Understand the geography first
Scarborough is not a town center with attractions around it. It is five separate places sharing one name: the Route 1 strip inland, the fishing village at Pine Point, the cottage colony at Higgins Beach, the private peninsula of Prouts Neck, and the vast salt marsh in the middle of all of it. Nothing here is walkable from anything else. Decide which corner you are spending the day in before you decide what to do, or you will spend it on Route 1.
Things to do in Scarborough, Maine, ranked
Everything below is scored on its Google rating multiplied by its review count. That rewards places both well liked and well used, and gives you a ranking you can check rather than one I asserted. One caveat: the method does not know what a visitor wants. Run it unfiltered on Scarborough and the sixth result is a nail salon rated 4.9 from 521 reviews. I have filtered to things you would plan a day around.
| # | Place | Type | Rating | Reviews | Score |
|---|
| 1 | Clambake Seafood Restaurant | Restaurant | 4.1 | 3,157 | 12,944 |
| 2 | Ken's Place | Restaurant | 4.4 | 2,377 | 10,459 |
| 3 | The Bait Shed | Restaurant | 4.4 | 889 | 3,912 |
| 4 | Dunstan Tap and Table | Restaurant | 4.4 | 811 | 3,568 |
| 5 | Scarborough Beach | State park | 4.6 | 601 | 2,765 |
| 6 | Pine Tree Seafood and Produce | Market | 4.8 | 459 | 2,203 |
| 7 | Bayley's Lobster Pound | Market | 4.5 | 480 | 2,160 |
| 8 | Ferry Beach | Beach | 4.7 | 339 | 1,593 |
| 9 | Pine Point Grill | Restaurant | 4.5 | 354 | 1,593 |
| 10 | Scarborough Lobster | Market | 4.5 | 348 | 1,566 |
| 11 | Stern Seafood Restaurant | Restaurant | 4.2 | 292 | 1,226 |
| 12 | Higgins Beach Inn | Restaurant | 4.4 | 248 | 1,091 |
| 13 | Fuller Farm | Preserve | 4.7 | 180 | 846 |
| 14 | Willowdale Golf Club | Golf | 4.3 | 170 | 731 |
| 15 | Pleasant Hill Preserve | Preserve | 4.7 | 93 | 437 |
1. Clambake Seafood Restaurant
4.1 from 3,157 reviews. 354 Pine Point Rd, theclambake.com. An enormous barn of a room at Pine Point that seats hundreds and turns them over fast — fried seafood, lobster dinners, a view across the marsh. It is the most-reviewed anything in Scarborough and carries the lowest rating of any serious place in town, which tells you what it is: a high-volume operation that feeds a lot of people and does not do it especially well. Go for the setting, not the cooking.
2. Ken's Place
4.4 from 2,377 reviews. 207 Pine Point Rd, kensplacescarborough.com. The other Pine Point institution, and the better one. Fried clams in the old New England style, done in a room that has not changed much in decades. Expect a wait in summer. This is the single most reliable seafood meal in Scarborough.
3. The Bait Shed
4.4 from 889 reviews. 9 Ave 6, baitshedrestaurant.com. Attached to Bayley's on the Pine Point waterfront, order at the counter, eat looking at boats. The closest thing Scarborough has to a proper lobster shack, and far less of a production than the two above.
4. Dunstan Tap and Table
4.4 from 811 reviews. 6 Stewart Dr, dunstantapandtable.com. Inland at Dunstan Corner, and the answer when you want a normal dinner rather than a seafood event. Pub food done properly, a real beer list, open through the shoulder seasons when Pine Point quiets down.
5. Scarborough Beach
4.6 from 601 reviews. 418 Black Point Rd, scarboroughbeachstatepark.com. The best swimming beach in town and the only one with a real parking lot, a bathhouse and lifeguards. Long, sandy, backed by dunes rather than houses. The lot closes when it fills, which on a hot July Saturday happens early — plan for that or plan for somewhere else.
6. Pine Tree Seafood and Produce Co.
4.8 from 459 reviews. 655 US-1, pinetreeseafood.com. The highest-rated place in Scarborough with a meaningful number of reviews, and it is a fish counter on Route 1. Buy lobsters, buy a lobster roll, buy the makings of a cookout. If you are renting a house for the week, this is the address to memorize.
7. Bayley's Lobster Pound
4.5 from 480 reviews. 9 Ave 6, bayleys.com. A long-running Pine Point lobster operation that ships nationwide and sells over the counter. Between this, Pine Tree and Scarborough Lobster, the town is unusually well supplied with places to buy shellfish and cook it yourself.
8. Ferry Beach
4.7 from 339 reviews. On the Nonesuch River side, visitscarboroughmaine.com. Not to be confused with the state park of the same name down in Saco. The quieter Scarborough beach, at the mouth of the river with marsh behind it — better for a walk and a low-tide poke around than a full beach day.
9. Pine Point Grill
4.5 from 354 reviews. 240 Pine Point Rd, pinepointgrill.com. Table service, a shorter wait than its two big neighbors and a higher rating than either. The sensible Pine Point choice on a busy evening.
10. Scarborough Lobster
4.5 from 348 reviews. 697 US-1, scarboroughlobster.com. Listed at the lowest price tier. A no-frills highway counter with good prices and no atmosphere.
11. Stern Seafood Restaurant
4.2 from 292 reviews. 96 King St, sternseafoodpinepoint.com. Down among the houses at Pine Point, small and local. The 4.2 is soft, but it is the least touristed room in the village.
12. Higgins Beach Inn
4.4 from 248 reviews. 34 Ocean Ave, higginsbeachinn.com. The dining room at the inn a block from Higgins Beach, and effectively the only restaurant in that neighborhood. Useful to know if you are staying there, since the alternative is a fifteen-minute drive.
13. Fuller Farm
4.7 from 180 reviews. 309 Broadturn Rd, scarboroughlandtrust.org. Land trust trails through fields and woods well inland. Flat, easy, and a good rainy-morning walk when the beaches are pointless.
14. Willowdale Golf Club
4.3 from 170 reviews. 52 Willowdale Rd, willowdalegolf.com. A straightforward public course. Nonesuch River Golf Club, 304 Gorham Road, rates 4.1 from 65 reviews if Willowdale is full.
15. Pleasant Hill Preserve
4.7 from 93 reviews. 302 Pleasant Hill Rd. The second Scarborough Land Trust property, smaller than Fuller Farm and nearer town.
What the ranking misses entirely
Some of the best things to do in Scarborough carry no rating in the listings data at all, which is worth knowing before you trust any ranked list of this town, including this one.
- Scarborough Marsh is the largest salt marsh in Maine, and paddling it is the most distinctive thing you can do here. The Audubon nature center on Pine Point Road is the launch point and runs guided trips and canoe rental in season; check their current schedule before you drive over.
- Higgins Beach appears in the corpus with no rating and no reviews, despite being the beach most people actually mean when they say they are going to Scarborough. It is a surf beach, and at low tide the ribs of the schooner Howard W. Middleton emerge from the sand — one of the few visible shipwrecks you can walk to on this coast. Parking is the problem: a small paid lot and residential streets that are aggressively signed. Read our Higgins Beach guide before you go.
- Prouts Neck is a private peninsula where Winslow Homer painted the pictures that made him famous. His studio survives and can be visited on tours run through the museum in Portland, booked in advance. The cliff path is beautiful and access is restricted; see our Prouts Neck guide for what is actually open to the public.
The quieter, higher-rated list
Ranking by volume puts two enormous seafood restaurants on top. Sorted purely by rating, Scarborough looks different — smaller places, thinner samples, better experiences:
- Pine Tree Seafood and Produce Co. — 4.8 from 459 reviews. The best-rated thing in town, full stop.
- Ferry Beach — 4.7 from 339 reviews.
- Fuller Farm — 4.7 from 180 reviews.
- Pleasant Hill Preserve — 4.7 from 93 reviews.
- Reel Salty Charters — 5.0 from 24 reviews, 96 King St, reelsaltypinepoint.com. Twenty-four reviews is a hint rather than proof, but Pine Point is a working harbor and a half day on the water from it is a genuinely different way to see this coast.
The honest drawback
Scarborough is a place people stay rather than a place people visit. There is no downtown, no waterfront to stroll, and the two best beaches are both parking-constrained in ways that will ruin a spontaneous plan — Scarborough Beach closes its lot when full, and Higgins Beach effectively has no visitor parking at all. Most of what is enjoyable here is eating, walking on sand or being on the water, and all of it requires driving between corners of a spread-out town. If you want a walkable day with shops and museums, Portland is fifteen minutes north and Old Orchard Beach ten minutes south. What Scarborough has that neither of them does is space — marsh, dunes, a working fishing harbor, and beaches that stay wide at high tide.
More on the town in the Scarborough guide, and on the seafood in Maine lobster pounds.
FAQ
What is the best beach in Scarborough, Maine?
Scarborough Beach at 418 Black Point Rd, rated 4.6 from 601 reviews, is the best all-round choice: long, sandy, with a bathhouse, lifeguards and the only proper parking lot in town. Higgins Beach is the better-known surf beach but has severe parking restrictions, and Ferry Beach on the Nonesuch River, rated 4.7 from 339 reviews, is the quiet option for a walk rather than a swim.
Where should you eat in Scarborough?
Ken's Place at 207 Pine Point Rd, rated 4.4 from 2,377 reviews, is the most reliable fried seafood in town. Pine Point Grill, 4.5 from 354 reviews, is the calmer table-service option nearby, and Dunstan Tap and Table, 4.4 from 811 reviews, is the year-round choice inland at Dunstan Corner. If you are self-catering, Pine Tree Seafood and Produce on Route 1 rates 4.8 from 459 reviews and is the highest-rated place in Scarborough.
Is Scarborough worth visiting, or should you stay in Portland?
Stay in Scarborough if you want beaches, marsh and space, and are happy to drive. Stay in Portland if you want to walk to dinner. Portland is about fifteen minutes north, so a Scarborough base gives you access to the city while keeping you next to sand — but there is no walkable town center here, and every plan needs a car.
Can you canoe or kayak in Scarborough Marsh?
Yes, and it is the most distinctive thing to do in town. Scarborough Marsh is the largest salt marsh in Maine, and the Audubon nature center on Pine Point Road serves as the launch point, offering rentals and guided paddles during the warmer months. Schedules and availability change season to season, so check with the center before planning a day around it.
