Best Place to Visit in Maine With Family
sixteen Pinnacle-Rated Tourist Attractions in Maine
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Few states can claim as many iconic images as Maine. Think of that northern New England state, and immediately springing to mind are fully rigged Windjammers, waves breaking confronting a rocky coast, fishing harbors filled with colorful boats, lighthouses, and tall pine trees. The miles and miles of backwoods inhabited by moose hold their own mystique, conjuring images of a lone canoe barely riffling the mirror-similar surface of a forest-encircled lake, or rainbow trout jumping from crystal waters.
The remarkable matter about Maine is that it doesn't disappoint tourists who make it with these romantic images in mind. Lighthouses do crown points from York to Quoddy Head, and between them lie dozens of snug piffling fishing harbors and mile after mile of rocky wave-beaten shore. Windjammers weave between the fir-clad islands only offshore, and bright-painted lobster buoys bob in the h2o, with lobster boats scuttling between them to booty traps.
But Maine's attractions aren't all in iconic images, and between its museums, breathtaking gardens, art heritage, celebrated attractions, outdoor activities, and natural wonders, y'all're spoiled for option of things to do on a Maine vacation. Discover the best places to visit using our list of the acme attractions in Maine as your guide.
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1. Acadia National Park
The rugged and cute stretch of coastline that is ready aside as Acadia National Park too surrounds a large inland region of lakes, streams, and forests. It provides a playground for locals and visitors who enjoy the outdoors. The scenic Park Loop Route winds its way through the park by the main attractions and is the best mode to bout the park past car.
The handy Island Explorer buses also connect the various attractions, while cyclists and walkers can follow the network of unpaved carriage roads, part of the more than than 100 miles of hiking trails for all levels of power. These include trails to the peak of ane,530-foot Cadillac Mountain, the park'due south highest bespeak, from which there are views of the coast and islands.
Other highlights in the park are Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse and the dramatic chasm of Thunder Pigsty. A 2d and lilliputian-visited portion of Acadia National park is further north, on the Schoodic Peninsula, where there are more hiking trails, coastal views, and opportunities for kayaking. There are ii large campgrounds in the park and a number of picnic areas.
Accommodation: Where to Stay near Acadia National Park
- Read More:
- Exploring Acadia National Park
2. The Sometime Port and Portland Head Lighthouse
Tourists arriving at Maine'due south largest metropolis, Portland, invariably head directly for its harbor district, the Old Port. There, forth with fishing boats, decorated docks, and seafood restaurants, they may discover a cruise ship or see the alpine masts of a sailing send, for Portland is still an active port. The narrow streets that climb from the dockside Commercial Street are lined by the brick and stone buildings that supported one of the East Coast's busiest ports from colonial times through the nineteenth century.
Shop for maritime souvenirs in a ships' chandlery, eat seafood on the wharf, and if you're at that place early on plenty, sentinel the line-fishing boats unload and local chefs cull the menu at the city's restaurants. Fore Street, which parallels Commercial, is where y'all'll find several of these. At the docks, you can board a cruise of Casco Bay or a ferry to visit its islands.
A landmark of Casco Bay and the Portsmouth harbor is Portland Caput Lighthouse, which marks the entrance to the harbor. It is ane of the near beautiful forth the coast, and from its promontory, you tin can see the city and Old Port, likewise equally the passing ships and boats.
The museum in the former Keeper'southward Quarters illustrates the lighthouses and their keepers, showing how these bastions of maritime prophylactic have changed over the years with advances in technology. Along with historic photos, artifacts on display include Fresnel lenses and exhibits on how they piece of work.
Address: 1000 Shore Road, Cape Elizabeth, Maine
Official site: www.portlandheadlight.com
iii. Marginal Way and Ogunquit Beaches
The paved walking path forth the shore from Ogunquit'south long sandy beach to Perkins Cove is a beautiful manner to run across the rocky declension and its crashing surf. Among the rocky cliffs are a series of small-scale sandy coves that offering a more than intimate embankment experience than Ogunquit Beach. The path is for walkers only (no bikes, no dogs from April to October) and runs well-nigh a mile and a one-half from the finish of the hamlet to the scenic wharfs of Perkins Cove.
Here, a slender peninsula shelters a small bay, creating a prophylactic oasis for small craft. Originally a small-scale fishing port, today the harbor is overlooked by restaurants and pocket-size shops, only yous'll still run into plenty of fishing boats.
All along the path at that place are benches conveniently placed, both on the path and on overlooks above the sea. You lot can return to town on the Marginal Way, walk dorsum along the shady Shore Route or take the trolley.
Ogunquit Beach has a gentle slope to the sea and comparatively warm water, which makes information technology popular with families. The town's shops and restaurants are busy in the summertime, and the thriving arts scene brings more tourists to the nationally known Ogunquit Playhouse and the Ogunquit Museum of American Fine art.
4. Pemaquid Point Low-cal
One of Maine'south most iconic lighthouses stands at the end of the long Pemaquid Point in Mid-Coast Maine and is such a landmark that it was chosen as the paradigm on the Maine quarter coin. It was congenital in 1835, and along with the low-cal tower, the keeper'due south cottage and the brick sound signal firm have been preserved. The setting is fabricated even more dramatic past the unusual formations of striped metamorphic rock in the ledges below.
The keeper's cottage houses the Fisherman's Museum that preserves the region's stiff fishing heritage, with captains' logs, models, dioramas, photos, and artifacts, including data on the shipwrecks off this bespeak. The scenic betoken is a favorite site for picnics.
To the north, in New Harbor, Colonial Pemaquid State Historic Site preserves the foundations of a colonial settlement and the reconstructed Fort William Henry. The museum and splendid sign boards explain the importance of this fort in the conflicts involving English and French settlers and the local Native Americans. The archaeological site has been designated a National Historic Landmark.
5. Quondam Orchard Beach
An unabashed onetime-fashioned beach resort, Old Orchard Beach revels in the somewhat tacky honky-tonk atmosphere of its pier and thrill rides at New England's merely remaining total-calibration amusement park on a beach. So kick off your shoes, stride back into mid-century summer fun, and indulge in a piddling nostalgia.
Palace Playland has all the expected rides: a Ferris wheel right over the waves, a roller coaster, an old-fashioned carousel, bumper cars, and a dozen or so other kid-pleasers. Pier stands and street-side windows sell fries, soft ice-cream, saltwater taffy, and fried dough.
The highlight of all this is a full seven miles of golden sand embankment with free public access. The sands are scoured each night by volunteers, so you lot won't notice a cleaner embankment anywhere, and separating near of the 7 miles of beach from the line of low hotels and shops is a barrier of grassy dunes.
Old Orchard is also the merely Maine beach where you tin arrive direct by train; the Amtrak station is opposite the pier and amusement park.
Accommodation: Where to Stay in Erstwhile Orchard Beach
6. Farnsworth Fine art Museum
No other museum has such a consummate collection of works by artists continued with Maine, and its Wyeth Heart is ane of merely two in the country defended to the work of the three generations of Wyeths — Northward.C., Andrew, and James.
The museum'south collections include some of America's nigh prominent late 19th- and early 20th-century landscape painters. Forth with the primeval known work by Thomas Cole, you tin see paintings by George Bellows, Rockwell Kent, John La Farge, George Inness, Childe Hassam, and maritime artist Fitz Henry Lane.
A separate building, a sometime church on Wedlock Street, exhibits works of James Wyeth and North.C. Wyeth. The Farnsworth also arranges tours of the Olson Business firm, made famous in several works by Andrew Wyeth, the all-time-known of which is his 1948 painting Christina's World.
The museum is in Rockland's historic downtown, lined with nicely maintained 19th-century brick mercantile buildings. This old seaport town is worth a stop for several other attractions, including Owl's Head Light and the Owl'southward Head Transportation Museum; Rockland is one of the home ports for the Maine Windjammer Armada, whose historic sailing ships you can frequently run into moored hither.
Accost: 6 Museum Street, Rockland, Maine
Official site: http://www.farnsworthmuseum.org
Accommodation: Where to Stay in Rockland
vii. Nubble Lighthouse (Cape Neddick Low-cal)
Perhaps New England's most photographed lighthouse, and certainly one of the easiest to get to, Nubble Light poses on its ain islet just off the rocky betoken of Greatcoat Neddick. Especially on a rise tide, the surf usually obliges photographers with a few waves breaking into barm against the rocks.
In belatedly Nov, the lighthouse and keeper cottage are outlined in lights for the vacation season, and the annual lighting is celebrated with music, hot chocolate, and a visit from Santa. You tin can take a prowl from Ogunquit to see the lighthouse from the h2o.
The indicate bounds ane stop of Long Sands, the largest of two popular beaches in York. In another of the four villages that make up the boondocks, the Old York Historical Society museum complex includes Jefferds Tavern and the 1745 York Corner Schoolhouse, 1 of the oldest surviving in New England.
viii. Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens and Boothbay Harbor
Strolling the paths through this 270-acre garden, it's almost impossible to believe that it opened as recently every bit 2007. The profusion of flower and the size of the well-manicured and creatively designed gardens achieve the sense that they accept been pampered past generations of devoted horticulturalists.
The paths current of air amid the diverse themed gardens, showing native and exotic plants that thrive in woodland, water, and other environments. There is a kitchen garden, and a garden for the five senses spotlights plants for their fragrances, flavors, and textures, in raised beds for wheelchair access. The large children's garden will charm any age, as will the woodland village of fairy houses.
Walking trails traverse the grounds, which gradient down to the shore and include various shore environments. Daily tours signal out highlights and follow themes such equally rare and native plants. A big drove of original sculpture past regional artists highlights the gardens, and fine art exhibitions are held in the company center throughout the spring, summer, and fall.
Boothbay Harbor was one time a shipping port, merely today it is primarily a popular summer resort, with the largest boating harbor north of Boston. The downtown area is packed with waterfront seafood restaurants, antique shops, and art galleries, reflecting the more than 200 artists and craftspeople who live and summer in the area. Information technology has been a haven for the arts since the early 1800s, and along with studios and galleries, the little boondocks has an Opera Business firm and Carousel Music Theater, as well every bit a community ring. You'll besides discover the Maine State Aquarium and Boothbay Railway Village hither.
Address: 132 Botanical Gardens Drive, Boothbay, Maine
Official site: www.mainegardens.org
Accommodation: Where to Stay in Boothbay Harbor
9. Maine Maritime Museum
On the site of a 19th-century shipyard, the Maine Maritime Museum preserves and interprets Maine's seafaring, shipbuilding, and lobstering heritage. Along with the all-encompassing collection of artifacts and materials that brand upward exhibits on everything from the clipper ships and lighthouses to maritime fine art, the 20-acre campus includes a blacksmith shop, a easily-on lobster showroom, and more than than 140 Maine-congenital or Maine-related boats. Among these is an antique birchbark canoe.
The Mary East, the oldest fishing schooner built in Maine, is role of the floating collections.
Address: 243 Washington Street, Bathroom, Maine
Official site: www.mainemaritimemuseum.org
10. W Quoddy Head
The dramatic red-and-white stripes of its lighthouse, plus the thrill of standing at the easternmost point in the Us, make W Quoddy Caput 1 of the nearly pop places to visit on the northeast coast of Maine. The brick lighthouse was opened in 1858, just there has been one here since 1808, when President Thomas Jefferson ordered it congenital to guide ships through the Quoddy Narrows. The current lighthouse is 49 feet tall, and the lantern rises 83 feet above the ocean.
Learn more about the lighthouse and its history at the Quoddy Head State Park Visitor Middle in the former Keeper's Cottage and take a tour of the light tower itself on Saturday afternoons in July and August. The lighthouse is on the National Annals of Historic Places.
Five miles of hiking trails explore the point, which is a prime number spot for viewing body of water birds, peculiarly during the bound and fall migrations. You might besides spot humpback, minke, and finback whales in the narrows, which is bounded on the reverse side by the tall red cliffs of Thou Manan Island in New Brunswick. An easy one-mile trail in the park leads to a littoral plateau bog, where you tin can run into subarctic and arctic plants rarely seen this far due south.
Accost: S Lubec Route, Lubec, Maine
Official site: https://westquoddy.com/the-lighthouse
eleven. Portland Museum of Art
The superb collections of the Portland Museum of Fine art go far beyond the expected works of those artists who lived and painted here - artists such as Winslow Homer, Rockwell Kent, and the Wyeths. Among the more than than 18,000 pieces of fine and decorative fine art, dating from the 1700s onwards, are works by Monet, Degas, Picasso, Warhol, Sargent, Whistler, Mary Cassatt, Gilbert Stuart, Joshua Reynolds, Alexander Calder, George Bellows, and Edward Hopper.
The museum likewise features traveling and temporary exhibits throughout the year. Fastened to the museum is a historic house, formerly abode to a prominent Portland family, with outstanding examples of period furniture, art, and decorative details.
Split from the Portland facility, and accessible merely by tours that originate here, is the studio of artist Winslow Homer, overlooking the bounding main on Prouts Neck, a indicate of country in nearby Scarborough, Maine.
Address: 7 Congress Foursquare, Portland, Maine
Official site: http://www.portlandmuseum.org
12. Cruising the Maine Coast
Don't miss the run a risk to see the craggy, irregular Maine coast and its rock-leap islands from the h2o. Not only will you go a new perspective on the lighthouses and granite cliffs, but you'll have a chance to be office of the busy harbor life of Maine'south seaport towns. The options are many. Yous can join a whale watching tour from Bar Harbor, go deep sea fishing from Eastport, accept a Puffin Tour to Machias Seal Isle from Jonesport or Stonington, join a lobster boat out of Portland to haul traps, or accept a seal prowl from at that place to Eagle Island.
From Boothbay Harbor, you lot can go deep-sea fishing, take a day sailing cruise along the declension, become whale watching, or even join a local lobsterman hauling traps. From Ogunquit, you can take a breakfast sightseeing tour or prowl to see York'southward Nubble Lighthouse from the water.
Boat experiences can be as short as the 15-mile ferry ride from Rockland to Vinalhaven or a week-long cruise nether sheet on a Maine Windjammer out of Rockland or Camden. Windjammer cruises are breezy, with the itinerary adamant past winds and tides, and passengers can help with the lines and sails if they wish. Special theme cruises may feature lighthouses, music, star gazing or boat races.
Official site: https://sailmainecoast.com
13. Victoria Mansion, Portland
Victoria Mansion is an extraordinary Italian style villa built in the mid-19th century. The architecture and the interior details are exquisite, and it's one of the nigh lavishly busy mid-Victorian homes in the land, with painted walls and ceilings and ornately carved woodwork. Well-nigh of the furnishings are original, and forth with the firm itself, they provide a glimpse into how Portland's wealthy lived during the pre-civil war era.
While Maine has many historic homes you lot can visit, representing all eras and lifestyles from the colonial era forrard, Victoria Mansion offers an example of Victorian art and civilization that is unparalleled.
Official site: http://victoriamansion.org/
Accommodation: Where to Stay in Portland
- Read More:
- Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in Portland, Maine
14. Monhegan Island
Monhegan is a small island that lies ten miles off the coast of Maine, and although it's one of many inhabited coastal islands, it has accomplished iconic condition over the years. This is in large office due to its long history as an artists' colony, coupled with the many tales of its hardy population and their lives on this storm-swept outpost.
At that place are no cars or paved roads on the island, and its 75 year-round residents are mainly engaged in fishing and lobstering. During the summer, visitors tin can take 24-hour interval trips to the island from Boothbay Harbor, New Harbor, and Port Clyde, but will take only three or four hours ashore.
Monhegan'south combination of rugged granite cliffs (the highest ocean cliffs in Maine), crashing waves, and unique light, coupled with its air of an untouched fishing village, has made it a destination for artists since the middle of the 1800s. Because of this long-term art colony and the several dozen artists who currently work there, you'll detect an abundance of studios and galleries.
Birders also beloved Monhegan, and its 12 miles of trails lead to remote corners and soaring headlands. Be very conscientious on the shore-line rocks anywhere forth the southern or dorsum side of the isle, where rogue waves and a fierce undertow are constant dangers.
xv. Kennebunkport
The little coastal town of Kennebunkport, 12.v miles south of Portland, is very popular in summer. Stately homes of former send captains and owners, some of which have been carefully restored as bed-and-breakfasts, line its quiet streets, and yous can learn about these on a cocky-guided walking bout, or at the Historical Society'due south First Families Kennebunkport Museum, in an 1853 Greek Revival home.
Shopping and gallery-hopping are favorite pastimes in the modest commercial expanse of restored dockside buildings effectually Dock Foursquare, which is lined with shops, studios, boutiques, and restaurants. Parsons Mode, a scenic path, begins from the foursquare and leads along the shore to Walker's Indicate. At the other side of the Kennebunk River, a serial of sandy beaches line the shore.
Two miles east of Dock Foursquare is the withal-active fishing hamlet of Cape Porpoise, with more shops and galleries, along with working lobster boats. As well of interest is the Seashore Trolley Museum. In nearby Kennebunk, look for the outstanding Brick Shop Museum and drive past the fanciful Wedding ceremony Block Firm on Summer Street.
Official site: http://kennebunkport.org/
Accommodation: Where to Stay in Kennebunkport
16. Bowdoin College Museum of Art
The Bowdoin College Museum of Fine art, on the college campus in Brunswick, features a permanent collection of more than than 20,000 pieces, ranging from ancient Greek ceramics and a 15th-century painting by Florentine artist Fra Angelico to 17th-century New England furniture and mid-century modern furniture by Charles Eames.
Multiple works by Winslow Homer, Rockwell Kent, Gilbert Stuart, John Singleton Copley, and Maurice Prendergast highlight the collections, forth with those of Bierstadt, Inness, Eakins, and Corot. Rotating temporary exhibits, gallery talks, tours, and lectures throughout the year brand this an active cultural eye.
Address: 245 Maine Street, Brunswick, Maine
Official site: http://www.bowdoin.edu/fine art-museum/
Accommodation: Where to Stay in Brunswick
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