Midcoast to Northern Maine
 

Looking for suggestions on affordable, comfortable places to stay in Maine- Brunswick, Me on up north toward New Brunswick, Canada. Plan to make a trip in middle to late August. All reasonable suggestions are welcome. Thanks ahead of time.

I cant suggest lodging in particular but a favorite town of mine that I stay in is Belfast. Look for a great place called 3 tides.

Well, i guess it depends on which way you are crossing over into New Brunswick, which border are you crossing over at?? Calais or Houlton??

If you are crossing over through Calais, ME - a really nice place to stay is 7 miles south of Calais on Rte. 1 is the Downeaster Motel. Their website is http://www.calais-maine.com. It's an older place, right on the St. Croix River (salt water) and they have a free continental breakfast in the morning. It's more like an inn, than a hotel. Very quaint, nice grounds, nice walk down to the waters edge and restaurants located north/south of there. The rooms are also very reasonable, I think between $45-$55/night. The owners are very nice!! Enjoy!!

Hey maine today and crosbie:

You da best! As you can see, few people responded to my query, but both of you were kind enough to give me your recommendations. 3 Tides is a bit out of my proposed expense budget. The Downeaster, however, looks like a good bet. Thanks!!

Any other suggestions (beyond lodging) are very welcome as well. I will be crossing at the Calais point into New Brunswick. I understand I should anticpate a crowded Route 1 from Portland on up the coast. I know I should have reserved a week or so for the trip, but I've set aside only a day for the Portland to Calais, Maine portion of the trip (the original purpose of the journey was to get to visit a friend in Halifax). Any estimates on how long a drive (Portland to Calais) that would be along 1?
thanks again!

Hey there, well, it will take a bit to drive up Rte. 1 from Portland to Calais. It will take you most of a full day, as I'm sure you will want to stop at many of the little towns along the way. Especially like Freeport, Brunswick, Camden/Rockport area, etc. A lot of people will do the Rte. 1 trip in a day or 2.
The fastest way from Portland to Calais is to take Interstate 95/295 from Portland to Bangor and then get on Rte. 9 North in Bangor to Calais. This is a shorter route and it is still 230 miles. This would take about 4 - 5 hours.

OR, if you still wanted to drive a portion of Rte. 1 North to Calais, you could take Interstate 95 North from Portland to Bangor, get off on Rte 1A and take that to Ellsworth and then go north on Rte. 1, until you get to Calais. This will bring you through a lot of nice little towns like Ellsworth, Machias, past access roads to Lubec and Eastport as well and then eventually to Calais. These are all, very quaint little Downeast Maine towns. Basically not as commercialized as the towns on Rte. 1 to the south. All in all, this trip would probably take you 5-6 hours, but, if you wanted to make some side trips off of that on the way, you can. Especially in Ellsworth, you could continue onto Rte. 3 for a little bit and take a quick spin to Bar Harbor... (but watch out for the traffic, very bad on the weekends, one way onto the island and one way out...)
Well, hope this helps. If you stop at the Downeaster Motel, tell them Mike from Portland says hi!!!