New England coast road trip: Boston to Bar Harbor
≈ 500 km · ~6 h driving · ideal in 7 days · 5 stops
Lobster shacks, lighthouses and clapboard towns all the way up the New England coast to Acadia — the only US national park where mountains meet the open Atlantic.
Photo: Unsplash
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The route at a glance
- Boston — 1 night
- Portsmouth — stop en route
- Portland — 1 night
- Camden — 1 night
- Bar Harbor — 3 nights
The stops
- 1
Boston
Walk the Freedom Trail and carb-load in the North End, then follow US-1 up the coast.
- 2
Portsmouth
New Hampshire's 17th-century port makes a perfect lunch stop — Strawbery Banke and a working waterfront.
- 3
Portland
Maine's food-obsessed little city: Old Port cobblestones, Portland Head Light, and more James Beard nods per capita than anywhere.
- 4
Camden
Where the mountains meet the sea in miniature — schooner harbour below, Mt Battie's view above.
- 5
Bar Harbor
Acadia base camp: Park Loop Road, Jordan Pond popovers, Thunder Hole at half-tide and Cadillac Mountain for dawn.
Good to know
Late September–mid October is foliage season: peak beauty, peak prices — book early. Acadia's Cadillac Mountain sunrise (first light in the US, October–March) now requires a timed vehicle reservation. Order lobster rolls at the shacks, not the restaurants — half the price, twice the lobster. Much of Acadia's Park Loop Road closes December–April.
More road trips
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