4bams

thanks all in advance for your advice!

our family of 4 (2 teens , 17 and 19) will be in boston for a few days mid june, and we have a few extra days in which we want to spend some time in maine.(2 or 3 days only). as we will be driving to boston from toronto, and then the long drive home, we do not want to spend too much time driving in this part of the trip- going to bar harbor and acadie, while our first choice, really adds many hours of driving . so- are places like oguinquit a good base?
we are active, like to bike, hike, learn etc, and are not fond of the "tacky souvenir" holiday.
whale whatching, lobster boat tours, those things appeal to us.

or is it worth the extra (several) hours to spend the time further north?

appreciate all suggestions for where to base ourselves, and for which places to visit, things to do etc.

we could do this part of the trip on our way to or on the way home from boston, so it could be during the week or on the weekend whichever works out better.

thanks!

tchoiniere

I really like the area around Ogunquit and feel it would be a good base. Could go up to Portland, Kinnebunkport, etc.

Kealalani

Ogunquit - 3 miles of hardsand beach, the marginal way - a rocky coastal path, lobster boats, silverlining hinkley sailboat - good restaurant options, central to Kennebunkport or York lighthouse for side trip.

dfrostnh

Last June we stayed at the Dunes in Ogunquit which is like a little white cottage colony within walking distance of the Marginal Way. It's on the water but a huge Dune separates it from the ocean. What you might like about this place is being able to rent the size that suits your family. We stayed in a motel unit but it was still part of a cottage, one bedroom, LR area and opened onto the beautiful grassy area. You can enjoy sitting in Adirondack chairs. Swimming pool, etc. The larger cottages have full kitchens.
It's right on Rt 1 but set back so far you don't hear traffic noise.
But
I really like mid-coast Maine a lot more. We usually drive up I95 until we get to Brunswick (college town) and like to camp in Wiscasset on a tidal river.
Our weather last June turned rainy but we had sun for our day on the mail boat run around Casco Bay/Portland. The old Port area is fun shopping. If it rains, there's more to do in Southern Maine but there's also quite a bit to do around the Rockland area (Farnsworth Art Museum and Owls Head Transportation Museum). If you're not going to get out this way again, I would drive the extra time to Camden. The view from the top of Mt Battie is incredible.

Ackislander

I think the Brunswick area is really great (as I have said on this forum a boring number of times). It is a college town, the neighboring areas like South Harpswell and Bailey's Island look like your dream of Maine, you aren't far from larger towns like Wiscasset with lots of antique shops and so forth, and you are twenty minutes from Freeport, home of LL Bean and every other shop you have ever heard of. It is only about two hours north of Boston, and you don't have to go all the way back to Boston before returning to Toronto (assuming that you are driving, of course!)