Portland, Maine scenic drive
 

We will be in Portland on Oct 13 for one day on a cruise ship. We will take the Maine Foodie Tour in the morning, then have the afternoon for a 2- 3 hour scenic drive. We hope to see fall foliage and beautiful countryside. Are there any covered bridges in the area?

I'm a bit concerned about traffic. I live in an area of MN where tourists come to view fall foliage and the traffic can be a real challenge. I don't want to find myself stuck in traffic in ME and be worried about making it back to the cruise ship, or feel like we didn't get to see much because the traffic was jammed up.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Well, two hours isn't a lot of time since it takes 20 minutes or so just to get out of the Portland traffic. I'd probably head out route 302 towards Sebago Lakes, Naples.....if you have time from there cut southwest to Cornish, then back around to Portland. If time is tight, just drive from Portland out to Cape Elizabeth and the Two Lights Park. What time does your tour end, and what time to you have to be back at the cruise ship, exactly?

We just did the foodie tour last Sat. The tour "ended" at Shipyard Brewery but we still had the movie and tastings. It was almost 2pm when we decided to have lunch at Duckfat (don't miss their fries) and then ice cream at MDI Ice Cream on Exchange St (great if you love weird flavors) and by the time we did a little shopping, it was 5pm. We could have spent another day exploring the Old Port District. You don't have time to shop on the tour so you'll have to allow time to re-trace the route to go back to any shops. The architecture in the area is wonderful.