Traveling to Portland, Maine next week. Will spend 5 days there. Any advice on things that are must see or do? Places to eat? Thanks in advance.

I did a lighthouse tour with a local company. Just us on a private tour. You cover a lot of ground and get the stories on the light houses. The coastline is beautiful

restaurant called duck fat (i think?) that cooks everything in duck fat

Thank you for the recommendations

We liked Becky's Diner on the Waterfront

If you are in to craft beer you have hit the jackpot. Oxbow brewery is a standout for me. Liquid Riot is good as well and a great place for lunch over the harbor. Not sure if they have patio heaters or not. Gritty McDuffs is good for a beer and pub food. Becky's Diner is popular for breakfast but can be very crowded in the summer anyway. Dimillos is a cool place and good for traditional New England seafood. If oysters on the half shell are your thing Eventide is a great spot but it's tiny. Have a great time.

The Lobster Shack in Cape Elizabeth (barely south of Portland), if it's open. The food is great and the view is as good as it gets in the state. Also my hometown, so biased.

Also Maine Beer Co. is 20 min north in Freeport. They have a great restaurant.

wessimo said:

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Also Maine Beer Co. is 20 min north in Freeport. They have a great restaurant.

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Truth… And going to the brewery will increase your odds of getting the ever elusive delicious DIPA "Dinner".

fatherof4 said:

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Traveling to Portland, Maine next week. Will spend 5 days there. Any advice on things that are must see or do? Places to eat? Thanks in advance.

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The lobster roll from Eventide will ruin them for you forever in a good way. I'll second MBC as well. Make sure to get a table reservation unless you like standing in line.

I'm going to try and hit all of these places. Thank you.

FlyRod said:

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The Lobster Shack in Cape Elizabeth (barely south of Portland), if it's open. The food is great and the view is as good as it gets in the state. Also my hometown, so biased.

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This is a great place for a meal if it's open! Beautiful setting.

A couple other places nearby beerwise are Nonesuch River Brewery in Scarborough. An absolutely beautiful building with quality beers and a great Haddock Sandwich (which I am a fiend for) and Modestman Brewery in S. Portland. Modestman is a N.H. brewery that just opened this venue up in the last 6 months or so. They have amazing beers but I have never been to the venue in Maine (or NH) but will definitely be going there this summer.

Bissell Brother's is a place I would avoid. Their beers are great but their venue is lacking.

Pretty much any lobster shack in Maine. Oddly, we found the best lobster rolls a couple of days ago at "Benny's on the Beach" on the pier at Lake Worth Beach, Fl. I guess they get a lot of clientele from the North East.

You'll want to spend some time wandering around the Old Port. Grab a good casual lunch at Gilbert's Chowder House while down there. They might have some Maine Beer Co Lunch IPA if you're lucky. Walk up from the old port along the promenade to Fort Allen for some cool history.

Set aside a day for a visit to Cape Elizabeth. Pretty neighborhood to drive thru but the biggest attraction is Two Lights State Park. Awesome lighthouse view (which you can get right up on and see some cool history as well) which you'll probably recognize from pictures. There's a Lobster Shack outside there called Lobster Shack at Two lights which is perfect.

While out on Cape Elizabeth, if it's warm and dry enough for you, hit Crescent Beach state park which is a nice sandy beach to hang out at.

Portland is a great foodie and craft beer town. Lots of good options to fit your tastes.

Easy side trips from there include Kennebukport and Old Orchard Beach. Freeport is nearby and has two places of interest: if you like craft beer, Maine Beer Co is one of the best, and there is also the LL Bean flagship store.

I think you're there in what Mainers call "mud season," but you shouldn't have to deal with that too much on the coast. Prepare for cool and rainy.

Watch the Maine episode of 'Somebody Feed Phil' on Netflix before you go (Season 5).

Also, Novare Res Bier Cafe in Portland is an awesome beer bar. We very rarely go to the same place more than once on trips, but hit this place up twice and had both Dinner (Maine Beer Co.) and Pliny the Elder (Russian River Brewing) there.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/dTJBZThDuJ46bJiR7

If you like oysters on the half shell then don't eat any fresh Maine oysters. You'll forever be an oyster snob and be unable to fully enjoy oysters from anywhere else.

HumpitPuryear said:

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If you like oysters on the half shell then don't eat any fresh Maine oysters. You'll forever be an oyster snob and be unable to fully enjoy oysters from anywhere else.

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Guilty. I swore off gulf oysters after experiencing New England oysters once.

Thanks to all for the recommendations. Unfortunately, I was not able to go to all of them, but the ones I did were great. Again, thank you.

Go see Camden Maine. Worth the drive. Our favorite town.

HumpitPuryear said:

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If you like oysters on the half shell then don't eat any fresh Maine oysters. You'll forever be an oyster snob and be unable to fully enjoy oysters from anywhere else.

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We went on a dive trip to Belize many years ago with a group from our dive shop. One of the guys that came along was not a diver, but was hoping to score with the lady friend that invited him along (he didn't). Once it became clear that he wasn't going to score with her, he proceeded to try to empty the local liquor stores and spent the rest of the trip moderately to severely drunk. He came with us to a group dinner at one of the nicer restaurants in town and ordered lobster. He kept sending it back to the kitchen because it "tasted salty and fishy" and finally got up in a drunken huff and walked out, leaving the rest of us to pay for his meal and apologize to the server. Turns out he was from New England and had no idea that Caribbean lobster was different than New England lobster. He just assumed they were cooking it wrong.