How this list is ranked
Everything below is scored on rating multiplied by review volume from our Mount Desert Island places data. Rating alone is a bad guide on this side of the island, because the quiet places genuinely are quiet: a 4.9 from twenty people tells you almost nothing. Multiplying by volume separates the things a lot of people liked from the things a handful of people happened to rate. Where the strongest option sits in the next town over — Tremont, Mt Desert — we have said so rather than pretending it is in Southwest Harbor.
In town
Beal's Lobster Pier — 4.5 from 1,142 reviews
182 Clark Point Rd. The single most-reviewed thing in Southwest Harbor by a wide margin, and the closest the town has to a landmark. It is a working lobster pier with a counter attached: you order, you sit at a picnic table over the water, and the boats unloading twenty feet away are not set dressing. The 4.5 rather than a 4.8 is mostly queue length and the fact that a bad-weather day on an exposed pier is a bad day. Go early or go late.
Sail Acadia — 5.0 from 339 reviews
11 Apple Ln. A perfect 5.0 from over three hundred people is unusual in this dataset and worth taking seriously. Day sails out of Southwest Harbor go down Somes Sound and out among the islands, which is a materially different view of Acadia than any road gives you — the mountains read as mountains only from the water. Trips are weather-dependent and small-boat capacity is limited, so book ahead rather than walking down and hoping.
Wendell Gilley Museum — 4.8 from 100 reviews
4 Herrick Rd. A museum built around one man's bird carvings, which sounds narrow and is, and which is also the reason it works. The collection is a plumber-turned-carver's life's output plus rotating work from other carvers, and there is usually someone demonstrating. Small enough for an hour, and the best rainy-afternoon option in town that is not a restaurant.
Harbor House — 4.7 from 22 reviews
329 Main St. The community center, not a tourist attraction, and included because it is where the town's public programming actually happens. Worth a look at the noticeboard if you are staying a week.
Trails within ten minutes of Main Street
Flying Mountain Trailhead — 4.9 from 160 reviews
96 Fernald Point Rd. The best-rated hike in Southwest Harbor and the one to do if you only do one. It is a short, steep scramble to a summit that is barely a summit by Acadia's numbers, and the payoff is a straight-down look at Somes Sound with Norumbega across the water. Under an hour if you turn around at the top; make it a loop down to Valley Cove and back along the fire road for closer to two. The lot is small and fills on clear mornings.
Ship Harbor Trail — 4.8 from 115 reviews
A figure-eight loop out to a rocky point on the island's southern shore, mostly flat, mostly easy, and completely dependent on the tide for whether it is interesting. At low water the harbor drains and the tidepools at the end are the point. At high water it is a pleasant walk through spruce that ends at some rocks. Check a tide table before you drive out — it is the difference between the two ratings people give it.
Seawall — 4.8 from 86 reviews
ME-102Alt. A natural cobble berm that the ocean built across the road from a picnic area and campground, and one of the better places on Mount Desert Island to watch a storm from inside a car. Sunset here faces the right way, which is not true of most of Acadia's eastern shore.
Acadia Mountain Trailhead — 4.8 from 71 reviews
Just north of town in Mt Desert. Steeper and longer than Flying Mountain, with the same Somes Sound view from higher up and a proper granite descent on the far side. Do it as the loop rather than the out-and-back.
Worth the short drive
Bass Harbor Head Light Station — 4.4 from 4,616 reviews
116 Lighthouse Rd, Bass Harbor, in Tremont, about fifteen minutes south. This is the most-reviewed place in this article by a wide margin, and the one that will disappoint you if you arrive with the postcard in your head. The classic image is shot from the rocks below and to the south, reached by a stairway from the parking area; from the top, all you see is a fence and a keeper's house that is still a residence. The lot is genuinely small. Late afternoon light is the reason to go, which is also when everyone else goes. Our Bass Harbor Head Light guide has the access detail.
Seal Cove Auto Museum — 4.9 from 477 reviews
1414 Tremont Rd, Seal Cove. A brass-era car collection in a barn on the far side of the island, and a 4.9 from nearly five hundred reviewers is an exceptional score for a museum this size. Unrestored originals rather than show cars, which is the interesting choice. Twenty minutes from Southwest Harbor and worth it on a wet day.
Island Cruises — 5.0 from 391 reviews
12 Little Island Way, Bass Harbor. Another perfect score off a serious sample. Boat trips run out of Bass Harbor rather than Southwest Harbor, so build in the drive.
Echo Lake Beach — 4.7 from 193 reviews
In Mt Desert, five minutes north. Freshwater, sandy, and warm enough by August that people actually stay in — which cannot be said of the ocean beaches. Lifeguarded in season. This is the swim, not Seawall.
Somesville Museum and Gardens — 4.6 from 202 reviews
2 Oak Hill Rd, Mt Desert. The white arched footbridge here is one of the most photographed structures on the island and takes about four minutes to appreciate. The local historical society's museum and grounds behind it are the reason to stop for longer.
Where to eat
Southwest Harbor punches above its size on food, and the ratings are unusually tight. Sorted the same way, by rating times reviews:
| Place | Rating | Reviews | Note |
|---|
| Beal's Lobster Pier | 4.5 | 1,142 | Order-at-the-counter on a working pier |
| Peter Trout's Tavern and Inn | 4.5 | 476 | 48 Shore Rd; the sit-down tavern option |
| Harbor Table | 4.7 | 419 | 336 Main St; the best-reviewed full restaurant in town |
| Clark Point Cafe | 4.9 | 299 | Highest-rated food in Southwest Harbor; breakfast and lunch |
| Red Sky Restaurant | 4.5 | 169 | 14 Clark Point Rd; dinner |
| Rodick's Takeout | 4.7 | 158 | 55 Main St; counter service |
Clark Point Cafe at 4.9 is the standout on rating and is a small daytime room, so the queue is the price. Menus and seasons change; several of these close for part of the year, and a mid-week evening in the shoulder season can leave you with two options open in town.
The honest drawback
The Quiet Side is quiet after dinner. Southwest Harbor's downtown is about three blocks long, kitchens stop early, and there is no equivalent of Bar Harbor's evening crowd — if you want a bar with people in it at ten o'clock, you are driving forty minutes each way. The free seasonal Island Explorer shuttle does serve this side of the island, but the frequency is lower than the Bar Harbor routes and the last run is earlier than visitors expect. Plan on having a car and on eating at a normal hour. If that sounds like a downgrade, stay in Bar Harbor and drive over for the trails; if it sounds like the point, this is the right base.
How to structure a day
A day that works: Flying Mountain first thing while the lot is empty, coffee and breakfast at Clark Point Cafe, Ship Harbor at low tide, then Bass Harbor Head Light in the late afternoon light and dinner back in town. That routing never touches the Park Loop Road, never needs a Cadillac Mountain vehicle reservation, and covers the western half of Acadia National Park properly. Save the eastern side — Thunder Hole, Sand Beach, Jordan Pond — for a separate day, and see our Bar Harbor list for how to sequence that one.
If you have a second quiet day, run the loop road anticlockwise through Northeast Harbor and Seal Harbor, which puts the gardens, Abel's Lobster and Jordan Pond in one arc. The Mount Desert Island overview lays out how the three villages divide up, and our Southwest Harbor town page covers where to stay.
Frequently asked questions
Is Southwest Harbor worth staying in instead of Bar Harbor?
Yes, if you are here to hike and drive rather than to walk to dinner. Southwest Harbor puts you inside western Acadia — Flying Mountain, Acadia Mountain, Ship Harbor, Echo Lake and Seawall are all under fifteen minutes — and out of the worst of the summer traffic. The trade is a much shorter list of evening options and a forty-minute drive to the Park Loop Road's main sights.
How many days do you need in Southwest Harbor?
Two full days covers it comfortably: one for the western trails and the Bass Harbor end of the island, one for the eastern side of Acadia. A single day forces you to choose between the two halves. Anyone staying a week will find the town itself exhausted by day three and the trail network still not.
What is the best free thing to do in Southwest Harbor?
Flying Mountain, at 4.9 from 160 reviews the best-rated trail in town. It is a short steep climb from a small roadside lot on Fernald Point Road to a direct view down Somes Sound, and it takes under an hour there and back. Ship Harbor and the Seawall picnic area are the other two, both requiring only an Acadia park pass.
How far is Southwest Harbor from Bar Harbor?
About forty minutes by road, because the drive goes around the head of Somes Sound rather than across it — the two towns are much closer as the crow flies than as the car drives. The seasonal Island Explorer shuttle connects them in season, but check the last departure before you rely on it for an evening out.
