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Maine Trip Planner: Routes by Interest

8 routes, one per interest. Every stop is a real town with real coordinates, so the distances are computed rather than quoted, and every plan carries the season it actually works in.

Which trip, which month

The single most common way to get Maine wrong is to bring the right plan at the wrong time of year. These are the windows each route depends on, on one axis: the wilderness trip starts where the black flies stop, the colour trip chases the season down the state, and the winter one exists only while Cadillac holds first light.

The lighthouse runLighthouses

Acadia, properlyNational park

Lobster and the working coastFood and drink

Islands and ferriesIslands

Autumn colour, north to southFall foliage

The quiet northWilderness

The family coastFamily

First light in winterOff-season

The plans, at a glance

Maine trip plans by interest, with nights, stops, distance and season
Trip	For	Nights	Stops	Straight-line	Best
The lighthouse run	Lighthouses	9	7	117 mi	May–Oct
Acadia, properly	National park	6	4	39 mi	Sep–Oct
Lobster and the working coast	Food and drink	7	6	94 mi	Jun–Sep
Islands and ferries	Islands	7	4	107 mi	Jun–Sep
Autumn colour, north to south	Fall foliage	8	5	232 mi	Sep–Oct
The quiet north	Wilderness	6	3	71 mi	Jul–Sep
The family coast	Family	8	5	72 mi	Jul–Aug
First light in winter	Off-season	5	3	215 mi	Nov–Jan

Distances are straight-line between stop coordinates, so real road mileage is longer. They are here to compare plans against each other, not to plan a day.

The routes in full

Lighthouses

The lighthouse run

Kittery to Rockland along the busiest lighthouse coast in the country, taking the towers in the order the traffic does.

Nights: 9
Stops: 7
Straight-line: 117 mi
Best: May–Oct

Kittery 1 night
Whaleback and the Piscataqua, then the outlet shops nobody admits to
York 1 night, 6 mi from Kittery
Nubble Light at sunset, which is the one everybody photographs
Cape Elizabeth 1 night, 37 mi from York
Portland Head Light, the most reviewed lighthouse in Maine by a factor of four
Portland 2 nights, 5 mi from Cape Elizabeth
Spring Point Ledge and Bug Light, plus somewhere to eat after dark
Bath 1 night, 28 mi from Portland
The Kennebec river lights and the Maritime Museum
New Harbor 1 night, 16 mi from Bath
Pemaquid Point, the one on the state quarter
Rockland 2 nights, 25 mi from New Harbor
The Breakwater light at the end of a mile of granite, and the Lighthouse Museum

Set by what is open rather than by weather. Museums and boat trips run late spring to mid-autumn; the towers themselves stand there all year.

National park

Acadia, properly

Four nights on Mount Desert Island and one on the mainland side, arranged so you never queue for the same car park twice.

Nights: 6
Stops: 4
Straight-line: 39 mi
Best: Sep–Oct

Ellsworth 1 night
The last full supermarket, and a cheaper bed than the island
Bar Harbor 2 nights, 15 mi from Ellsworth
Park Loop Road, the Ocean Path, and Bar Island at low water
Southwest Harbor 2 nights, 10 mi from Bar Harbor
The quiet half: Bass Harbor Head, Echo Lake, Beech Mountain
Winter Harbor 1 night, 14 mi from Southwest Harbor
Schoodic, which has the granite without the crowds

September into mid-October is the strongest window: sea at its warmest, crowds thinning, facilities still open. July and August work but need an early alarm and the shuttle.

Food and drink

Lobster and the working coast

A route through the harbours that still land the catch, ending in the town that ships more lobster than anywhere else in the state.

Nights: 7
Stops: 6
Straight-line: 94 mi
Best: Jun–Sep

Portland 2 nights
The best restaurant town in Maine, and the one that serves latest
Freeport 1 night, 16 mi from Portland
Harraseeket and the clam shacks at South Freeport
Brunswick 1 night, 8 mi from Freeport
A working town with a college appetite
Boothbay Harbor 1 night, 17 mi from Brunswick
Wharf-side lobster, and the boat out to Monhegan if the weather holds
Rockland 1 night, 31 mi from Boothbay Harbor
Lobster boats, and the Lobster Festival in early August
Stonington 1 night, 22 mi from Rockland
The largest lobster port in Maine, and not remotely a resort

Soft-shell lobster, which is what most people mean by a Maine lobster, comes ashore from roughly midsummer. Out of season many of these kitchens simply shut.

Islands

Islands and ferries

Four islands on scheduled boats, ordered so each crossing is longer than the last and none of them strands you.

Nights: 7
Stops: 4
Straight-line: 107 mi
Best: Jun–Sep

Portland 2 nights
Peaks Island on a seventeen-minute boat, back for dinner
Rockland 2 nights, 65 mi from Portland
Vinalhaven and North Haven, both car ferries, both worth a full day
Stonington 2 nights, 22 mi from Rockland
The mail boat to Isle au Haut, which is an overnight rather than a day trip
Lincolnville 1 night, 19 mi from Stonington
Islesboro on a twenty-minute crossing, the easiest of the lot

Summer schedules carry far more sailings than the shoulder timetable, and the difference decides whether an island works in a day. Times change several times a year, so check the operator.

Every route and crossing time

Fall foliage

Autumn colour, north to south

The colour sweeps down the state over about five weeks. This follows it, so you arrive in each place at roughly the right fortnight.

Nights: 8
Stops: 5
Straight-line: 232 mi
Best: Sep–Oct

Greenville 2 nights
Moosehead and the North Woods, which turn first
Rangeley 2 nights, 62 mi from Greenville
The western mountains at height, a week behind the north
Bethel 1 night, 39 mi from Rangeley
Grafton Notch, and the drive over the height of land
Camden 1 night, 86 mi from Bethel
Colour against salt water, which the mountains cannot offer
Bar Harbor 2 nights, 44 mi from Camden
Acadia last, because the coast turns weeks after the hills

Taken from the regional foliage windows this site tracks: the North Woods peak from late September, the Downeast coast not until the third week of October.

Where the colour is now

Wilderness

The quiet north

Katahdin, Moosehead and the country in between, with the fly season deliberately dodged.

Nights: 6
Stops: 3
Straight-line: 71 mi
Best: Jul–Sep

Millinocket 3 nights
Baxter State Park and Katahdin, which needs a day parking reservation
Greenville 2 nights, 45 mi from Millinocket
Moosehead Lake, floatplanes and the Lily Bay road
Dover-Foxcroft 1 night, 26 mi from Greenville
Gulf Hagas, the long way round to a gorge worth the walk

Starts where the North Woods black fly window ends. Going a fortnight earlier is the single most common way to ruin this particular trip.

When the flies are worst

Family

The family coast

Sand, short walks and things that float, on the warmest and shallowest stretch of the Maine shore.

Nights: 8
Stops: 5
Straight-line: 72 mi
Best: Jul–Aug

Ogunquit 2 nights
Three miles of sand and the Marginal Way, flat enough for everyone
Old Orchard Beach 1 night, 22 mi from Ogunquit
The pier, the arcade, and no pretence about any of it
Portland 2 nights, 12 mi from Old Orchard Beach
A ferry ride, a fort on an island, and food that suits all ages
Freeport 1 night, 16 mi from Portland
Wolfe’s Neck and the shore path, plus the shopping if it rains
Boothbay Harbor 2 nights, 23 mi from Freeport
The botanical gardens and a puffin boat

The only window when the sea is at its measured warmest and everything family-shaped is actually open. It is also the busiest, which is the trade.

Is the water warm enough

Off-season

First light in winter

A short, cold, contrarian trip built around the weeks when Maine genuinely sees the country’s first sunrise.

Nights: 5
Stops: 3
Straight-line: 215 mi
Best: Nov–Jan

Bar Harbor 2 nights
Cadillac at dawn, road and weather permitting, with nobody else up there
Lubec 1 night, 68 mi from Bar Harbor
West Quoddy Head, the easternmost point in the United States
Caribou 2 nights, 147 mi from Lubec
Aroostook: deep snow, dark skies, and the best aurora odds in the state

The exact stint our first-sunrise tracker computes for Cadillac, ranked against Maine’s other candidates. Outside it, the first light lands somewhere else entirely.

Common questions

How many days do you need in Maine?

Five to seven for one region done properly, which is what every plan here assumes. Maine is larger than the rest of New England combined, so a week spent trying to see the southern beaches, Acadia and the North Woods is mostly a week spent driving.

What is the best Maine road trip route?

South to north along the coast, because that is the direction the season moves and the way the towns get progressively quieter. Route 1 is the scenic version and I-95 is the fast one; the difference between them on the Portland to Acadia leg is roughly two hours and the entire point of the drive.

Do I need a car in Maine?

Almost certainly. Portland is walkable and the Island Explorer covers Acadia in season, but every plan here except the island one assumes a car, and the places worth the drive are the ones with no other way in.

When should I visit Maine?

It depends entirely on which of these trips you are taking, which is why each one carries its own window rather than a single answer. Late September is the strongest all-round fortnight; July and August are warmest and busiest; the black fly window from mid-May ruins inland trips specifically.

Are these distances driving distances?

No, and that matters. They are straight-line distances between the stops, computed from each town's coordinates. Real road mileage on this coast is substantially longer, because the road goes round every inlet the crow flies over. Treat the figure as a way to compare plans, not to plan a day.