Road trip to Acadia National Park
If you know me you know travel is an essential part of my life. If I have some extra cash in the bank, it’s going towards a dope trip. Thanks to COVID-19, that part of my life was slightly put on hold. I stopped traveling by plane for leisure in 2020. Instead, I learned to travel cautiously by land. My best travel buddy, Gaby, and I decided to plan a trip right before Thanksgiving. Things in NYC were looking better, Gaby was getting slightly over her fear of travel, and we both had thankfully managed to avoid getting the virus. We figured we’d be able to plan a safe and efficient road trip that would yield maximum happiness and satisfaction. We decided to rent a car and drive from NYC to Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor, Maine. Craving nature and girl time, we set aside four days to drive up and down the east coast to a place we’d never been to before.
From the beginning, Gaby and I had agreed we would have to make a stop somewhere between NYC and Portland, which is where we were going to spend the night. We decided to stop in Boston at about two hours into our drive. My best friend from high school, Jenna, lives in Boston and we knew we could get a really yummy lunch in the city. We went to Oishii Boston ($$$) and had some delicious sushi. The quality was amazing, the portions were tiny, and we left with a bit of a dent in our wallets. It wasn’t too much of an issue because we got to spend quality time with Jenna and we knew we wouldn’t be spending too much during the rest of our trip. After Oishii, we stopped by the classic Tatte Bakery for afternoon hot drinks. My latte was the perfect pick me up for the second leg of our drive. It took us about three and a half hours to get to Boston from the city, and about two hours to get to Portland from Boston.
We chose to stop in Portland for the night to break up the driving on our trip up to Acadia. Although skeptical at first, Gaby and I really grew to like Portland. We spent the night at the Holiday Inn Portland-By the Bay. It was affordable, offered free parking, and was close enough to town where we could walk or drive in every day. If you want a more authentic downtown Portland experience, I’d recommend staying even closer in town.
Of course, we had some delicious meals in Portland. There were absolutely no outdoor dining options due to the weather (it was freaking COLD), so make sure you’re comfortable with indoor dining or take out. We had dinner at Evo Kitchen + Bar ($$) our first night and brunch at UNION ($$) the next day. Both were absolutely divine. Evo offered Mediterranean fusion with lots of veggie-forward dishes. UNION was more of an NYC brunch spot with Brussel sprouts and avo toast. I’d recommend making reservations at both of them to avoid waiting.
Our Portland sightseeing consisted of walking along the pier, window shopping at all the local shops, and spending the afternoon in Fort Allen Park. I personally loved browsing in Sherman’s Book Shop and having a full-blown photo shoot at the park. There’s something a little romantic about all the activities we did, and I loved doing them with my gal pal. Due to COVID-19, you could probably see all of downtown Portland in a day. We would’ve also liked to visit the Portland Art Museum, Observatory, and Lighthouse, but they were all closed due to the pandemic. After we checked out all the open touristy spots, we hopped in the car and started our evening drive to Bar Harbor.
The drive from Portland to Bar Harbor was much more of a direct trip. We basically were on I-95 North the entire time and drove for about three hours. Bar Harbor is the closest town to the national park. I’d recommend staying here over the other towns because it has a main street with various dining, social, and shopping options. Every day, we would get in our rental car and drive less than 10 minutes to one of the trails to start our day hiking. I would highly recommend going to Acadia in early fall because you’ll get more hours of sunlight and warmer weather. The weekend we chose to go was basically the last weekend of the season. We were some of the only people staying in the hotel, the town was basically shut down, and the sun set at around four pm. Although we had an incredible time and made the most of it, I’d recommend going in between Labor Day and Thanksgiving.
We stayed at the Harborside Hotel, Spa & Marina. Our hotel room was very spacious, with a large bathroom and terrace looking out at the ocean. I would definitely stay at this hotel again. The staff at the hotel was extremely knowledgeable and helped us come up with fun activities to do that we hadn’t thought of ourselves. The hotel also has a warm and inviting lobby, perfect for lounging and meeting others in non-COVID times. We ate at the hotel restaurant twice: once for dinner and for breakfast. Both meals were delicious. It’s a pricier option than the spots in town, but so convenient it was hard to pass up.
On our first night, the concierge recommended we drive to the top of Cadillac Mountain to stargaze. The view was absolutely breathtaking. I’d never seen stars so clearly and in such a large quantity before. We only lasted about twenty minutes because it was so cold. The hotel gave us some blankets, but even then we were freezing. It’s a pitch-black drive, so be careful driving up. I would assume it's equally beautiful in warm weather. There was nothing to do in town at night since everything was closed, so this was a great nighttime activity.
During the next two days, we hiked from morning to sunset. We hiked the Precipice trail that first morning because Gaby and I are absolute ballers. This is the hardest trail in the park. Do not take that lightly. Gaby and I joked that most of our hiking was really rock climbing, which was definitely true for this trail. It took us almost two hours to get up and about an hour to get down. In the afternoon, we picked up lunch at Side Street Cafe ($$) and ate it in our hotel room. Almost all the restaurants in town were take-out only due to COVID-19. We ended our day hiking up Bubble Rock and strolling around Jordan Pond. That night, we discovered the Royal Indian ($$) restaurant. It became our holy grail since it was the only spot open for indoor dining. The food was so comforting and delicious. Don’t pass up on this spot.
The next morning, we decided to take it easier and hike Beehive Trail. It’s one of the most popular trails in the Park along with Bubble. It was a great hike to do after our previous crazy day. Beehive took us a little over two hours going up and down. It was one of the more scenic hikes because of its proximity to the beach. Instead of walking down to the beach after, we drove our car down to make the most of the daylight. We spent the rest of the day at Thunderhole, followed by Sand Beach. Both are beautiful, picturesque nature spots worth seeing. Sand Beach reminded me of a West Coast beach with large, crashing waves surrounded by beautiful mountains. We ended our last day in Acadia with Indian food for lunch and watching the sunset at the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse. This was another activity that is an absolute must-do. There’s nothing like watching the sun meet the ocean while sitting on a rocky overlook.
This same day, we drove back to Portland for dinner. We had so many Portland restaurant recommendations it was hard to ignore. We ended up having one of the most delicious dinners of our entire trip at Scales ($$$) in Downtown Portland. I had a local beer, followed by a delicious lobster roll with a side of squash gratin. If you had one night in Portland, I’d tell you that you must go to this restaurant. The restaurant itself was so beautiful and maintained social distance between every table. After dinner, we drove to Portsmouth to spend the night in a different city and state. We didn’t see much of the city until the next morning. We had brunch at a local diner and then walked around before heading back to NYC. The drive back felt like the longest out of our whole trip.
Thankfully, we made it back safe and sound to NYC. All in all, our trip was five days long. We visited so many cities and states, saw so much beautiful nature, and had tons of quality time together. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions about doing this road trip!