I'm going to be in Bar Harbor for 5 days. What should I mark on the to do list? Other than sunrise on Cadillac mountain, I'm pretty clueless.

Went up there last summer and really enjoyed it. We popped in and out of Acadia a few times. Stayed in a B and B right around downtown BH.

One of our favorite meals was lunch at Jordan Pond house inside the park. Then there is some hiking you can do from there.

Parking was kind of a nightmare around there though.

We didnt do sunrise, but we did go up to the peak. It was pretty foggy in the morning, so be ready for low visibility. You can always keep an eye out for afternoon windows to grab a time and head up to the peak. I remember those being fairly available. Just make sure you go online and get reservations for whenever it is.

There also a little beach inside the park thats not a bad place to go sit around. Can get pretty crowded though. Sand Beach maybe?

If you want to do whale watching, book that early in the trip. Ours got canceled due to fog and then we didnt have time to book another one before we were leaving.

I played a round of golf at Kebo Valley which was fun. Nothing amazing, but plenty more enjoyable than Texas Summer golf.

Edit: Will add one thing we didnt do that sounded like it woulda been cool was the ferry to Nova Scotia. We didnt even think about it and left our passports at home.

We did a private sunset cruise with Sail Acadia. That was pretty nice. Great views and learned about lobster fishing. We also hiked around a bit, did several trails (Jordan Pond) and did the Beehive Loop. We had reservations to do rock climbing on the Otter Cliffs but our guide had a family emergency and bailed on us.

We went on a fishing trip & it was the highlight of the area.
Saw whales, seals, eagles, a huge oceanic sunfish (mola) and caught all kind of stuff. Great way to spend an afternoon.

Be sure to pull over and eat at a local lobster stand.

Acadia is a NP that has great hiking. There are only a few strenuous hikes, the Precipice (if it is not closed due to bird mating) being one. It is awesome if it is open, iron rung climbing, very steep. The rest are all moderate or easier. The maps at the NP Visitor's Center are really well done. There is something for every level. Hiking over to Bar Island when the tide is out is kind of neat.

As others have said, sunset cruises are great. Renting kayaks for nature tours is great. Renting bikes too, but biking can be a little tough depending on your age/fitness, it is a fairly hilly park.

There is a road around the island called the Park Loop. It brings you to everything within the park including Thunder Hole, the Beach, scenic granite cliffs, and Jordan Pond, famous for their history and popovers/tea.

You will be there in June, will still likely be chilly. Doesn't start warming up till early July. Ocean temp will probably be in the mid to high 50's at best.

Bar Harbor is a charming and casual little town. Completely walkable. Virtually no chain restaurants, not sure if there is even a Starbuck's or Dunkin'? The local restaurants are very good (It's been two years since we've been there, some may have changed?); Geddy's is a funky bar, popular with everyone and kids, mostly bar food but iconic. Blaze is great wood fire pizza and beer. Havana (slightly upscale) has great Cuban food. Galyn's is great food, more on the gourmet side, slightly upscale. Ben and Bill's is great ice cream, CJ's good too. Thirsty Whale and Finback's are very good solid restaurants for lunch or dinner that have been there forever. Best breakfast is 2 Cats on Cottage. Jordan's (more like a diner) a few doors down for breakfast on Cottage...I would take 2 Cats 100 out of 100 times but sometimes a line can develop for 2 Cats if you get there too late. But you are early for the tourist season so you may be in luck with much of the town.

Some breweries around town, all decent. A lot of hazy IPA's up there. It's been a few years, but I thought Testa's had the best lobster meal. The lobster 'pounds' (like Stewman's) where you sit on picnic tables and get a meal of mussels or clams, corn, lobster, potatoes, etc. are usually just okay. Remember, you are at the very early part of the lobster season. Prime lobster season is the fall.

Depending on how you are getting there, stopping in Freeport if you are coming up from the south along the way is cool. Shops, Maine Beer Co is awesome, and LL Bean flagship store are all there.

If you are in decent physical shape, rent bikes and ride down to Day Mountain at the south end of the park on the carriage paths. It can be a bit of a strenuous climb up to the top depending on your fitness, but it was absolutely deserted during one of the busiest weeks of the year (mid-July) when we did it. Once we left Jordan Pon House headed southeast, there were very few people on the trail and we only passed one other group coming down on our way up. We ate lunch sitting at the top with an amazing view of the Cranberry Isles and then went back to meet family for desert at Jordan Pond House.

1988PA-Aggie said:

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Acadia is a NP that has great hiking. There are only a few strenuous hikes, the Precipice (if it is not closed due to bird mating) being one. It is awesome if it is open, iron rung climbing, very steep. The rest are all moderate or easier. The maps at the NP Visitor's Center are really well done. There is something for every level. Hiking over to Bar Island when the tide is out is kind of neat.

As others have said, sunset cruises are great. Renting kayaks for nature tours is great. Renting bikes too, but biking can be a little tough depending on your age/fitness, it is a fairly hilly park.

There is a road around the island called the Park Loop. It brings you to everything within the park including Thunder Hole, the Beach, scenic granite cliffs, and Jordan Pond, famous for their history and popovers/tea.

You will be there in June, will still likely be chilly. Doesn't start warming up till early July. Ocean temp will probably be in the mid to high 50's at best.

Bar Harbor is a charming and casual little town. Completely walkable. Virtually no chain restaurants, not sure if there is even a Starbuck's or Dunkin'? The local restaurants are very good (It's been two years since we've been there, some may have changed?); Geddy's is a funky bar, popular with everyone and kids, mostly bar food but iconic. Blaze is great wood fire pizza and beer. Havana (slightly upscale) has great Cuban food. Galyn's is great food, more on the gourmet side, slightly upscale. Ben and Bill's is great ice cream, CJ's good too. Thirsty Whale and Finback's are very good solid restaurants for lunch or dinner that have been there forever. Best breakfast is 2 Cats on Cottage. Jordan's (more like a diner) a few doors down for breakfast on Cottage...I would take 2 Cats 100 out of 100 times but sometimes a line can develop for 2 Cats if you get there too late. But you are early for the tourist season so you may be in luck with much of the town.

Some breweries around town, all decent. A lot of hazy IPA's up there. It's been a few years, but I thought Testa's had the best lobster meal. The lobster 'pounds' (like Stewman's) where you sit on picnic tables and get a meal of mussels or clams, corn, lobster, potatoes, etc. are usually just okay. Remember, you are at the very early part of the lobster season. Prime lobster season is the fall.

Depending on how you are getting there, stopping in Freeport if you are coming up from the south along the way is cool. Shops, Maine Beer Co is awesome, and LL Bean flagship store are all there.

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Will second Galyn's. Also had a nice dinner at Bar Harbor Inn

We LOVE Acadia.....enjoy!

I'm a Jeanie's for breakfast guy

Hiking Precipice (or its baby sister, The Beehive)

Double check to make sure you don't need a permit to drive up for sunrise on Cadillac. I know that at least during some times of the year it is required - it may be a year round thing?

There is tons of hiking, it's one of the better hikers parks in the country....if you want more challenge just keep linking up the trails, it's not difficult to come up with a 10-15 mile day itenerary with several thousand feet of elevation gain.....or you can keep it super chill with something like Jordan Pond Loop

Stop by Thunder Hole

Photos at Bubble Rock holding it up

Book a carriage ride through the park

Whale watching tours

Popovers at Jordan Pond House

If you're driving up, the flagship LL Bean store is in Freeport and is kinda cool to see if you're into that sort of thing.

Do be aware - the road through the park is mostly one way, so map out where you are going with landmarks because if you miss your turn or stop its a pain to get back around the loop

AgRyan04 said:

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We LOVE Acadia.....enjoy!

I'm a Jeanie's for breakfast guy

Hiking Precipice (or its baby sister, The Beehive)

Double check to make sure you don't need a permit to drive up for sunrise on Cadillac. I know that at least during some times of the year it is required - it may be a year round thing?

There is tons of hiking, it's one of the better hikers parks in the country....if you want more challenge just keep linking up the trails, it's not difficult to come up with a 10-15 mile day itenerary with several thousand feet of elevation gain.....or you can keep it super chill with something like Jordan Pond Loop

Stop by Thunder Hole

Photos at Bubble Rock holding it up

Book a carriage ride through the park

Whale watching tours

Popovers at Jordan Pond House

If you're driving up, the flagship LL Bean store is in Freeport and is kinda cool to see if you're into that sort of thing.

Do be aware - the road through the park is mostly one way, so map out where you are going with landmarks because if you miss your turn or stop its a pain to get back around the loop

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This time of year, your best bet is to park in town and take the shuttle bus to the stops/trails you want to go to.

Excellent point, they do have a very good shuttle system that can get you around most of the island

I went early July last year and you definitely needed reservations for Cadillac. Later in the day was fairly easy to snag day of. Morning times booked quick.

I went to Schoodic Point yesterday. Drove through Winter Harbor on the way down. Very few people compared to Bar Harbor earlier this week. The crashing waves and scenery are amazing.
You do need to go online and reserve a 30 minute window for Cadillac mountain, it's $6. We did a 430 time and it was good visibility.
We walked from Sandy Beach to Otter Cliffs. Just get there early enough to get a parking spot somewhere in that 2 mile stretch, and if you want to fully experience Thunder Hole know when high tide occurs. There were people lined along the railing waiting on high tide.
We did lunch at Geddys it was meh. Our waitress mentioned the cruise ships start stopping by mid week through the weekend and that compounds the crowds.

We liked Geddy's. Was the only place we ate at twice. Pizza burger my favorite from there.

Gaylyn's was our favorite fancy meal.

I didn't think much of Cadillac mountain but did enjoy hiking Gorham Mountain and going down to sand beach.

Best place to watch Ags play baseball tonight?

Has anyone done any fishing charters out of Bar Harbor? We just scheduled a last minute trip, and I'd like to take my 6yo out.

htownag2007 said:

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Has anyone done any fishing charters out of Bar Harbor? We just scheduled a last minute trip, and I'd like to take my 6yo out.

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I did one out of Bass Harbor a couple of years ago. I will look around and find who we went with.

ETA: We went out with Island Cruises for a 4 hour trip on their boat Fifinella. Was good active fishing for bait first (jigging for mackerel) and then caught quite a few cod (catch and release only at that time). Would be perfect for kids. https://bassharborcruises.com/private-charters/fishing-charter/

Thanks. I'll check it out.