Hubby and I are considering a four night trip to southern Maine. I was thinking Ogunquit for all four nights - and if we got bored, we could check out Portland or Freeport as a day trip.

Another thought was to spend the first night in Ogunquit, head north for two nights, perhaps Boothbay or Rockland, and head back south and spend the last night in Portsmouth or elsewhere. That option seems like alot of driving though. We are flying in and out of Manchester, NH.

How crowded will the roads be in mid-September? We would be arriving on Friday evening and departing on Tuesday afternoon.

By the way, we're in our mid-40's. No kids on this trip (yeah!). We're just looking for some ocean (there's none where we live in Oklahoma!), some good seafood, some browsing, and perhaps a trip on the water for whale watching or general sightseeing. We're not really fishermen.

Thanks as always for your insights!
H

Traffic should be light then. How you allocate your nights depends on how you like to travel. We prefer to base ourselves somewhere when have a limited time to spend but, again, that's our personal preference. You can see plenty of ocean between Portland and Portsmouth if you base yourselves in Ogunquit. There won't be a lot going on around there so if you're worried about getting bored you'll want to base yourselves closer to Portland where there's plenty of bars, restaurants and ocean of course. Have fun in Maine!

Mid-September is a great time of year before the foliage season begins. You might check out the harbor and inland rivers cruises out of Portsmouth. There's Flagg Hill Winery and Distillery in Lee NH. They make Gen John Stark Vodka from apples and grain (it's not apple flavored). If you like wine, enjoy tasting. Friday afternoon/evening and Saturday northbound traffic is always heavy on Rt 95 but not as bad as during beach or foliage season. There's lots of history in the area. One of our favorite drives is Rt 1B thru Newcastle which goes by the famous restored hotel Wentworth-by-the-Sea. You can drive past mansions in Rye but they aren't open to the public.
From Portsmouth, NH's White Mountains aren't far. You might consider a driving loop thru the mountains on your way back to MHT if you go further north in Maine. Take the route from Portland that aims for North Conway. Do the Kancamangus west thru the mountains and then back to Manchester via Rt 93. The only thing is I prefer the drive north rather than south for views. You would want to leave Portland in the morning and allow 4-5 hours for driving. If you drove direct, it might be about 3 hours. There are wonderful places to eat in Manchester before you get to the airport. Portland has great restaurants and interesting shopping area in the Old Port area. You might consider Rockland as a day trip esp if you'd like to see the Farnsworth Museum (wonderful Maine artists) or the Owls Head Transportation Museum. It's 78 miles. If you like organic foods and wonderful handcrafts, the Common Ground Fair is held in Unity near the end of September. Might be too far out of the way for you but it's unique. What I don't like about Boothbay for a short visit is it's location. It's not handy for daytripping. For vacations we tend to stay in the mid-coast area, getting off Rt 95 in Brunswich and traveling Rt 1 from there. Freeport and south is really geared for tourists and has more traffic. Also check out the Bath Maritime Museum. I haven't seen their boat trip schedule yet but we had a wonderful lighthouse cruise with them one summer. Where in Maine you end up sort of depends on whether you want to visit a lot of art galleries or fishing communities.

I think basing yourself in Ogunquit is fine. It's only a half an hour to Portsmouth and probably just a bit more than that to Portland. Rockland is further but still an easy day trip.

Wow, thanks for the great responses. It looks like we're leaning toward staying in Ogunquit. It seems like there is enough in the area to keep us busy.

I have read a few things that said that the coast north of Portland was more scenic than to the south. I would like to see some 'rocky' coastal areas. Any suggestions for day trips from Ogunquit for seeing some rocky coast?

Wyatt - can we really do Rockland as a day trip? I thought it looked too far.

Dfrost- thanks for the idea about looping through NH. I hadn't considered that. Our flight isn't til 4PM so that might be a possibility.

Thanks again,
H

Ogunquit is one of our favorite places to go. Make sure you walk the Marginal Way-it is so scenic. It starts around the public beach area, and ends at Perkins Cove, where there are lots of cute shops and restaurants. You can also take a boat tour from here. For a scenic rocky coast drive, there is a scenic route that goes south from Perkins Cove, and may go as far as Portsmouth, I'm not sure.

Old Port in Portland would be a nice day trip. We did a sunset harbor tour last time, that went out by the lighthouse.

I guess Rockland is a rather long daytrip, about 2.5 hours. But it's doable!