonderland Trail is an easy lollipop shaped path that brings you along the water, where you can explore little tide pools if you catch it during low tide. We didn’t find anything crazy, but had fun peeking into the little pools!
Relaxing at Echo Lake
We had so much fun at Sand Beach that we decided to hit another beach during our trip. The Echo Lake beach is smaller and rockier than Sand Beach, but the water itself is much warmer and calmer. It felt very tucked-away and relaxing. I think it’s a popular spot for kayaking, which I totally would have tried if time allowed!
Taking a low-tide walk to Bar Island
Another tide pooling opportunity can be found by walking the Bar Island Trail during low tide. The trail starts in downtown Bar Harbor and leads to a small island. Be mindful of the time, though, because once low tide ends, the trail disappears!
What else to do
Need a break from exploring the great outdoors? We had a few other favorite things:
Downtown Bar Harbor
It’s not quite the Stars Hollow small town of my East Coast dreams, but downtown Bar Harbor is fun for some wandering / shopping / snacking. Blueberry seems to be the special flavor around town, so I made a point to try blueberry ice cream. We also picked up a few cute touristy knickknacks and browsed books, before walking along the water and watching the boats.
Lobster Boat Tour
Another crowd-pleasing activity for our family was the lobstering & seal-watching boat tour through Sail Acadia, where we got to meet lobsters and crabs up close. We learned a lot about the lobstering process and local animals, all while enjoying a beautiful sunset on the water. The captain and tour guide were both awesome – we had a great time!
Pirate’s Cove Mini-Golf
Mini-golf is not anything Bar Harbor-specific, obviously, but our family is currently playing mini-golf whenever the opportunity presents itself, so it makes the list! Nice, clean place with two courses.
Where to stay: Bar Harbor Inn
There are not many places I’ve stayed where I felt like the hotel was the highlight of the trip, but the Bar Harbor Inn was truly one of my favorite things about our getaway! For starters, it’s BEAUTIFUL – our Oceanview room was incredible, as was the infinity pool – and everything was so nice and clean.
But even more than that, I felt like the amenities were designed with families in mind, making our kids feel so completely welcomed. When we checked in, they were each given a cute little deer stuffy, there were free cookies in the afternoons, s’mores by the fire pit in the evenings, outdoor games like frisbee and giant Jenga, breakfast included, etc. I really felt like I could relax for once (yay).
Where to eat: Beal’s Lobster Pier
Okay, there’s like a hundred different places to get lobster rolls around here. BUT we ordered the Lobster Roll Flight from Beal’s, and I was obsessed. It’s two lobster rolls, each cut into half, making four halves, and it comes with melted butter, garlic butter, lemon butter, and firecracker sauce. Yes, four different buttery options!! My husband and I enjoyed trying them all – so delish.
