Anyone live or vacation in Maine?

1GoldenSun

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jun 17, 2017
I've always wanted to go and I'm thinking about renting a cabin there this summer, or possibly staying at a resort or hotel.

We'd like to stay somewhere where we could drive to lots of things to do/see. And I absolutely love Stephen King and would like to see anything touristy related to him/his books. I don't know what there is but since he was born there and lives there, and most of his books take place there, I'm sure there must be sites to visit.

Does anyone know of any nice areas to stay? Near the ocean would be nice, but I might almost prefer to be on a nice lake or even a river.
 
We went to Maine in the summer of 2017 and vacationed in Ogunquit and Bar Harbor (mainly to visit Acadia National Park). We loved Ogunquit and the surrounding areas (Kennebunk) more than Bar Harbor. My parents love Maine and usually visit the Ogunquit and Boothbay Harbor areas.
 


Love Bar Harbor! Very scenic with inexpensive lobster everywhere. Even the local McDonald's had lobster rolls. We also visited the lobster hatchery. The smallest ones look like bugs.
 
Stephen King still owns 2 homes on West Broadway in Bangor, although he doesn't live there year round. His main house is the red one with the wrought iron fence around it (used to have bats on the fence posts but they aren't always "up" as people steal them) as well as a more recently-purchased home next door (to the right as you face the house). Last summer we took visitors to see his house and although it appeared empty, suddenly a buzzer rang and the driveway gate slowly swung open. Nobody was around, nobody drove out or into the driveway...just that slowly opening gate. Kinda creepy!

It's hard to recommend someplace to go to where there's lots around to drive to. Bar Harbor (about a 5+ hour drive north of Boston) is nice for a day or two; the town is quaint, there're lots of small shops in town, and you could spend a day driving around Acadia National Park and walking/hiking around on top of Cadillac Mountain. Not sure I'd stay a week, though. Bangor isn't particularly exciting, although there's the Cole Land Transportation Museum, a pretty decent Children's Museum, and a cute downtown area. You could also walk around on the campus at UMaine and go to the planetarium there (but check the schedule). If you are hikers, you could drive north to Baxter State Park and hike Mt. Katahdin, but you have to be there EARLY in the morning.

Portland is a nice small city. Great downtown area, the Old Port, lots of shops, restaurants, microbreweries. It's about 2 hours' drive south of Bangor. My family lives in York, on the southern seacoast (about a 90 min. drive north of Boston). If you found an airbnb in York, York Harbor, York Beach you could spend your days on the beach, drive up to Ogunquit for shopping, over to Kittery to the outlets. Portsmouth, NH is just south of York, where there's once again small town quaintness, shopping, great food, Strawbery Bank Living History Museum, outdoor evening plays or movies at Prescott Park, or a trip to Water Country if your kids prefer water parks to the ocean. In York Beach there's York's Wild Kingdom (haven't been in decades but friends say it's fun), and York Village has some historic buildings that you can tour. You can drive north to the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport. K'bunkport is another quaint small town with shopping, food, etc., and you can do a drive-by of the George HW Bush summer home out on Walker's Point. You could even drive a bit further north (but not as far as Portland, which is about a 45 minute drive north of York on the highway) to Old Orchard Beach for a day on the beach and an afternoon/evening on the Boardwalk. IF you really want some history, you could drive about 90mins south of York and go to Salem, MA, or even go into Boston for a day... a very busy, full day!

Also... I don't know if it's your thing, but Maine is FULL of microbreweries; if you stay anyplace from Kittery to Orono, you could spend a day visiting several microbreweries in whatever vicinity you're staying in; in the very small college town of Orono, we have three microbreweries within walking distance of one another, all brewing very good, very individual styles of beer. I am sitting in a hotel room in Portsmouth NH right now, and can think of 6 microbreweries within a 30 minute drive from here.

Because I summered in York and now live in Orono, I don't know too much about the western part of the state, or the lakes area... but perhaps someone else can chime in?
 


I live in Southern Maine, in York county. I am about 25 minutes from South Portland (shopping) and 20 minutes from Biddeford (where I work).
 
Thanks, everyone; @leebee you are a wealth of information! I'm narrowing in on a few potential areas now. There are tons of cute cottages on VRBO and Airbnb for pretty reasonable prices (cheaper than Disney deluxe, anyway). There are so many beautiful places in Maine that it's hard to choose! Luckily, a lot of stuff is within fairly easy driving distance of each other.

Now I've got to decide if we want to stay in once place for the whole week or so and use it as a "home base," or stay in two or three places for a few days each. They both have advantages.

We'd like to do some hiking, some kayaking/canoeing/paddle-boarding, explore quaint little towns and cute shops, see lighthouses, maybe go boating, see anything and everything related to the Stephen King books, walk out on piers (I love piers), maybe go to an old-fashioned boardwalk/amusement park (I've seen one in pictures, not sure where it is), see local points of interest, and eat, eat, EAT lobster and anything else yummy we come across. We're not so much interested in outlet type shopping, general museums that don't pertain to local history etc., or attractions of the type that we can find at home.

I'm kind of afraid that once I see Maine I'm going to want to move there, and I KNOW I'm not equipped to handle the winters! :)
 
Thanks, everyone; @leebee maybe go to an old-fashioned boardwalk/amusement park (I've seen one in pictures, not sure where it is),

This is probably Old Orchard Beach which is probably 30 minutes north of Kennebunkport or 15 minutes south of Portland. OOB is a little honky-tonk-ish, but we always have a good time when we go there, but our visit is very brief at this point as we've been so many times and don't do the rides anymore. Be sure to get Pier Fries (which is no longer located on the pier). The pier used to be much longer, but came down in the storm of '78. It was rebuilt shortly afterwards, but I feel like it's shorter than it was originally.

My parents have a summer house in Biddeford and there's not much I can add to what others said. Ogunquit has a beautiful beach as well as lots of great stores and restaurants/bars that are just a short walk from the beach. There are trolleys that stop all up and down route 1 in Ogunquit so if you are not staying right downtown, you can still get there easily.

Kennebunkport also has lots of little stores to putz around in. Beaches---beautiful but next to no public parking.

Portland--again, lots of little stores, restaurants, bars. Not sure of beaches, but Portland Head Light is beautiful.

Puffins---we went on a "puffin" boat tour out of Booth Bay Harbor about 5 years ago and had a great time. I'm guessing there are tours out of Portland as well.

Bar Harbor---our favorite. Again--stores, restaurants, and bars. Acadia National Park is beautiful. If you go, go to the top of Cadillac Mountain to watch the sunrise. It truly should be on everyone's bucket list. We've done 4 nights here and it was not too much. There are many boat tours to choose from.

How long are you planning on going? I would maybe spend a couple of nights in a couple of places...not OOB....that's a brief stop at best.
 
Portsmouth, NH is just south of York, where there's once again small town quaintness, shopping, great food, Strawbery Bank Living History Museum, outdoor evening plays or movies at Prescott Park, or a trip to Water Country if your kids prefer water parks to the ocean.
Tax-free shopping. You forgot the really big draw! :D
 
I've always wanted to go and I'm thinking about renting a cabin there this summer, or possibly staying at a resort or hotel.

We'd like to stay somewhere where we could drive to lots of things to do/see. And I absolutely love Stephen King and would like to see anything touristy related to him/his books. I don't know what there is but since he was born there and lives there, and most of his books take place there, I'm sure there must be sites to visit.

Does anyone know of any nice areas to stay? Near the ocean would be nice, but I might almost prefer to be on a nice lake or even a river.

We love the Bar Harbor area, but we have a motorhome so can't help you on what hotels are good. We always stay near Bar Harbor on the ocean. We love Acadia National Park and all the Carriage Trails with our bicycles. Also, exploring the surrounding areas plus Bar Harbor itself, with boat tours. We enjoy lots of lobsters fresh from the pounds.
 
We spend summers in Wells. Love Wells/Ogunquit/York and Kennebunkport area. There is so much to do. There area a lot of shops and restaurants and beautiful beaches. If you want to see a lighthouse check out Nubble Light in York.
 
Working in the electronics industry, I remember back in the 90s that there was a big semiconductor wafer fabrication plant ("fab" in electronics lingo) in South Portland. My employer back then did some designs that were made there, but I thought that it was shuttered for a while after the roof caved in from too much snow.
 
We go to Ogunquit every summer. We love the fact that we park our car and don't need it the whole time we are there. The beach is great. Just know that the water is frigid. August is the only month I attempt to go in the ocean. There is a fun fireworks party at the beach on July 4th. Depending on your budget, you can stay in reasonably priced accommodations or splurge on the Cliff House. We love the Cliff House!
 
My wife and I go to Ogunquit every year, 8 years running now. Love the B&B that we stay at, Gazebo Inn. We go for 3 nights, 4 days and spend a day in kittery shopping at the outlets, a day in Portland drinking at various microbreweries, and if it’s warm enough we take a boat ride from the Portland harbor over to the various islands off shore. It’s a really nice mini vaca, we are foodies and Ogunquit has great restaurants. Can’t recommend it enough!
 
We go to Ogunquit every spring and stay in a great little place called The Grand Hotel. Two room suite with a small (sink, small fridge, microwave) kitchenette. Continental Breakfast in the lobby daily. Walking distance to Perkins Cove, the Marginal Way, shops, beach. Ogunquit is a good central spot to be able to go to Kittery (outlets-15 minute drive) Portsmouth NH (cool port city that has an area with great restaurants, shops etc-probably about a 30 minute drive) Portland ME (another cool port city that’s probably about a 40 minute drive), Kennebunkport ME (probably a 20 minute drive) Freeport ME (the big LLBean store and tons of other shopping-probably about 45-60 minute drive.

Bangor ME, where Stephen King is, is about 2.5 hours north of Ogunquit so it would be a bit of a drive so you might want to consider splitting between Ogunquit and then heading further north to stay around Bangor and see what there is to see there. I’ve never been in that area so I don’t know.

Maine is a beautiful state. Low key friendly vibe. Spring summer and fall are beautiful. Winter can be tough depending on where you live.
 
We love Maine. Have vacationed there for my entire life. All the places mentioned so far are beautiful. We also like the town of Bath which is mid coast.

You did mention lakes also so I though I would suggest looking into Lake Sebago and the surrounding areas as well if you prefer lakes over the ocean.

No matter where you stay, you will love it!
 

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