5 Beautiful Stops On The Perfect Coastal Maine Road Trip

“Vacationland” is the title given to the state of Maine. Most vacationers to the Northeastern state gravitate to its stunning, rocky coast once they plan their go to, stringing collectively a number of small cities to create the right street journey.

Nevertheless it wasn’t simply as a trip vacation spot that Maine garnered its fame. The Maine coast mesmerized painters like Andrew Wyeth, Winslow Homer, and Edward Hopper. Their work depict a mixture of a steadfast, bucolic way of life with the harshness of seafaring.

Of the numerous stunning spots alongside Maine’s coast, I’ve chosen ones ranging from the north alongside well-liked Route 1 and heading south to painting the breadth of the state’s pure and historic points of interest.

1. Monhegan Island 

Mystical Monhegan Island has been the holiday residence of the Wyeth household because the late Nineteen Fifties. Reachable solely by boat, and for many guests solely by mailboat, Monhegan has no paved roads and no automobiles. Within the night, there aren’t any lights. Protecting lower than 1 sq. mile in space, Monhegan is a particular place the place artists, fishermen, and guests have come for what we now name social distancing.

You’ll be able to’t get seafood any brisker than what you’ll discover on the island. Lobster and clams are dropped at your picnic desk on the sand, simply steps from the ocean the place they had been plucked. You’d finest “seize the Maine spirit,” as they are saying, and order an ice-cold Moxie to scrub all of it down. An acquired style, Moxie is the native tender drink favourite likened by many to a mixture of Dr. Pepper and cough syrup. I like it.

Monhegan Island lodging are about as quaint as they arrive. There’s an inn with rocking chairs on the porch, a few rooming homes, and never rather more. Island artists dwell in weathered shingle dwellings scattered on the island. 

When you’re in search of air con, free Wi-Fi, and turndown service, you’ve come to the mistaken place. You would go to Monhegan as a day journey solely, however, for the complete expertise, disconnecting and reserving a room to hearken to the sounds of silence within the night is best than any type of meditation I’ve tried.

Professional Ideas: The hills and climbing trails alongside the coast will be fairly taxing. When you’re up for it, the reward is Maine’s famed coastal views and a lighthouse and museum with maritime artwork. For a much less difficult stroll, you possibly can sit on the sloping garden in entrance of The Island Inn and take within the harbor with its lobster boats, bobbing buoys, and perhaps even some leaping fish. To succeed in the island, park your automobile in Port Clyde, a brief drive off Route 1 or Route 295 (use your GPS), and examine in on the memento store in your “ferry” ticket.

2. MidCoast: Camden, Rockland, And Owl’s Head 

The world generally known as the MidCoast gives a style of easygoing coastal Maine alongside Penobscot Bay. Artwork galleries and retailers, mattress and breakfasts, and waterside attraction enchantment to guests trying to take pleasure in harbor views and a lobster “within the tough.” Each Rockport and Camden have working harbors — guaranteeing contemporary seafood day by day — and make for some gorgeous images.

Plan to spend a day of various actions on this space. Hike in Camden Hills State Park or get a dose of indoor tradition at three notable museums. The Farnsworth Artwork Museum in Rockland showcases the work of the Wyeth household. Steps away, the Middle for Maine Modern Artwork is a hanging constructing stuffed with current-day oeuvres by Maine residents. Owl’s Head has a museum with a special kind of enchantment, the Owl’s Head Transportation Museum. The museum’s bi-planes can generally be seen flying over the harbor. 

In a single day on a Maine windjammer to discover the bay and the native islands, or keep in an enthralling mattress and breakfast on the shore. No matter you do, be sure to have a lobster: many take into account this to be “lobster central.”

Professional Tip: On this 200^th anniversary of the start of acclaimed panorama architect Frederick Legislation Olmsted (of Central Park fame), observe the small city park in Camden, one other of his agency’s design gems. 

3. Portland And Cape Elizabeth

I’d be remiss if I didn’t encourage you to spend a while in Portland. Portland is a wonderful, historic Maine metropolis with a energetic small-town vibe. Structure ranges from Federal-style buildings to Victorian mansions, with eating places and bars housed in conventional buildings or on the docks. 

Since parking is extraordinarily troublesome within the metropolis, you may need to resolve your self to a drive-through to see the Outdated Port, cruise the purchasing space with its cobblestones and brick sidewalks, and gaze on the tonier facet of town alongside the Casco Bay-facing Jap Promenade and the Western Promenade the place Victorian residences stand in multi-color glory. 

When you can park, head to Congress Sq. to the Portland Museum of Artwork, a repository of work by worldwide and Maine-connected artists together with Wyeth, Hopper, and Homer. For dinner, select from one in all this foodie metropolis’s many lauded eating places like Road and Co., Scales, or Fore Road, touted as among the many finest U.S. eateries by Meals and Wine.

Throughout the bridge, Cape Elizabeth appears worlds other than busy Portland. There are just a few eating places and retailers, however your essential purpose to remain right here is for an primarily self-contained Maine vacation expertise and entry to the headlands and water views from Two Lights State Park and the adjoining Lobster Shack. 

Examine in to the Inn by the Sea, one in all Maine’s premier resorts, and signal out one in all their bikes to see the long-lasting lighthouses. Revive after your exertion (the roads are hilly) with a swim on the inn’s seashore or with an out of doors spa remedy earlier than having fun with a cocktail and s’mores across the hearth pit.

Professional Ideas: Don’t be dismayed if you see the road on the Lobster Shack — it strikes faster than you would possibly suppose. Order a lobster roll, fried clams, and onion rings — all Maine favorites — and end with one other New England deal with, a Whoopie pie, a chocolate cake-like concoction with a cream heart. When you’re a pet lover, the Inn by the Sea has an endearing pet adoption program: you possibly can check out a pup for a day stroll. When you fall in love, you could have a brand new buddy to take residence.

4. The Kennebunks: Kennebunkport And Kennebunk 

The 2 cities comprising the Kennebunks are all concerning the Maine seafaring way of life. Aspect-by-side alongside the shores of a number of rivers, the cities overlap in some methods however have distinct personalities in others. You’ll be able to simply mix each in a day or perhaps a few hours of exploring.

The house base for shipbuilding and seafaring, Kennebunk boasts a essential road lined with stately properties initially constructed for sea captains. There you’ll discover Federal-style buildings together with frilly and even gothic-looking Victorian properties, many transformed into inns for at the moment’s guests. There’s a patrician really feel to the city which blurs with Kennebunkport’s mixture seaside and souvenir-shop vibe.

The Clam Shack, a takeout landmark on the bridge separating Kennebunk’s Decrease Village and Kennebunkport’s Dock Sq., repeatedly wins the award for having Maine’s finest lobster roll. Unadulterated lobster, with no unseemly add-ins like tarragon or Outdated Bay Seasoning, that’s what the Clam Shack’s lobster roll is all about. You determine whether or not you need it with butter, or with mayonnaise — or go for it and have each. Totally different from different lobster rolls you may need had even in Maine, the mayo will not be already combined in and celery is nowhere in sight. The flavour is pure, the lobster is heat, and the briny-sweet taste is at its finest. When you choose a sit-down expertise, Nunan’s Lobster Hut in close by Cape Porpoise gives indoor and outside desk service with a lobster bake expertise of lobster within the shell, steamers, and corn on the cob.

The Kennebunks invite you to dip your toes into Maine’s notoriously chilly water. Lovely Goose Rocks Seashore in Kennebunkport, uncrowded resulting from restricted sidewalk parking, is a stunning spot for exploring Maine’s fascinating tidal swimming pools. When you’re as enchanted as I used to be right here, you’ll need to keep on the Tides Seashore Membership, an atmospheric inn set immediately throughout the road. Sit on the inn’s entrance porch and rock for some time as you sip a cosmopolitan and watch the solar go down.

Professional Tip: For a glimpse of American historical past, observe the street out to Ocean Avenue in the direction of Walker’s Level, the location of the “compound” the place former President George H.W. Bush summered along with his household. Drive by and take a photograph — the Secret Service will in all probability not allow you to get very shut.

5. Ogunquit, Perkins Cove, And The Marginal Approach 

South of the Kennebunks lies traffic-snarled Ogunquit, a magnet for artwork lovers and seashore followers because of its many lodgings and cultural alternatives. There are many retailers to maintain you busy, otherwise you would possibly need to see a present at one of many nation’s final summer season inventory theaters, the Ogunquit Playhouse. The road-up options authentic and touring musicals for each adults and kids and runs by December. The gorgeous Ogunquit Museum of American Artwork is a small artwork museum with a sculpture park with 18 gardens.

If parking in Ogunquit correct is an impossibility, drive south to one in all Maine’s coastal gems, Perkins Cove. Thankfully, there are parking tons right here to assist ease the ache. And that’s good for you, too, for herein lies a quintessential Maine eatery, Barnacle Billy’s, your go-to for a lobster and Maine’s state dessert, blueberry pie made with Maine’s tiny wild berries. That is additionally the place you possibly can pattern Maine ice cream in typical New England flavors like butter pecan, rum raisin, peppermint stick, and black raspberry. Use the native vernacular and ask for “jimmies” on high.

Stroll down the cove, stopping to admire jewellery created from sea glass, t-shirts with witty sayings, and a few critical artwork. Then flip north to enter the Marginal Approach, a 1.25-mile paved cliff stroll above the rocky Maine coast. The flower-adorned path has some gently sloping areas because it winds its means in the direction of the center of Ogunquit, with stunning properties on the left and crashing waves to the correct. When you’re feeling a bit adventurous, you are able to do a little bit of rock scrambling, paying attention to slippery areas from the salt water. For a relaxation, there are 39 thoughtfully positioned benches alongside the route.

Professional Tip: Enable sufficient time to do the return journey to retrieve your parked automobile. You’ll get a special perspective as your head south this time.