3 days road trip from Boston to Arcadia National park
 

My husband and I are at the mid 50 and our daughter is 25 years old, we have planned to have a 3 days road trip visiting Maine this Labor day. We will start from Boston drive to Arcadia National park, then spend Sunday in Portland-Maine, then drive to New York on Monday.
Please help us put together our itinerary, to maximize the time we have in Maine. We need advise about which road to take with beautiful scenery and good lobsters restaurant

Thank you in advance,
Michelle Mai

Have you looked at the mapping sights to see the milage involved? And get an estimate of how the Labor Day weekend traffic will affect your time on the road?

Sounds to me like you will be just sitting in the car the whole weekend.

You're looking at 13+ hours of driving on normal days. I'd say you could probably bump that up to 17 or 18 with the holiday traffic. If it were me I would only aim to go as far north as Portland and enjoy some of Southern Maine (York, Ogonquit, Kennebunkport, Portland) rather than just sitting in the car the whole time.

FYI - it's 3 hours from Portland to Acadia on a good day so you'll save a considerable amount of driving time, probably somewhere close to 8 hours, by not going that far north

I95 is very boring and that would be most of your drive. On Monday you would have to either start very early or very late to avoid traffic. Last weekend, no special holiday, southbound traffic on I93 from NH to Boston was very slow and congested (possibly due to rain). We have also found that Friday afternoon traffic northbound to Maine from Boston can be very slow. (make sure your rental has a toll booth transponder).

I agree with idea to just go as far as Portland and spend more time enjoying local scenery. Take a boat ride either in Portsmouth NH or Portland ME (give the driver a break). I think the Rt 1 traffic in southern Maine is going to be very heavy so pick a spot to visit where you can walk around. You might have better luck with traffic if you go north from Portland for a day trip to Rockland ME. Do the short easy hike out to Owl's Head Light. Have lobster at Waterman's Beach (very rustic picnic table kind of place). I think it's about 2 hours from Portland. Portland's Old Port Area is a great place to walk around. Some fun shops and great places to snack and eat.

According to googlemaps it will take you twice as long to drive from Portland ME to NYC if you go west from Portland thru NH and over to I91 but would be more scenic and possibly less traffic until you get to Hartford CT. Depends on how much you like interstate highways.

Sorry to be discouraging - but from Portland to NYC is the best part of 6 hours on a normal day. Trying to get into NYC on Labor Day Monday, when so many people are returning from the shore, mountains or country, is liable to be more like 9 hours - depending on when you leave.

Agree to either leave very early in the AM or wait until late in the afternoon and circle around Boston - realizing you won;t get to NYC until the small hours. And do make sure you have EZ Pass.

Michelle,
Are you starting from Boston because this is part of a longer trip and you will be there or do you live there? If not, fly Portland, drive to Acadia spend two nights, drive back to Portland, drop the car and fly to NYC?

Lodging needs to be arranged ASAP and the traffic can be very problematic on holiday weekends as has been mentioned.