Deer Isle v. Mt. Desert Isle
 

Which is better as a central location away from the 'hub-bub'. Although we will spend a couple of days touring Acadia, the thought of Bar Harbor makes me cringe. Are they other less populated places on the island or is Deer Isle (or someplace else) better for peace & quiet. We're talking cottage rental, on the water for a week.

Deer Isle, definitely.

Our friends just rented this place and have invited us to come with them in August. Deer Isle is like the anti-Bar Harbor, IMO.

http://www.mainevacationrentalsonlin...p%20detail.htm

Anti- Bar Harbor....Excellent & thx.

I second Deer Isle if you want ultra peace & quiet. Having said that, Bar Harbor is only one town and certainly is not representative of the whole of Mt Desert Isle. I am sure that you could find peace and quiet there as well, perhaps on the western side. Acadia is very beautiful. Enjoy!

I've already suggested Southwest Harbor on another post, but it sounds like you're still not sure.

Perhaps answering these questions will help:

How do you plan on spending your days?
How much driving do you want to do?
What level of dining do you want to do, and how far are you willing to drive for dinner?

~Liz

Please keep in mind we have two small children so there won't be a lot of 'fine dining'. I like to cook so I imagine we will be eating in (seafood mostly) a good portion of the time. We'll be renting a cabin or cottage. We'll spend a lot of our days hiking & exploring. We will tend to meander although we will also have places in mind that we will want to visit. Right now, Stonington seems to be the spot.

We've stayed in Stonington on 2 separate occasions, and I think it's great for a day or 2, but I think you would end up spending a lot of time in the car driving to places to hike, or buy groceries if you spend a week there.

Unless your kids are toddler-young, there's lots of fun ranger-led stuff to do in Acadia proper.

Just trying to give you a sense of the area to help you decide what's best for YOU!

~Liz

Southwest Harbor is beautiful, we only visited for a few hours, went to a deli and ate out on the rocks.

I would love to rent a house there.

Hello. You might want to try the quietside (or western part) of Mount Desert - Bass Harbor, Bernard, Southwest, etc (acadiachamber.com or acadiamagic.com). From that location you can access the trails of Acadia within five minutes, rent bikes, swim at Echo Lake, stop at Sawyer's Market for great produce and their deli, the list goes on and on. The Deer Isle/Stonington area is lovely but very remote - you can anticipate a 1 1/2 hour commute to the Park - it is a long way to go to get away from Bar Harbor when you could stay on the Island. As others have mentioned, it really depends on how you and your family want to spend your time. Regardless of where you stay, you will have great vacation on the water.

thx & keep it coming...remoteness is a + for us, not a detriment, & the kids will be 6 & 3 at that point. (Wow, 1st time I've said that, how time flies). I was allowing at least three days for Acadia (I know it's not enough, but we only have a little over a week.) We'll have to do a ferry ride somewhere as well, my kids love boats.

Agree that Southwest Harbor might be the best...close enough to Acadia but also a village with shops etc. Very laid back and charming. There are boat rides that you can get right there to various islands. I remember taking the mail boat out to Cranberry Island when my children were young - we all enjoed it.

There is a group of cottages about 1 or 2 miles outside Bar Harbor that has a 2 (or more) bedroom cottage. It's Bay Meadow Cottages and we rented there last in 1998. They overlook a picturesque cove and it's very quiet and peaceful there. The 1 bedroom cottages were basic but very clean and cute and the house had at least 2 bedrooms and was well equipped.

Brutforce,

We stayed here about 10 years ago, it's a Victorian cottage colony, very charming, in vetween Camden and Acadia (closer to Camden), it was great, lots of kids, you could smell the woodburning stoves and fireplaces every day.

In fact, I'd love to go back!

http://www.baysidecottagerentals.com/Village.html

Thx nina.

I'll explore the SW Harbor as well. But Deer Isle does sound more like our 'style'.