hi fodorites,

DH and i are thinking about taking a road trip to maine this fall. i've poked around on several threads here (sorry for bumping them all by bkmking) and have done some preliminary research.

some quick background - we're in our early/mid 30's, active/fast-paced travelers, love food (can i eat lobster every single day?!?), from toronto, will be driving our car down for the trip.

we're thinking about breaking the trip up into two chunks (i hate having to unpack/repack every night). looking to spend 3 nights in southern maine (wells, portland, ogunquit, etc.) and 3 nights in the acadian national park area.

a rough itinerary would look something like this

day 1: leave toronto early AM and drive to maine; check in to B&B/inn/??
day 2: explore kennebunks, york, and whatever town/area we end up stayng at
day 3: explore portsmouth/kittery
day 4: check out and drive to portland, explore portland and continue north to ANP area; check in to B&B/inn/??
day 5: explore ANP
day 6: explore schoodic (and more ANP)
day 7: check out, drive home

question #1: does this very rough itinerary make sense? have i left too little/much time? i know that i've got a bit of back and forth driving in the first 1/2 of the itinerary but, i don't know how else to do that without checking in/out of various B&Bs/inns/etc.

question 2: i've been able to find decently priced (i.e. $75-150/night) accommodations near ANP (moorings, cranberry hill, colonel suites). however, i'm having a hard time a) figuring out where to stay for the first 1/2 of the itinerary -- both location and actual accommodations. do you have any recommendations? i'd prefer a B&B/inn over a motel. i've found a hampton inn in saco for $93 a night ... have a feeling that it would be quite charmless. seems like kennebunks would be more 'central' to our various day trips ... however, pricing seems to be fairly high as well.

question 3: ideally, we'd like to visit in the height of the fall colours ... however, being from toronto, we do get fall colours at home as well, so it's not VITAL. the exact timing of our trip is still TBD ... possibly the week of october 11. but it could be as late as october 18th or october 25th. if we leave it to that late in october, is the landscape barren? any weather concerns? i do think we need to be careful because my preliminary research shows that several places seem to close down either during or at the end of october.

thanks so much for your help!!!

Someone from Maine can give a better idea of foliage times, but I suspect mid October may be kind of late.

Have you checked mileage and drive times on Mapquest or wherever to/from are to/from Toronto to where you plan to hit Maine? Might be a good idea. (I never totally believe them, but they DO give an idea.)

There are a LOT of motels along Rte 1 in York and all through southern Maine, but mostly are "just motels". I suggest checking out "B&B" on line in Maine to see what you find if you prefer those (as we do).

You might check out York Harbor Inn on line, for example. Bigger and nicer and quieter. Rates vary by different types of room and time of year. Just one of many ideas.

We love midcoast Maine best because it tends to be quieter, but we're retired and may be less "go-go" than you folks are!

I'll be interested in seeing what you get for replies.

Good luck!

hi rv,

yes, according to google maps, the drive from our place to kennebunkport (i just guessed on our final destination) is just under 11 hours. a border crossing plus a few stops probably puts us at 13 hours. we could break it up over two days but we might squish it into one.

i did look at the york harbor inn but it's a bit out of our price range. i also took a look at kennbunkport's tourism site and got some good leads on more affordable lodging. i'll take a look at some of the other towns' sites.

i should also clarify that while an oceanview would be nice, i'm being realistic with our budget and totally understand if $75 - $150 per night doesn't get us everything that we want. walking distance to restaurants in a small town would be great too. but we don't mind if we have to drive either.

thanks!

oh ... and a private bathroom is an absolute must!

You could try the Anchorage Inn in York - its on the water and should be quite a bit less than the York Harbor Inn. Another option are the motels on the water in Old Orchard Beach - closer to Portland than York but still within an hour of Portsmouth (your most southern point). Some are pretty dated but clean.

Love Maine but I wouldn't chance it on not making reservations.
I would have reservations for all of my hotel stays.
We went in late Sept. and most of the hotels were booked till Nov.
We really enjoyed Kennebunkport area.
Have a great time!

Your Day 4 itinerary doesn't give you much time to explore Portland. K-port to Acadia is 4-5 hours, depending on if you drive up I-95 to Bangor or meander up the coast on Route 1 from Brunswick. Portland's Old Port alone is at least half a day of strolling and looking into shops. Are you planning a stop at LL Bean in Freeport? Add another 2-3 hours at least.

If you're visiting during leaf season (early-mid October along the coast in southern Maine, a few days earlier around Acadia), reservations are an absolute must, especially on weekends. Be prepared for traffic, too.

I think 3 days in each location makes sense. Don't worry about backtracking , K'port, York and Ogunquit are all within easy drives of each other.

Lots of places lower rates after Labor Day and weekdays should also save a few dollars. It's not a cheap area to travel, but it's less of a draw for foliage than inland in Vermont or New Hampshire.

Kennebunkport is one of those towns that seems to stay "open" till at least Xmas. Have you looked into the Franciscan Guesthouse or the Kings Port Inn? I haven't stayed at either, but they are more reasonably priced than other places in the area, and the locations can't be beat. They're not fancy places, but are still sure to be more atmospheric than a suburban Hampton Inn.

yes, you can eat lobster every day! Because there are often specials (2 lobsters for a reasonable price), I had 20 lobster in 14 days1

You had said that the $75-150 rate was okay in your original post, and SOME rooms "midweek" at York Harbor DO cost that, but I am not pushing them particularly. They are just maybe a bit nicer and quieter than some of the motels up the road, but I bet you can find some places for what you want at that time of year. Prices should drop after Labor Day.

However, I WOULD make reservations for that time slot. (As people have warned, tourists are all over during leaf season, which varies up and down the coast.) I know you want something nicer than an ordinary motel, but you want to avoid high costs, too, so it can be hard to find that!

Again, check some B&B listings, too. If you've stayed in those, of course, you know that they vary a lot. Some are lovely AND reasonable, while sometimes you get a bummer -- as we have a couple of times!

On the other hand, if you really want foliage, why not VT or NH instead? Seems to me to be two different objectives here -- the seashore or foliage.

Good luck!

I would set up the itinerary so that you are in southern Maine mid-week and not the weekend. As pointed out, the southern area is a popular weekend destination thru the fall. The Kennebunks to Portsmouth area is that far apart so the driving wouldn't be bad. Keep in mind Rt 1 in Kittery is lined with outlet malls so there's about 2 miles of traffic congestion.
A half-day in Portland then a long drive to Acadia seems too much driving in one day. I would do an overnight someplace esp because you might want to explore another area. Rockland has a great art museum plus nearby Owls Head Transportation Museum and Owls Head Light. Camden is very pretty. Boothday is another possibility. The other thing to keep in mind is that if there's bad weather, there's not much to do around Acadia. I would have an alternate plan and cancellable reservations. There can be some glorious weather in October but there's usually some cold, rainy days.
Don't forget the lobster shack kind of places will close after Columbus Day but you won't have any trouble finding lobster.

hi all,

thanks so much for all the information!

a few points/comments:

1. i apologize for any miscommunication but i fully intend to make reservations! i'm too type-a to show up without a reservation!

2. while leaf-viewing would be nice, like i mentioned originally, we're from toronto and we get some gorgeous leaf viewing at home ... however, we don't get oceanviews/life quite as readily!

3. if we switch our itinerary around, we could spend 3 nights in ANP and then 3 nights in southern maine. according to google maps, i'd be best to drive via quebec and the drive from toronto to bar harbor (for example) is over 13 hours. so we'd need to crash somewhere (maybe near sherbrooke, quebec) on our way to maine. so we could avoid the weekend in southern maine ... instead, spending the weekend on the road and/or near ANP.

thanks so much for all of the feedback ... i've found several inns/B&Bs and will be looking into them.

i will post back if/when we a) decide to go and b) have a more formal itinerary.

thanks!