I'm planning a road trip from near NYC to Bar Harbor, ME. I'd prefer to stop along the way, preferably at someplace where I might even enjoy a day or two rather than just a rest stop on the drive. I'd be willing to go off route for an interesting stop, but would prefer not to drive hours out of the way. Friends suggested Portsmouth, NH and Portland, ME as possibilities, but I'd be interested in hearing any other suggestions. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

We did not stop in Portsmouth, but we loved Portland. Plenty to do in and around the city for a day or two.

Portland is always our stop between Philly area and BH. Great little city.

My neighbors do this drive every summer but they take the Orient ferry, where we live. They do one overnight in Rockport, Mass.

Thanks for the suggestions. I will definitely look into Portland and Rockport.

If you wanted to take a boat tour, the mailboat cruise of Portland's Casco Bay is good but the two choices out of Portsmouth NH are even better (more narration). We like both the harbor tour and inland rivers. Dock is within walking distance of the Portsmouth parking garage.

It depends on what you want to do. Portland's Old Port area is fun. Portsmouth's interesting little shops area is smaller. Both have great restaurants.

Western Massachusetts

Springfield, MA - Dr. Seuss Memorial Garden with wonderful character sculptures (for children of all ages)

Stockbridge, MA - Norman Rockwell Museum

Downeast Maine, Wells, Ogunquit, Kennebunkport IMO all would make a nice place to stop and visit and eat.

Rockport is not along the way. While only about a 45 minute detour, it is not not he route.

Portland is

Thank you for the additional replies. Portland or Downeast Maine seem like a good spot to spend a couple of days on my way up to Bar Harbor, and maybe stop in Western Massachusetts on the way home.

You may want to think about picking up Rt. 1 on the way up. Grab it above Portland. There will be more traffic, but you'll see some great small towns and places to see. Then on the way back, go to Bangor and ride 95 the whole way down. You'll have one scenic route and one quicker. Enjoy Maine!

We usually stay in the mid-coast area and get off I95 in Brunswick to travel Rt 1. Love the view from the bridge in Bath but the traffic congestion can be very bad in Wiscasset during commuting hours and especially Friday afternoons.

What is this region like in late September, early October? Our neighbors do it every August and gave me a lot of good sounding info, but just wondering how it is later that they travel? Since I never got my Spain trip planned, I was wondering about just doing a fly in to Bangor and then rent a car and go around for a week....

BAr Harbor resident says plenty of places you can go for lobster
.You can hike without getting sweaty. All of New England is beautiful that time of year. On rainy days visit library. College of Atlantic has nice museum for natural.history. Abbe Museum is Native American.

We did a trip from NYC to Bar Harbor years ago when our kids were younger. We stayed a day or so in Boston, MA then spent an entire day in Lexington and Concord (as I recall) and then drove to Bar Harbor.