I had discounted the idea of a daytrip from Ogunquit to Boothbay Harbor, but I just looked at two sources - Microsoft Street & Trips and Google Maps. The former had drive time at 1 hr, 45 min and the other (Google) had it at 2 hours.

What's your best guess? We would be looking at doing this on a Monday in mid-September. Any input?

Thanks for your help - with this as well as prior posts!

H

my best guess for myself would be 1 hr 45 minutes, but you're splitting hairs with two hours. if i'd never taken the trip before, i KNOW i'd be driving more slowly to take in the interesting sites, sticking to the slower coastal route. but if you're just going to zoom, zoom up, passing slower moving cars along the way, you could probably even beat the shorter time, as long as it's not labor day weekend.

Is that the Monday a big truck with jackknife, closing the highway? If not, 1.75-2.00 hours should do it.

Did this recently, taking the slow coastal route....left Oqunquit and had breakfast at Maine Diner...drove through Kennebunk stopped for 1/2 hour browsing/window shopping...continued up through Cape Porpoise and around Saco to Ocean Park...walked the beach for a half hour towards Old Orchard (the amusement park may be tacky but the beach in the area is underrated!)....then hit the freeway to South Portland....detoured off to Cape Elizabeth (Two Lights Park) for a lobster roll (crabmeat roll preferred actually)...then back onto the freeway through Portland and Brunswick then up Route 1 through Wiscasset and on to Boothbay. Nice, interesting drive and took about 5.5 to 6 hours including breakfast and lunch. Don't forget a cone at the Boothbay Ice Cream Factory!
I would estimate 2 hours going back without all the stops...though a stop at LLBeans in Freeport can't be avoided!

Thanks all for your input!

Corwin - not Labor Day - Sept 17th

Happy-LOL That would be my luck!

Tracys - your route sounds great. Unfortunately, I was asking because I am perhaps reconsidering a daytrip to BBH from Ogunquit. I guess the bottom line is - I can't decide whether to keep the reservations in Ogunquit with a possible day trip to BBH
OR
Scrap the reservations in Ogunquit and just head for BBH
OR
Split them up, as I suggested in another post.

I guess I just have to decide.
Thanks again,
H

Traveling in Maine depends on season and time of day and area. Drive time from the border to Maine to Portland is 1hour, from Portland to mid-coast is approx. 1 1/2 to 2hours (including Boothbay), from mid-coast to Acadia is 3 1/2hours. All of this is dependent on traffic and traveling on the main turnpike and then on local routes as you get closer. Early morning travel is always a good thing in Maine especially in summer. The Brusnwick area through Bath and Wiscasset is single lane only most of the way (especially the Wiscasset bridge by mid-morning) and is the bottle neck area which can greatly slow you down. There are no true alternate routes. September should be much better time to travel. Boothbay is touristy but worth a trip. Do you have an updated map. The state renumbered their exits numbers 2 years ago.

I'm sorry - what I meant was from the southern border of Maine to Portland drive time is 1 hour.
Also new this year NH now has an tag holder/EZ pass lane. However, you must be in the right lane. It has freed up traffic going through there.

phieaglefan -- bbh and ogunquit are soooo different. i think you should split them up and try to do both. they will be different sensations each -- and you'll be glad in the end you experienced them both.

will that be too stressful? i shouldn't think sept 17 traffic would be anything to worry about.

If you do decide to go up to BBH, and are at all interested in local pottery, check out the Edgecomb Potters gallery/studio (in Edgecomb). We fell in love with their stuff at a shop in BBH, but the actual studio has a much larger range - and discounted seconds. http://www.edgecombpotters.com/

(P.S. Since I haven't seen your other Maine posts, my apologies if this topic has already been covered! )

Well alot has happened since I posted this. DH is an attorney and was set for trial in the middle of our 4 night trip, so.... I cancelled my hotel reservations in Ogunquit to avoid a cancellation penalty. I didn't cancel the car or the flights because I've seen too many trials go away at the last minute.

Well guess what? The case settled yesterday and the trip is back on! We're leaving in two weeks and I'm starting from scratch again regarding hotels and locations.

I'm thinking about these strategies since it's so late already:

a) Just make reservations for Friday and Saturday night in Ogunquit, and have a list of places with availability for Sunday & Monday nights (in both BBH and Ogunquit. That way, if we decide to stay in Ogunquit, we can, possibly having to move hotels -- or we can head up to Boothbay if we've seen enough of Ogunquit.
b) Wait until a few days before we leave to make reservations, waiting on a decent weather forecast to help us decide.

Any thoughts or input? By the way, thanks for the driving details and other suggestions!
H