Traveling to Maine

While Maine has a tremendous coast that I have yet to fully explore, I was able to spend a week at Bar Harbor Oceanfront KOA on MT Desert island. First they have a lobster guy cooking lobstah dinners right in the CG. Second before you get to the CG when approaching the causeway over to the CG is Trents Lobster Pound. So before you set up, you need to fill your selves with a 2 pounder steamed in seas water over a wood fire.......Once in KOA you need not dirve anywhere if you dont want to. They have a FREE shuttle that loops through all the CG's and hotels and brings you into town. We did drive over Acadia NP and road our bikes up to the lodge for another fine meal.

You wont go wrong with this as a starter, finisher or just plain old stay there and have fun.

PS there are also multiple Lobster pounds on the island so your certain to have scales when you leave.

We found one of best and least expensive ways to enjoy lobster just about anywhere in Maine, was to get the lobsters at one of the major grocery stores (Hannaford or Shaws for instance) and they will cook it for you while you get your other groceries. Take it back to the RV and add your own fixins. Most restaurants will serve you the 1.25 pound size. My wife usually liked to order the 2 pound ones at the store and we still spent less than half of what the restaurants charged for 1.25 pound ones. Now occasionally you want the experience of eating at a restaurant but if you are into lobsters, like my wife, we found the grocery stores allowed her to eat them as often as she wanted without destroying the budget. :B

Also in the Bar Harbor area you have to try the blue berry ice cream, and anything made from The Atlantic Brewing Company.

fireman41 wrote:
Also in the Bar Harbor area you have to try the blue berry ice cream, and anything made from The Atlantic Brewing Company.

If you enjoy good BBQ be sure to visit Mainely Meat BBQ which is at the site of the Brewery! Mainely Meat

I have vacationed on the Maine coast for years. I no longer need to shop, or do the commercial centers. Acadia is a must if you haven't seen it. Be sure to do some hiking on the carriage trails to really see the beauty of the area. I now bypass Bar Harbor and go further north. There is a new campground at Schoodic, the lesser known part of Acadia that is really lovely. Ocean Woods campground is also supposed to reopen this year, which was my all-time favorite true camping place to go. I head further north to Cobscook Bay state park now. Nothing around but beautiful coastline, some hiking. No hookups there but some lovely sites on the bay. If you want to relax with a campfire and watch the tide go in and out, it can't be beat. Another new campground I haven't tried is Reach Knolls, again in a quiet area with little fishing harbors nearby, lots of lobster and seafood.

If you want easy access to beaches and shopping, traditional tourest area, Southern Maine is the place, we spend time at Wells, shopping in Ports mouth NH and Portland, Old Port area. If you want fantastic views, scenery, nice but hard to reach beaches, and hiking, Acadia is the place. Lobsters are easy to find in Maine.

I lived in Maine for over 30 years, its a beautiful state in the summer, winter lasts for ever! LOL! A really nice place to visit north of Portland is Meadowbrook Campgrounds right near Bath, Maine. It's a small quiet campgrounds with full-hookups and is near to one of the prettiest beaches in Maine, Popham Beach. The campgrounds does serve lobsters. Popham Beach is only 10 miles away on a small country road. There is the state park beach and if you travel past that to the end there is an old Civil War Fort and free parking if you get there early. Good fishing from the beach too. Bath is a nice small city with plenty of nice restaurants and shopping. LL Bean and Freeport is not that far away, about 15 miles south on Rt 1 or 295. You can go north thru Bath on Rt 1 to Georgetown 5 islands which serve lobster and seafood right on the pier over looking the Sheepscot River. Farther north on Rt 1 is Boothbay Harbor another fun place to visit. If coastal Maine is what you are looking for Travel I-295 north to Brunswick where you can pick up Rt 1 north and that will take you all along the coast of Maine right to the Canadian Border. Summer and early fall is awesome in Maine! Probably see you there this summer! Enjoy!

1. State Park Pass

Get a state park pass and drive up the coast while seeing each state park. Camden State Park has beautiful overlook over the town and bay. Some have campgrounds. Some are a bit isolated.

2. Acadia Natl Park and surrounding area

Watch out for the low clearance bridges in park. Check Visitor Center.

3. Lobster at Grocery Stores/Lobster Rolls

Previous poster had it right. Convenient and can find nice picnic areas to enjoy.

Also search for best lobster rolls along the way.

4. Sightseeing

Couple of nice museums along the coast, including Owls Transportation and Farnsworth/Wyeth.

Delorme GPS (now part of Garmin) has its headquarters near Freeport, Maine. Worth a visit to see the huge globe.

Freeport, as others have mentioned, has LLBean, outlets, etc.

5. Overnighting

To save a couple of bucks and/or convenience, several places to overnight including RV lot in Freeport, Maine, various Walmarts along the way, etc. Check allstays.com.

Hello,
We have traveled throughout Maine for years. First staying in inns and hotels and since 2007 in our camper. We have stayed at many campgrounds all over Maine. All have been positive experiences for various reason. Some on the ocean, some in the woods and one on a marsh. Our favorite is Wild Duck in Scarborough, ME. (on the marsh) We have also stayed at the following and as I mentioned all are places I would recommend.
Libby's Oceanfront
Narrows Too
Sunset Point
Schoodic Woods....brand new beautiful campground part of ArcadiaNP but located on Schoodic peninsular instead of Bar Harbor
Camden Hills SP
Red Apple
Hadley's Point
Chewonki
Plamyra Golf and Rv Resort
Grey Homestead Oceanfront
Camden Hills RV Resort
and another one we loved Seaview Campground and Cottages in Eastport.
Lobster is available everywhere in Maine especially along the coast.
A fun and unique experience for us was when we stayed at Sunset Point campground in Harrington ME. You can order a lobster dinner which is caught that day, prepared and delivered to your campsite by the owner.I do think there may be other campgrounds that also do this.
Enjoy your trip to the coast of Maine. It is truly a beautiful and special place.

I can also vouch for Sunset Point in Harrington, and the lobster dinner brought to your door. A very nice, well kept campground. A good stop if you're going further north maybe to Cobscook Bay state park.