We love doing leaf-peeping road trips in the fall, so we took a friend’s October wedding in Maine as an excuse to take the whole week off and drive Route 1 from Portland up to Acadia National Park and back. The wedding festivities took place during the first few days of our time in Maine, so the road trip itself was about 5 days. Of course, you can definitely spend longer in Maine, but the great thing about this itinerary is that it can be done in a Thursday – Monday long weekend (or Friday – Tuesday) if that’s all your schedule allows! If you have an even shorter window, scroll all the way to the bottom of this post for a 3-day coastal Maine road trip itinerary.
Check out this fall foliage map to see when leaves will peak across the U.S. For 2023, peak season is Maine is estimated to hit around October 9, which is right when we visited in 2021!
Below we share our suggested five-day coastal Maine road trip itinerary along Route 1 as well as ideas to make it shorter or longer to fit your schedule. The beauty of a road trip, though (in our humble opinion), is the serendipity of roadside stops. So each daily itinerary below includes plenty of time for you to pull over for whichever charming little town or roadside ice cream shop catches your eye. Day 1 requires the longest driving time, and it’s still less than 3.5 hours for the whole day.
An important thing to know before your fall Maine road trip:
Although we think of New England (including Maine) as a fall destination, high season in Maine is actually summer. Some coastal restaurants and attractions are seasonal, so they may close around late September or early October. (The wedding we attended was over Indigenous Peoples’ Day weekend, and quite a few places had already closed for the season or closed after that Monday holiday.) This shouldn’t prevent you from visiting Maine in mid-October or later, as there is still a ton to do and it’s gorgeous, but if you have any specific businesses you want to visit, check their seasonal hours ahead of time.
Day 1: Portland to Camden
Portland to Damariscotta ~ 53 mi/86 km ~ 1 hour and 10 minutes
Damariscotta to Pemaquid Point ~ 15 mi/24 km ~ 25 minutes
Pemaquid Point to Owls Head ~ 46 mi/74 km ~ 1 hour and 10 minutes
Owls Head to Camden ~ 14 mi/22 km ~ 30 minutes
We flew into Portland, Maine, so our itinerary starts here. If you are driving from the south, a few popular cities south of Portland to visit along the Maine coast include Ogunquit (~1 hour from Portland), Kennebunkport (~40 minutes from Portland) and Cape Elizabeth (home of the photogenic Portland Head Light, only ~15 minutes from Portland).
Portland
If you arrive in Portland in the morning, we recommend Salt Yard Cafe near the waterfront for their delicious breakfast sandwich. We ended up there after the wait at the nearby Becky’s Diner was too long. Salt Yard is located inside a Hilton, which wouldn’t always be my first restaurant choice, but it was surprisingly good! Alternatively, you can try the famous potato donuts from The Holy Donut (or do both and take your donuts and coffee for the road). Then it’s time to start your drive up Route 1!
If you arrive in Portland in the evening, consider that “Day 0” and start this itinerary on your first full day. We recommend dinner in Old Port (so many good options! ask your hotel or host for their favorite local spots) and stop by Blyth & Burrows for cocktails in a speakeasy setting.
Damariscotta
We (unintentionally) visited during the annual Damariscotta Pumpkinfest and Regatta, which was a hoot. If you visit during the festival, leave yourself time to walk through downtown and admire the massive and decorated oddball pumpkins (example pictured above left) along the main drag.
If this is your first lunch in Maine, consider a lobster roll (we recommend making lobster rolls a daily habit during this road trip). We didn’t have a bad lobster roll during our entire trip, so don’t stress too much about where to eat, but we did enjoy being able to mix and match different variations of lobster and crab rolls with the sampler platter at The Lobster Haul (pictured above right). Damariscotta is also famous for its local oysters and mussels, which are harvested from the Damariscotta River.
For our fellow book-lovers, the Skidompha Secondhand Book Shop is a fabulous used bookstore in Damariscotta that supports the local public library and has lots of cozy nooks where you can sit and relax.
Lighthouses
After lunch, take a short detour from Route 1 to the actual Maine coast to see the Pemaquid Point Lighthouse in Bristol. From Pemaquid Point Lighthouse, it’s a little over an hour to Owls Head Lighthouse in Owls Head State Park.
Tip: If one lighthouse is enough for you, Pemaquid Point is further out of the way and costs $4 to visit. You’ll drive out to Pemaquid Point from Damariscotta (about 25 minutes) and then return the same way to get back on Route 1, so you can save about an hour total of driving time if you skip it. Driving to Owls Head on your way to Camden only adds about 30 minutes total to your drive (and Owls Head Lighthouse is free to visit). Of course, if you don’t care about lighthouses at all, skip both and head straight to Camden (only ~40 minutes from Damariscotta).
Rockland/Rockport/Camden
Although we said Camden was the end point for Day 1 of this itinerary, the three cities of Rockland, Rockport and Camden are all within 15 minutes of each other, so you can stop for dinner and to spend the night wherever catches your fancy. We stayed at Ledges by the Bay in Rockport and enjoyed our stay so much, we booked another night for our way back to Portland at the end of the trip. There are also plenty of lodging options in Rockland and Camden.
FYI, we first drove through Rockland on a Sunday night, and pretty much everything downtown was closed. If you’re also starting this road trip on a Sunday, Rockland might be a better stop during the daytime on your way back to Portland (see Day 5 below).
If you have more time:
A side trip to the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens and Boothbay Harbor on your way from Portland to Damariscotta only adds about 35 minutes total driving time to your route (plus however long you want to spend exploring Boothbay).
Day 2: Camden to Acadia National Park
Camden to Acadia National Park ~ 74 mi/119 km ~ 1 hour and 35 minutes
Camden
If driving from Rockland or Rockport this morning, turn off Route 1 toward Rockport Harbor and drive along Russell Avenue to pass Aldemere Farm and say hello to the Belted Galloway cows (pictured above left and so named for their “belt” of white around their middles) on your way into Camden. Farm tours are also available.
We recommend starting your morning atop Mount Battie in Camden Hills State Park. We hiked to Mount Battie via the Old Carriage Road Trail (pictured above right), but you can also take the Mount Battie Trail (shorter but steeper) or drive to the top. (Mount Battie Road is often closed from November 1 – March 1; check park conditions before you visit no matter the time of year.)
Camden is one of the most-visited towns in Maine, and it’s easy to see why! Its downtown is lined with charming historic buildings and has that quintessential small-town feel (albeit with loads of people). You could easily spend a whole day here looking in the local shops and eating. We picked up sandwiches (and Maine root beer!) from Camden Deli and ate them in Harbor Park with beautiful views of the boats. We also got a free historic architecture map from the Chamber of Commerce and took a self-guided walking tour around Camden before grabbing coffee for the road from Zoot Coffee.
Acadia National Park
Our first stop in Acadia National Park was the Hulls Cove Visitor Center to buy our annual America the Beautiful interagency pass (only $80 for admission to 2,000+ federal recreation sites including national parks—it’s quite a deal!). You don’t go through any ranger stations to enter Acadia, but visitors are required to display entrance passes in their vehicles at all times while in the park. If you don’t have an annual pass, you can buy your Acadia entrance pass online and print it ahead of time, or check the NPS website for information on how/where to buy your entrance pass at Acadia.
With our park map in hand, we decided to drive the Park Loop Road: 27 miles through Acadia National Park to admire the fall foliage, which was looking absolutely lovely. We did a short detour out of the south end of the park to do an easy hike (more of a stroll) along the Little Long Pond Trail in Seal Harbor, Maine. After this, it was time to drive back through the park and get dinner in Bar Harbor. This town is very tourist-oriented and has many, many places to shop and eat, so look at reviews and find what looks good to you.
Where to Stay Near Acadia National Park
The easy answer to this is Bar Harbor, Maine, but you can save money by staying further away from the park. If you plan to stay in Bar Harbor, we recommend booking early to have more options available to you. If you decide to stay further away, remember to factor in your travel time to and from your specific destinations in the park, and not just the park itself. For example, Google Maps said our hotel in Ellsworth was only 26 minutes to Acadia National Park, but it was closer to 45 minutes to the Beehive Trail (see Day 3 below).
For campers and campervans, please note there is no backcountry camping or overnight parking allowed anywhere in Acadia. There are four campgrounds in Acadia National Park available by advance reservation only (no day-of reservations or walk-ins).
If you have more time:
As mentioned above, Camden has a lot to offer, so if you’re not big into the outdoors, consider staying a whole day in Camden and cutting a day from Acadia National Park on this itinerary. Or, if you have more time overall, just add a day in Camden! (And then do the Maiden Cliff Trail and tell me how it is. It sounds beautiful!) You can also kayak on the harbor or take a boat tour from Camden.
Day 3: Full Day in Acadia National Park
On our full day in Acadia National Park, we woke up early to head to one of the park’s most popular hikes: the Beehive Trail. This is a one-way trail, so please pay attention to the signs at the base. There are some narrow scrambling sections and iron rungs you have to climb, so two-way traffic would be dangerous (and annoying). We started the hike around 7:15 a.m. and the increasingly expansive view of the fall foliage stretching from the trail out to the ocean was absolutely breathtaking (see my Instagram stories for more photos and videos). On our way back to the car around 8:30, the trail already looked quite crowded, so arrive early!
P.S. – Jonathan’s Beehive hike was featured on the official Acadia National Park Instagram account!
For the rest of your day in Acadia, there are so many options, including:
• Popular easy to moderate hike options in Acadia National Park include the Jordan Pond Path, The Bubbles, the Ocean Path Trail and the Great Head Trail.
• Stop by Thunder Hole to hear the “thunder” of the tide crashing into a small rocky inlet.
• Snack on a famous popover from the Jordan Pond House Restaurant.
• Treat yourself to lobster chowder at Abel’s Lobster—we recommend getting there 10-20 minutes before they open to get in line.
• Learn about the area’s native foliage at the Wild Gardens of Acadia. (Sadly, the park museum and nature center were already closed for the season in mid-October, but we still enjoyed our walk around the gardens.)
• Visit Bar Harbor to check out the shops, walk the Shore Path, and get ice cream.
• Psst: Our actual itinerary on this day included a long nap back at our hotel … so no shame in that, either!
P.S. – Did you know AllTrails now has National Park Guides on their app? Check out the page for Acadia National Park! (Scroll down to see the guides.)
If you have more time:
A popular visitor activity in Acadia that we skipped is driving up to the top of Cadillac Mountain for sunrise. This requires timed entry reservations and an additional fee. Or, you can choose to hike to the summit using a few different trails, including the Cadillac North Ridge Trail (shorter but a bit steeper) or the Cadillac South Ridge Trail (longer but more gradual). These don’t require reservations but can still be very busy; multiple recent AllTrails reviews for the North Ridge Trail reported the trailhead parking was full by 4 a.m.
Also, all our Acadia adventures were contained on Mount Desert Island, which is the most-visited section of the park. However, Acadia National Park also encompasses parts of Schoodic Peninsula, Isle au Haut, and other outer islands. Learn more from the National Park Service.
If you want to travel a little further afield (and/or if Bar Harbor is too kitschy for you), other towns around Acadia to consider adding to your coastal Maine road trip include Blue Hill, Deer Isle and Stonington.
Day 4: Acadia National Park to Belfast
Bar Harbor to Castine ~ 52 mi/83 km ~ 1 hour and 15 minutes
Castine to Belfast ~ 36 mi/58 km ~ 50 minutes
Acadia National Park
Our second early-morning hike was easily the highlight of our time in Acadia National Park: the Precipice Trail. This one was much less crowded than Beehive but also slightly more difficult, with longer climbs and steeper ladders. If you are going to do both trails, we recommend doing the Precipice Loop second or else the Beehive might seem disappointing in comparison. If you only have time for one, do the Precipice. If you’re not a moderately experienced hiker and/or you have a fear of heights, stick with the Beehive (or maybe forgo both!). Again, start early! We started our hike around 7 a.m., and when we were driving out of the park around 9:30 a.m., there was a loooooong line of overflow parking for the trailhead. Now is also a good time to cross off any final Acadia National Park bucket list items before you head south again.
Jonathan had been very intrigued by the lobster BBQ joints we kept seeing along the road in Trenton as we drove in and out of Acadia National Park, so of course we had to try one before leaving this area. Sadly, the specific restaurant we visited (pictured above) is now permanently closed, but there are several lobster pounds and barbecue joints along Bar Harbor Road after you cross the bridge out of the park, and I’m sure they are all delicious!
Castine
Castine is a picturesque little town on Penobscot Bay, so you’ll have to detour off Route 1 to reach it. It was on our radar because Megan wanted to visit Compass Rose Books (which is absolutely worth a stop and has a cafe inside), and we enjoyed strolling around the Town Center as well. Castine was very quiet when we visited—it was a weekday morning and I believe this town is much livelier in the summer—but it was quite charming.
Castine was settled in 1613, and there are plenty of historical markers around town to interest history buffs. We also mailed some postcards from the second-oldest U.S. post office continuously operating in the same building. (Snail mail nerd alert.) The Castine Post Office building was built in 1817 and began operating as a post office in 1833.
Belfast
Belfast was another bookstore-inspired stop on our Maine road trip, and we were very impressed by the town overall! If we hadn’t already booked our hotel further down Route 1, I think this would have been a great place to spend the night, which is why I’m recommending it to you now.
Belfast has fun gift and novelty shops to peruse, like Yo Mamma’s (great card selection) and Eat More Cheese (which was actually mostly booze), and a good selection of waterfront restaurants along Belfast Harbor. We sampled local brews at Marshall Wharf Brewing Company, had (you guessed it!) more lobster for dinner at Nautilus Seafood & Grill (a nice sunset spot) and finished the night with ice cream from Wild Cow Creamery.
If you have more time:
Instead of heading back to Portland after Acadia, Quoddy Head State Park is about 2 hours and 15 minutes northeast of Acadia National Park. It’s the easternmost point on the U.S. mainland and would make a neat ending point to your Route 1 coastal Maine road trip! The actual end (or start) of U.S. Route 1 in Maine is Fort Kent, which is way up at the northern border of Maine and quite far from the coast (about four hours from Acadia, or six hours if you want to stay on Route 1).
Day 5: Belfast to Portland
Belfast to Rockland ~ 26 mi/42 km ~ 45 minutes
Rockland to Portland ~ 78 mi/125 km ~ 1 hour and 35 minutes
Rockland
As mentioned above, Rockland had been a bit disappointing as a road trip stop on a Sunday night, but we loved Rockland when we stopped again on a Thursday mid-morning. The bookstore owner in Castine had recommended Home Kitchen Cafe in Rockland as a great breakfast spot, so we stopped for blueberry pancakes (when in Maine). We also visited hello hello books, which was a delightful little bookshop with an attached coffeeshop (Rock City Coffee) where we fueled up for the last leg of our road trip. Since our visit, Rockland has added another great independent bookstore to its Main Street: Arctic Tern Books. (Oh darn, guess we’ll have to go back….)
Finally, it’s time to return to Portland and make your way home. We hope you enjoyed your coastal Maine road trip along Route 1!
If you only have three days for your Maine road trip:
The drive from the Portland International Airport to Acadia National Park is about three and a half hours along Route 1 (or less than three hours if you use faster routes), so it is completely doable to go on a beautiful Maine Route 1 road trip in three days if that’s all you have. Of course we hope you can spend more time exploring Maine, but we know time off can be hard to come by! If you only have three days in coastal Maine, we recommend:
1. Spending a few hours in Portland, including wandering Old Port (Day 1 or 3, depending on your flight times)
2. Prioritizing Camden, Belfast and/or Rockland as towns to stop, stretch your legs, check out the shops and grab a bite to eat on your way to and from Acadia (Days 1 and 3)
3. Hiking the Precipice Trail, driving the Park Loop Road and having lunch at Abel’s Lobster during your one day in Acadia National Park (Day 2)
If you have any more coastal Maine road trip recommendations, please leave them in the comments below. You’ll be helping us for our next trip and anyone else who reads your comment!
Feature image: Driving the Acadia National Park Loop Road in the early morning (October 2021)
