Hello!
We are a young couple looking to spend a fun, romantic, fall weekend in Maine. If we are driving from Manhattan, where are the best places to hit in a 3-4 day trip? Any suggestions would be wonderful!

You probably should indicate whether you would like to see coastal Maine or inland - lakes, mountains and foliage. For foliage info check 222.mainefoliage.com. (Yup, this is big business in New England.) You also may want to indicate interests: 'back to nature', hiking, shopping, fine dining?

For a coastal trip you can drive to Portland in about 6 hours, spend a night, and then head up to Camden/Rockland area for a couple of nights. Maybe drive back and spend a night in Kennebunkport or Ogunquit and head home.

For inland, maybe try the Bethel area and loop back around through NH to North Conway and the White Mountains.

All of these locations are populare and full of amenities. If you want more of a 'get away from it all' location, try further up the coast (Mt. Desert Island really quiets down in Oct.), or the Rangeley Lakes area of Maine.

How about cycling thru Acadia NP. Looking at the State of Maine website, it looks like Northern Maine is already past its peak.

Sorry, obviously my "222" was suppose to be "www". I think they haven't even started posting updates for 2008 as it certainly is not past peak, even in the far North. dowab- if you went to that site and clicked on "Foliage Reports" you were reading the report for Oct. 24, 2007. I know you guys think we're in the arctic up here, but its really not that cold

Thank you for your replies! I think we would like to stick to the coastal scenery. We're much more into cute towns and great food (will lobster still be in season?) than we are hiking or foliage tours.

I know Maine has some great B&Bs around the coastal areas, but on a budget are we better staying at a chain hotel or are there affordable "cuter" accommodations?

Check this site,it will be off season as this is not a leaf peeping area and is close to some of the big name resorts. http://www.wellsmainemotels.com/home.html

You should be able to get accommodations fairly reasonably although weekends through Columbus Day can still be popular. Columbus Day is very busy so I would avoid that if you can. You need to decide if you want to stay in one spot or move around and then just search in the desired areas. Based on your description you will LOVE (from south to north on the coast): Ogunquit, Kennebunkport, Portland, Freeport (outlets for shopping, not the cute part), Damarascotta, Boothbay Harbor, Rockland and Camden. Acadia/Bar Harbor is also wonderful, but its a little too far and if you haven't seen any of these towns yet you could save that for a longer trip.

These cottages in Wells are affordable and cute. Friends of ours stayed there about 2 years ago and loved it. You will need your car -- the cottages are in a rural area, not in a town -- but Kennebunkport (for example) is only about 15 (?) minutes away.

http://www.harborhousecottages.com/rates.htm