Bar Harbor, Maine: Welcome to Vacationland

I didn’t know that Maine’s unofficial nickname was “Vacationland” until Brian and I visited Bar Harbor this summer. Ostensibly, it refers to all of Maine, but the slogan felt especially apt for Bar Harbor, a compact little town full of shops, restaurants, ice cream parlors, and of course, tons of milling tourists!

This adorable resort town sits on the edge of Maine’s Mount Desert Island (pronounced like “dessert”). It’s a perfect home base for exploring Acadia National Park, which is why Brian and I ended up spending a week here this August. We stayed in a quaint little airbnb which, despite it’s humble bearing, came with a big price tag. I guess when your city is open for only part of the year, prices reflect the short season.

Where to Stay in Bar Harbor

There are plenty of motels and inns along route 3, heading into town, but it’s worth it to pay more and stay in the town itself. Most of the restaurants and sites in Bar Harbor are within a very small radius which makes it extremely walkable (if you don’t count the fact that you’ll often be elbow to elbow with other tourists). Because of the narrow streets and heavy foot traffic, driving a car here is an exercise mostly in futility. Aside from the painfully slow navigation, once you get wherever you’re going, parking will present a whole other challenge. However, if you are on a budget and want to stay out of town, I’d recommend arriving early, parking at the edge of town, and then walking in to do your sightseeing.

I’ve never been to a town that felt so much like it was meant solely for recreation. Everywhere we looked, there were shops, restaurants, ice cream parlors, tours, plaques, historic buildings, and tourists. The only people who seemed to live here were the folks working at the shops and restaurants. Even most of them were there just for the season, including a lot of younger folks from out of the country, having a working summer abroad. The overall effect was that of an oversized Disneyland, or like being in the Truman Show.

Getting Here

I’d recommend flying directly into Bar Harbor if you can. It’s a small airport about 20 minutes away from town. You can also fly to Augusta, about 2.5 hours away, or into Portland, Maine, which is about 3 hours away. If you’re like us and really want a direct flight, you can fly into Boston, which is 5 hours away.

During the summer, Bar Harbor is a weekend destination for a lot of folks. The road leading to it (Route 3) is two lanes for a good portion of the way and it gets quite backed up. Travel times could take much, much longer depending on when you’re on the road (Fridays heading in, and Sundays heading out, being the worst). Also, if you’re coming from Boston, plan for traffic at any point along your route. There are a lot of destinations along the I-95 corridor so a considerable number of people will be leaving Boston on any given summer weekend, even if they’re not going as far as Bar Harbor.

Getting Around

While you can walk everywhere in Bar Harbor, a car is great to have on hand for getting to parts of Acadia National Park, which is right at Bar Harbor’s doorstep. Public transport, taxis, and ubers aren’t common here so a car is your best bet for going anywhere outside of the town itself.

If you don’t want to rent a car, you can rent a bike in Bar Harbor and bike directly to Acadia, which has over 50 miles of biking paths. However, you will need a car to get to the lesser visited part of the park, on the Schoodic Peninsula.

So in theory, you could visit Bar Harbor without a car, but your options will be pretty limited.

Lobsters and Blueberries!

Lobster restaurants and lobster themed souvenirs are everywhere you look. But did you know that it wasn’t until the early 1900s that lobster became a “fancy” meal? It used to be served to servants and prisoners or used as feed for livestock. Sounds to me like some enterprising lobster fishermen managed a very successful re-branding campaign. But let’s be honest, a lobster roll is on par with a hot dog, only it’s 5 times the price. There, I said it. Also, the emperor is naked.

Maine blueberries will also slap you in the face wherever you look but unlike Maine’s over-hyped crustaceans, these blueberries deliver on all the flavor you ever thought that little fruit could pack. You can get them in preserves, as a wine, in cocktails, pies, muffins, and picked fresh off a bush! Maine blueberries are small, compact, and very dark in color. They are sweet and have a nice pop in your mouth. If you didn’t already know that Maine is known for its blueberries, you will learn within 5 minutes of arriving. Once you taste them, you will never forget it.

What to do in Bar Harbor

A lot of the fun of Bar Harbor is just meandering around. The streets are super compact and they are full of little shops selling clothing, souvenirs, jewelry, and quirky home goods. In between those shops are restaurants, bars, ice cream parlors, and candy stores featuring a million flavors of homemade fudge! We went to as many as we could, obviously.

Bar Harbor is also right along a beautiful stretch of water called Frenchman Bay. The walk along the shore path offers beautiful views of the harbor and bay. From the pier, you can purchase tickets for fishing tours or whale watching, or even tours by kayak. The harbor didn’t look especially conducive to swimming although we did see a few brave souls splashing around. If you’re looking for a bonafide sandy beach though, I’d recommend heading to the very aptly named, Sand Beach, about 7 miles outside of town. You can hike right to it from Great Head Trail.

Even if you’re not interested in boating or swimming, make sure you head to the northwest side of the harbor at low tide when a land bridge appears, linking Bar Harbor to Bar Island. Not only is the walk across the previously-submerged sandy land magical in itself, it leads to a really cool island with a hiking trail that gives you awesome views right back at Bar Harbor, allowing you to see the town from a different perspective.

Aside from that, the real attraction of Bar Harbor is that it’s right next to Acadia National Park, one of the most gorgeous, bikeable, amazing, interesting, magical national parks we’ve been to. And it’s a balmy 72 degrees in mid August, which is the most epic bonus of all.