boston to bar harbor (acadia) itinerary. need help!
 

we are planning a 5 night trip in early august. landing at logan airport (because $99 r/t flight from baltimore). rent a car and drive 2 1/2 hours to bath or boothbay harbor. overnight. day 2 drive up hwy 1 ( very scenic?) to bar harbor. 3 nights bar harbor and acadia (2 full days). drive back to boothbay harbor for final overnight. final day, return to logan for flight home. our goal is to see the maine coast and spend some time in acadia. please offer suggestions. thank you

rte 1 is often not as scenic as one would imagine. actually most of the time you can't even see the water. you will drive through some picturesque towns but your time will be better spent if you drive up the interstate (95) and make trips out to the coast from it.
i would pick brunswick over bath. and boothbay over either of them for your 1st night. then get to bar harbor as directly as possible.
once you're on mt. desert island there is lots to see. you can make a more or less circular trip around the island, through northeast harbor, southwest harbor, tremont, etc. which makes a lovely drive.
from bar harbor - go back out to ellsworth and go over to blue hill: typical scene http://www.flickr.com/photos/georgesgewels/2093040859/
and then on down to brooklin.
or from ellsworth go north on rte 1 to west gouldsboro, then south on rte 186 to winter harbor and into the schoodic point section of acadia. schoodic is a one-way extremely scenic drive: http://www.acadiamagic.com/schoodic-point.htm take a picnic lunch and if possible go when the tide is coming in. at 'the point' you'll walk out onto huge rocks, some of which create big blow holes <very dramatic.

thank you, virginia! we are landing in boston at noon so probably we can make the trip up to bar harbor for the first night, and add a full day there. what do you think? also, ( how little i know ), what is "mt.desert island"? my biggest challenge now is that i just saw the hotel prices in bar harbor! i think that i'll do another post for help there!

virginia gives some great advice. We typically stay on Rt 95 until we get to Brunswick. Look at the map
http://www.acadiamagic.com/Park.html
Bar Harbor is a town on Mt Desert Island. There are other towns. We stayed at less than a 4* hotel several years ago, just a budget place so doesn't fit your needs.
Bath is home to the Bath Iron Works, decent place but you would probably prefer Brunswick which is a college town with more restaurants etc. Boothbay is a tourist town. I don't particularly like it for a place to stay because of all the traffic and the distance to Rt 1. For us, it's too popular but it's also very pretty.
I think you should take the opportunity to overnight on your way up so you can see another part of Maine. It's a long drive and Rt 95 can get very boring. Do not miss Camden, even if it's only to drive up Mt Battie for the incredible view. We also stop in Lincolnville at the Cellar Door Winery for a tasting and to purchase some bottles. Depending on your day of arrival, if it's Friday, don't pick Boothbay. Your timing would put you in a lot of traffic congestion because everyone is headed to Maine for the weekend plus you have normal commuting crush. There's a lot of backup on Rt 1 because of the bridge between Wiscasset and the next town before you turn off for Boothbay. We had no trouble on a Friday morning before 4th of July weekend. Friends hit all the traffic from Portsmouth NH north in the afternoon. Otherwise, Wiscasset is one of the pretty towns to drive thru on your way north. If you stayed in Brunswick you could take a drive out to Five Islands lobster for your first lobster shack dinner. Not much else on the menu. Beautiful setting. Eat on picnic tables. Boothbay would give you more restaurant options on the water with more extensive menus. Depends on whether you want to rough it or not.

Just a couple of thoughts, take 95 directly up to BH from Portland (95 to Bangor and then Route 3 down to MDI), and then meander down Route 1 on the way back down. (Or the other way around if you're traveling Fri, Sat or Sun avoid Route 1 on those days if possible.) Logan to BH should be about 5.5 hours drive. Logan to Boothbay is more like 3.5 than 2.5 hours. I might suggest Camden/Rockport/Rockland as an alternative for Boothbay. Boothbay is down the peninsula and adds driving so don't do it twice. There are just so many choices it all depends on what attractions you're interested in - hiking, museums, shopping, sailing, etc? Although there are stretches of Route 1 that are a bit boring, I still love to drive it and there are some beautiful little towns along the way. (If you're interested in views and bridges, google the Penobscot Narrow's Bridge and check out the observation tower you can visit if you're not afraid of heights!)

great info. thank you both! we will definitely drive to bar harbor from logan airport. my current "dilemma" is should we stay 4 nights in bar harbor (3 full days), or only 3 nights (2 full days)and then 2 nights in either camden, rockland, or boothbay so we can experience a different part of the coast more thoroughly?

Unless you're particular about where you stay, you could probably make your decisions based on the weather. . .stay another night if its nice, move on if not and if you're bored. We spend a week in MDI each summer as a family and never get bored, there are so many hiking trails, biking trails, shops, etc. But we also do a lot of hanging around the campground (we have a waterfront site) enjoying cocktails and reading, etc.