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Maine Island Ferries: Which Ones Work as a Day Trip
Ten islands with scheduled service, ordered by how realistic a day trip is. Crossing times and operators, but not timetables: those change too often to be worth repeating here.
How far out each island is
Crossing times on one axis, easiest first. The gap between the seventeen-minute hop to Peaks and the two hours to Matinicus is the whole difference between an afternoon and a trip you have to book a bed for.
One-way crossing time, not a schedule. How long you actually get ashore depends on the day’s sailings, which change several times a year — check the operator, and plan around the last boat back.
Every route, in detail
| Island | From | Crossing | Cars | Day trip |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peaks IslandThe easiest island in Maine to visit. Frequent boats all day, a loop road you can walk or cycle in a couple of hours, and food near the landing. | PortlandCasco Bay Lines | 17 min | Yes | Easy |
| IslesboroThe shortest state ferry crossing, twenty minutes from the beach at Lincolnville. Long and thin, so bring a bicycle or a car. | LincolnvilleMaine State Ferry Service | 20 min | Yes | Easy |
| Cranberry IslesGreat and Little Cranberry, minutes off Mount Desert Island, with a museum on Islesford and lunch at the dock. | Northeast Harbor or Southwest HarborCranberry Cove Ferry and Beal and Bunker | 30 min | Foot only | Easy |
| Swans IslandA short hop from the quiet side of Mount Desert Island to a working island with a good beach and very little else. | Bass HarborMaine State Ferry Service | 40 min | Yes | Workable |
| MonheganAn artists’ island with no cars and seventeen miles of trails on a square mile of rock. The day-trip window is short; most people wish they had stayed over. | Port Clyde, Boothbay Harbor or New HarborMonhegan Boat Line and others | 60 min | Foot only | Workable |
| North HavenSmaller and gentler than Vinalhaven across the Thorofare, with a village you can see on foot from the landing. | RocklandMaine State Ferry Service | 70 min | Yes | Workable |
| Chebeague IslandQuieter and much larger than Peaks. The long boat down the bay is half the point; there is also a shorter crossing from Cousins Island. | PortlandCasco Bay Lines | 75 min | Foot only | Workable |
| VinalhavenA working fishing island with quarries you can swim in. Big enough that a bicycle helps and a car is genuinely useful. | RocklandMaine State Ferry Service | 75 min | Yes | Workable |
| Isle au HautHalf of it is Acadia National Park, and almost nobody goes. Boats are few and the schedule is unforgiving; plan around the return rather than the outbound. | StoningtonIsle au Haut Boat Services | 45 min | Foot only | Overnight really |
| MatinicusThe furthest offshore community on the coast, with a handful of sailings a month. This is an overnight trip or no trip. | RocklandMaine State Ferry Service | 135 min | Yes | Overnight really |
Common questions
Which Maine island is easiest to visit for a day?
Peaks Island from Portland. The crossing is seventeen minutes, boats run all day, and you can walk or cycle the loop road in an afternoon. Islesboro from Lincolnville is the next easiest at about twenty minutes.
Can you take a car to a Maine island?
On the state ferries, yes: Islesboro, Vinalhaven, North Haven, Swans Island and Matinicus all carry vehicles, though reservations matter in summer and space is limited. Monhegan, Isle au Haut and the Cranberries are foot passengers only, and Peaks is walkable enough that most day visitors leave the car behind.
Which islands are not worth attempting in a day?
Matinicus and Isle au Haut. Matinicus has only a handful of sailings a month and Isle au Haut's schedule leaves very little time ashore. Both are overnight trips, and treating them otherwise is how people get stranded.
Where do I find the actual departure times?
From the operator, every time. Schedules change several times a year, differ between weekdays, weekends and holidays, and get cancelled for weather, so a timetable copied onto a travel site is wrong within months — and the cost of it being wrong is someone stranded on an island. This page carries the things that change rarely and links to each operator for the things that do not. Plan around the last boat back rather than the first one out, and on the state ferries book a vehicle space well ahead in July and August.
