Guide
Things to Do in Maine in the Summer: Real Picks
Things to do in Maine in the summer divide neatly into two lists: the things that only work in these twelve weeks, and the things you could do any time but will be sharing with four times as many people. This guide is mostly about the first list. Puffin colonies, soft-shell lobster, warm lake water, sandbars that appear at low tide, and boats that stop running by October — those are the summer-specific reasons to be here.
What Maine summer actually feels like
Three practical things to calibrate before you plan.
The ocean is cold. Southern Maine beaches run somewhere in the low-to-mid sixties at peak; Downeast and Acadia are colder still, often mid-fifties even in August. People do swim. Most of them do not stay in long. If you want warm water, the lakes are the answer — see our Maine lakes guide for where to find it.
June is foggy. Sea fog is at its most persistent in June, when warm air moves over water still cold from winter. It can sit on the coast for days. July and August are far more reliable for sun, which is part of why they are also more crowded.
The season is short and back-loaded. Many seasonal businesses do not open properly until late June and start closing after Labor Day. The best two weeks of the summer, by most local reckoning, are the last week of August and the first week of September: warmest water, fewest bugs, thinning crowds, everything still open.
Go to the beach — but pick the right one
Maine's beaches are almost all in the southern third of the state, between Kittery and Portland, with a handful of exceptions on the midcoast and one famous one in Acadia. Here is how the busiest ones rate.
| Beach | Town | Rating | Reviews | Character |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sand Beach | Bar Harbor (Acadia) | 4.8 | 970 | Spectacular setting, very cold water |
| Footbridge Beach | Ogunquit | 4.8 | 742 | The quieter end of Ogunquit's sand |
| Popham Beach | Phippsburg | 4.8 | 259 | Sandbars walkable at low tide |
| Long Sands Beach | York | 4.7 | 1,281 | Long, open, roadside parking |
| Wells Beach | Wells | 4.7 | 1,079 | Family-focused, gentle surf |
| Ogunquit Beach | Ogunquit | 4.7 | 560 | Wide, tidal river at the north end |
| Ferry Beach | Scarborough | 4.7 | 339 | Small, close to Portland |
| Short Sands Beach | York | 4.6 | 1,343 | Town beach beside the Nubble |
| Lincolnville Beach | Lincolnville | 4.6 | 621 | Midcoast, pebbly, ferry landing |
| Gooch's Beach | Kennebunk | 4.6 | 579 | Long and walkable at low tide |
Two notes the ratings do not capture. Popham Beach (4.8, 259 reviews) is the most dramatic beach in the state at low tide, when a sandbar opens up to a small island — but that bar floods on the incoming tide and people get stranded on it every summer. Check the tide chart, not your watch. And Sand Beach in Acadia (4.8, 970 reviews) is stunning and genuinely frigid; go for the setting, not the swim.
Old Orchard Beach is its own category — seven miles of sand with a pier and an amusement park attached. The Old Orchard Pier rates 4.5 from 581 reviews. It is loud, crowded and unapologetically commercial, which is either exactly what you want with kids or exactly what you are trying to avoid. Our Maine beaches guide covers the full list.
Get out on the water
This is the single highest-return category in Maine, and the ratings back it up dramatically. Boat operators are the highest-rated business type in our entire corpus.
Lobster boat tours put you on a working boat while the captain hauls traps. Lucky Catch Cruises in Portland rates 4.9 from 585 reviews. "Catch Your Dinner" Lobster Boat Tours in Gouldsboro holds a perfect 5.0 from 707 reviews — one of the highest-volume five-star ratings anywhere in our data. Lulu Lobster Boat Ride in Bar Harbor rates 4.9 from 382 reviews. These are ninety minutes to two hours and are the best single thing you can do with children on the coast.
Puffin trips are strictly seasonal — the birds are on the nesting islands from roughly late May to mid-August and gone after that. Boats run from Boothbay Harbor, New Harbor, Rockland and Bar Harbor out to the offshore colonies. Cap'n Fish's Cruises in Boothbay Harbor (4.7 from 2,887 reviews) is the largest operator on the midcoast. See our puffin guide for which departure point suits which colony.
Windjammers — the historic schooner fleet — sail from Camden and Rockland on day trips and multi-day cruises. Schooner Surprise in Camden holds a perfect 5.0 from 221 reviews and Camden Harbor Cruises 5.0 from 315 reviews. A Morning in Maine out of Rockland rates 5.0 from 254 reviews.
Island day trips. The Casco Bay ferries out of Portland, the mail boat from Stonington to Isle au Haut, the Monhegan boats from Port Clyde and Boothbay. Our Maine islands guide covers which ones work as a day and which need a night.
A tide-dependent free option: the Bar Island Land Bridge in Bar Harbor (4.8 from 553 reviews) is a gravel bar that emerges at low tide and lets you walk to an island. The window is roughly an hour and a half either side of low water. People misjudge it and end up paying for a boat back.
Eat the things that are only good now
Soft-shell lobster arrives after the summer molt, generally from July onward. It is sweeter, easier to open by hand, and what most Mainers actually prefer — the hard-shell that ships well is not the better eating. Lobster pounds along the coast are at their best in this window.
Wild blueberries ripen from late July through August, mostly in the barrens Downeast. They are a different species from cultivated blueberries: smaller, tarter, and worth going out of your way for. Farm stands and roadside signs are the honest source.
Oysters from the Damariscotta River are at their peak availability in summer. Glidden Point Oyster Farms in Edgecomb rates 4.9 from 310 reviews and sells within sight of the water they came out of.
The classic summer days
Acadia. The Park Loop Road, Sand Beach, Thunder Hole, Jordan Pond and a Cadillac Mountain sunrise are the standard itinerary, and the standard itinerary is genuinely good. The constraint is parking, which fills before 8am at the popular trailheads in July and August. The Island Explorer shuttle runs during the season and is the correct answer. Cadillac's summit road requires a separate vehicle reservation. Everything you need is in our Acadia guide.
Portland for a day. The Old Port, the Eastern Promenade Trail (4.7, 237 reviews), a working waterfront, and the densest restaurant scene in northern New England. It also rains sometimes, and Portland is the best rainy-day city in the state by a wide margin.
Camden and the midcoast. Hike Mount Battie in the morning — Camden Hills State Park rates 4.7 from 2,069 reviews — then get on a schooner in the afternoon. It is the most efficient good day on the Maine coast.
A lake day. Underrated by visitors and standard for residents. Range Pond State Park in Poland (4.7 from 1,082 reviews) and Sebago Lake State Park (4.6, 1,592 reviews) are both within an hour of Portland and both have water twenty degrees warmer than the ocean.
Away from the coast
Two-thirds of Maine is inland and almost none of the summer traffic goes there.
Baxter State Park (4.8, 854 reviews) and Katahdin are the headline, but the whole Millinocket region is quiet in a way the coast never is in July. Grafton Notch State Park near Bethel (4.8 from 1,069 reviews) has roadside waterfalls and serious hiking within a two-hour drive of Portland. The Maine Wildlife Park in Gray (4.7, 2,495 reviews) is a reliable half day with children.
Summer is also the best window for moose, which are in roadside water through June and early July. That means a dawn drive out of Greenville or Rangeley, not a coastal afternoon.
Timing and the things that go wrong
- Book lodging early. Coastal towns sell out for July and August months ahead, and many require multi-night minimums in peak weeks.
- Route 1 is not a highway. The stretch through Wiscasset backs up badly on summer weekends. Take the turnpike for distance and Route 1 for scenery, not both at once.
- Sunday afternoon southbound is the worst traffic of the week on the Maine Turnpike, as the whole coast drives home at the same time.
- Parking is the real cost of a summer day. Arrive before 9am at any popular beach or trailhead, or plan to arrive after 3pm when the morning crowd leaves.
- Bring a warm layer. Coastal evenings drop into the fifties even in July, and boat trips are considerably colder than the shore.
Frequently asked questions
When is the best time to visit Maine in the summer?
Late August into the first week of September. The ocean and lakes are at their warmest, black flies are long gone, seasonal businesses are still open, and the peak crowds have thinned after mid-August. June is quieter and cheaper but foggier, colder in the water, and buggier inland.
Can you actually swim in the ocean in Maine?
Yes, but manage expectations. Southern Maine beaches from Kittery to Old Orchard reach the low-to-mid sixties at peak summer, which most people find swimmable for a while. Acadia and Downeast stay in the mid-fifties. For genuinely warm water, use the lakes — Range Pond and Sebago's shallow coves are dramatically warmer than any ocean beach.
What is the best boat trip to take in Maine in summer?
A working lobster boat tour, if you have not done one. They rate higher than almost any other activity in our data — Lucky Catch Cruises in Portland at 4.9 from 585 reviews, "Catch Your Dinner" in Gouldsboro at a perfect 5.0 from 707. For wildlife, a puffin trip from Boothbay Harbor or New Harbor, but only between late May and mid-August while the birds are ashore.
How far ahead should you book a Maine summer trip?
Lodging in the coastal towns for July and August should be booked several months ahead, and Acadia-area accommodation earlier still. Boat trips can usually be arranged a few days out except in peak weeks. Baxter State Park day-use parking and Cadillac Mountain vehicle reservations both operate on rolling windows and should be secured the moment your dates are fixed.
