road trip tips for boston to maine
 

Hello everyone
My husband and i have four days in the east. we arrive in boston and were planning to go the cape but it sounds crazy for the middle of aug. so we are looking into driving up to maine. Any suggestions as to stops and lodging. Any help would be great.
thanks

It depends on what you want to do during those 4 days. Portsmouth NH has great restaurants, history and scenic cruises and is also convenient to sandy beaches. The Kennebunks/Ogunquit area are also nice but if you want I think the best scenery is in the Camden ME area. From Boston, it's a do-able trip. There are very few sandy beaches north of Hampton NH. Maine has a rocky coastline. If you want swimming and sunning, stay south or find a place with a nice pool.

Definitely stop in Marblehead just North of Boston, very neat!

I agree with dfrost. Portsmouth or Kennebunkport would make a great destination.

If you stay around Portsmouth, check out the Wentworth by the Sea in New Castle (it's run by Marriot).

If you go to Kennebunkport, there are many lodging options, including the Nonantum and Lord Jeffers Inn near town, and the Colony and Arundel Inn overlooking the ocean.

If you want to go a little further north, I'd recommend the Black Point Inn at Prout's Neck in Scarborough, just outside Portland. Gorgeous!

I think you'll have a wonderful time in Maine.

I agree with the previous posts and will add the following based on how much time you have. Drive north on route 127 in Massachusetts. Start in Salem, very historic, through Beverly, Manchester by the Sea, to Gloucester. There are many interesting places to stop and it's a nice drive. Newburyport is another fun place to stop to walk around the waterfront. Lots of good restaurants as well. The Black Cow has great food and has a deck by the water.

Thanks for the help. Any recommendations on lodging in portsmouth

So we arrive in boston in fri night and will be leaving sat morning to head towards maine with four days going back to boston on tues night.

Portsmouth isn't that far from Boston. If you can drive there Friday night instead of Saturday morning, you'll avoid a lot of traffic. Sorry, we live too close to Portsmouth so we don't overnight there. Do a search on Portsmouth because someone fairly recently gave some small hotel and B&B recommendations. There are hotels on the traffic circle off Rt 95, the luxurious Wentworth-by-the-Sea which is actually in Newcastle, and I think a Sheraton near the water but a little on the outskirts of downtown.
Otherwise, get a very early start Saturday morning.

There's a Sheraton in Portsmouth that's nice and in near all of the restaurants and shops. Also, if you leave Friday night, leave late. The traffic from Boston heading north, from 3PM-7PM, on summer Fridays is usually bad. If you don't leave later, Saturday morning won't be bad.

Hi all
Thanks for all the recommendations. Since we only have 4 days to travel from boston what do you think would be the best places to stop. We arent sure if we should stay one place the whole time and then make day trips or stay in different place. Just trying to get an idea of the best places to check on a short period of time. Plus we are looking preferably at staying on or near the beach
thanks, :)

anyone stayed at the cliff house resort in maine?