Bar harbor in September
 

My wife and i would like to go to Bar Harbor in September for a week. Where is the best place to stay and what things are best to do?
KW

the best place to stay is: http://www.barharborinn.com/
eat lobster.
go whale watching.
tour acadia park. try to see the schoodic section.
be on cadallic mtn to be the first in the US to watch the sunrise.
eat lobster.
walk around the town.
see lighthouses.
eat lobster.
take a day to drive inland 2 hours to greenville/moosehead lake. nice drive. cool town. huge lake. you can get lobster there too. and maybe see some moose.

virginia's suggestions are good, but what do you really like to do? Are you active types or more museum types? Then we could make better suggestions. Although I've never driven from MDI to Greenville, I would suspect it would take more than 2 hours. Greenville is a long way out of your way. Depending on where you're from and what you'd like to see we might be able to come up with a better alternative. Post back with specifics.

We stayed at the Bar Harbor Manor.You can get a combination deal;lodging-lobster dinner and whale watching excursion.Great.Paul

Thanks for the ideas thus far. Let me be a bit more specific as cindyj suggested. We like to hike and to just walk around. We are definitely not museum types. The whale watching sounds wonderful as does the lobster! Here is our tentative timeline. No reservations as yet. Fly into Bangor ME late evening September 12 (rent car). We will fly back to Cincy OH on the 18th in the late afternoon. We are not locked into staying the entire time in Bar Harbor but we do want to visit as we have heard great things. What would all of oyu suggest as a fun filled and active trip for my wife and I?

We are leaving on Mon for Acadia National Park, & have reservations at the Inn at Southwest in Southwest Harbor. You can go to their website; the rooms look very nice; Victorian home with lovely front porch. Rate is $135 including full breakfast.

We also are staying at Whiting Bay B & B in Whiting, Maine, 10 minutes from Campobello Island, home of FDR's summer house. It is about 2 1/2 hours from ANP, so it could be a day trip if you wish.

Hope this helps.

I love the Balance Rock Inn.

there is loads of hiking in acadia park.
here are some links to the schoodic area - you'll have a blast climbing around: http://www.acadiamagic.com/Schoodic.html
and http://www.flaterco.com/gallery/dwf/schoodic.html
and http://www.acadiamagic.com/schoodic-point-photos.htm

the town of bar harbor is great to walk around. loads of shops and little restaurants.

drive around mt. desert island. check out the little towns of southwest, northeat and bass harbors. all much less touristy than bar harbor.

bangor is a nice small airport. car rental is easy and close in. bangor is well signed and your rte to bh is not difficult. it will take about 90 mins.

if you really want to hike you should consider going into baxter state park. great trails - great views. 75 mins north of bangor. if you wanted to stay up there medway or millinocket.

cindyj is correct about the time to greenville. i meant to hit the 3 key. sorry. but still a beautiful drive and fun place to spend a day or a night. maybe see a moose.

the town of belfast is really fun to visit. about 90 mins south from bar harbor. great coastal town to walk around and shop in.

Arriving on the 12 and leaving the 18 gives you plenty of time. If the weather is good, 3-4 days should be enough time in the MDI area. As everyone said, there are tons of great hikes in Acadia anywhere from 1 to 4 hours and you can link together and hop peak to peak. Some of my favorites are Dorr Mtn, the Bubbles, and Sargent Mtn with the little pond that sits in the saddle between Sargent and the one next to it (can't remember the name now). If you don't mind heights, try the Beehive or Precipice trails, they have places with iron rung ladders built into the rock to help climb. Hiking in Acadia isn't about elevation, but it can be challenging the the views are fabulous! The rent bikes in Bar Harbor and spend a day on the Carriage trails enjoying Rockefellers magnificent vision and granite bridges. Take the cruise over to the Schoodic Peninsula or to another small island like Swans to see real Maine life. Drive to the top of Cadillac Mtn for sunrise and be among the first to see the sun in the US. Take a kayak tour with a group, there are operators in Bar Harbor and Southwest Harbor. Don't miss popovers and anything else at the Jordan Pond house. Feel free to show up sweaty from hiking or biking, they treat everyone right in this area of society and hikers. Visit the smaller towns like Northeast Harbor and Southwest Harbor and just walk around, visit a bakery or deli for breakfast/lunch, etc. Unfortunately, we always camp at MDI campground, so I can't give lodging recommendations. www.nps.gov/acad/ may be helpful. Also stop by the park headquarters your first day to get maps, etc. The Application Trail Club has a nice paperback called Enjoying Acadia or something like that that includes trails, bike rides, a detailed map. They will have it on sale at the visitor center or you might get one before your visit at Borders or somewhere.

The other half of your trip is then open and up to you. If you want to see inland mountains, etc. then Baxter State Park/Katahdin or Greenville/Moosehead are good choices. Moosehead has a great sea plane fly in festival sometime in Sept and it might coincide with your trip. However, these are definitely more rugged areas, very quiet without much to do if the weather is wet. Driving up the coast to Eastport/Campbello could be fun too, or you could take the CAT ferry from BH to Nova Scotia for a day or overnight. You could also head down the coast, visiting towns and ending at Portland, a nice small city. Lots of lighthouses along the way if this is of interest. From Portland, the drive up 95 to Bangor is about 2 hours so you could beeline back to the airport on your last day. Let us know what you decide and we'll give more info. I've used these boards a lot for trips away from Maine so love to share info on my state!

Rent bicycles and ride the carriage roads (no cars allowed).
Rent kayaks and paddle the ocean or one of the lakes.
There are a lot of wonderful hikes (generally not really long) with incredible views. We like hiking the south ridge of Cadillac and turning around just before the top (where the cars and buses are).
Have lunch or dinner at the Jordan Pond House (wonderful lobster stew with popovers).
Favorite place to stay...Rosecliff Cottages. Just up the road from the Park entrance on Rt 3.

Thanks to all of your for the various suggestions. My wife and I are still working on the itinerary but I am certain we will not have any problem filling our week. As of now the only thing that is definite is that we are flying into Bangor on the evening of September 21. Since we are not getting in until 9:45 PM we decided to just stay near the airport that night after picking up our car. We have heard that it is best to possibly visit Baxter SP possibly on Saturday since we will be closer while in Bangor. After spending the day there we will head south to Bar Harbor. Can anyone advise us on "how to pack" clothing wise for the last week in September? As always any and all comments are welcomed!

I've often camped in Acadia during the month of September. As far as packing, I would definitely dress in layers because although the nights can be cool and crisp, the days can be warm enough for just a shirt. Pack some t-shirts, sweatshirts/sweaters and either a Fall jacket or down vest. You'll definitely be adding to and taking off the layers as the day progresses into night. :)

My husband and I are going to Bar Harbor in late Sept. Should I bother to take my fly rod? I am not good enough to travel very far out of town (Bar Harbor) to fish, but would like to find a spot near Bar Harbor.
Thanks.
BW

Sure! This link might help you decide:
http://www.acadia.national-park.com/hike.htm#ffish

The Asticou and Thuya Gardens in Northeast Harbor are quite lovely. The path up the Asticou Terrace to the Thuya Garden has nice views of the scenic harbor. Northeast Harbor is a lovely little town, as well, with some nice galleries and shops. We took a day cruise out of Northeast Harbor on the Sea Princess to the Cranberry Isles and Somes Sound, which we enjoyed very much. The scenery is spectacular, and you get a chance to get off the boat on Isleford and walk around the island for a bit.

As Cindyj mentioned, try to get to the Jordan Pond House for popovers - yum! For an easy hike with incredible views, walk along the Ocean Path from Sand Beach to Otter Point.

Thanks for all of the great ideas regarding our trip to Maine in late September.

I wanted to give a recap of our time we spent there. We should have earlier but many of you know how that goes.....

We flew into Bangor late in the evening Sept 21. We decided to stay close to the airport that night instead of driving in the dark down to Bar Harbor. We stayed at a Holiday Inn about 3 miles from the airport. Bangor airport is very small and quite easy to find your car rental desk. In fact you just walk out of the front of the airport acorss the street (behind a hotel) and find your car in the designated space! By the way I would strongly recommended booking a car through hotwire (ended up being through Avis). I rented a car for only 50% of what I was quoted online from most car rental companies.

We are glad we stayed where we did becuase the next morning we ran into several couples at the Holiday Inn getting ready to leave on a bus for a cruise no less. It kind of surprised me (never had been to that area before) that you could board a crusie ship inland Maine! I found out that they crusied down the Penobscot River then out into the Atlantic and then visited several New England seaports! We also got some ideas from some of the people cruising of some things to do during our weeks stay.

We drove "downeast" to Bar Harbor the next morning. An easy drive...I also realized how unihabited much of Maine really is! Stopped in Elsworth at a local farmers market (very quaint place). My wife and I bought a pint of the best blueberries i have ever tasted from a nice older gentleman. we also bought several jars of blueberry jam that he and his wife has just made! By the time we arrived in Bar Harbor we were full of blueberries and had "blue teeth."

When we arrived in Bar Harbor we parked in the lot where we were going to be staying and headed out to "Two Cats" for breakfast. It was wonderful! We asked one of the waitresses there where she would recommend dinner. It just so happened that she worked at another restaurant at the dinner hour and we went there. It was called Cafe Bluefish I think. Wow, what a great dinner and our waiter was full of info about the area.

We stayed 4 nights at the Bar Harbor Inn. I highly recommend it! We stayed our first 2 nights in the Newport Building and our last 2 in the main Inn itself. Each morning a continental breakfast (which I thought was very good) was served in Oceanfront Lodge part of Bar Harbor Inn.

I will post more later.... It was just so much fun it is hard to put it all into words! Let me know if oyu want to hear more or if I should just keep my memories to myself!

kwilly

MORE! MORE! We want to spend a shorter time there and are trying to make every minute count.

kwilly:


You've gotten suggestions for all the good things one would want to do. One of my favorite locations in Maine....

One thing...first learn how to properly pronounce BAH HABAH.!

Stu T. (New England Native, but now a longtime Californian)

We are going to Bar Harbor next July with my parents so look forward to hearing more about the food and activities!