Winter Harbor, Maine: Things to Do, Stay & Eat
Winter Harbor, Maine, is a small coastal town beside Acadia National Park's Schoodic District. The appeal is a village-and-park visit focused on granite headlands, woods and open-water views. It offers a different base from Bar Harbor, with fewer meal and lodging choices and a separate road journey around Frenchman Bay.
Quick facts
- Region
- Downeast & Acadia, Maine
- Best months and seasons
- In summer a passenger ferry crosses from Bar Harbor in about an hour, which is the better arrival if you are happy on foot or a bike; note it carries no cars.
- Nearest airport:
- Hancock County–Bar Harbor Airport (Trenton) (BHB), about 14 miles in a straight line.
- Nearby towns
- Sullivan, Maine; Ellsworth, Maine; Bar Harbor, Maine
Winter Harbor sits on the Schoodic Peninsula, the mainland piece of Acadia National Park. It is the same pink granite meeting the same open Atlantic as the famous side of the park, and it receives roughly a tenth of the visitors. If the Park Loop Road in August sounds unbearable, this is the answer.
The village itself is small: a harbor, a handful of businesses, and a summer colony on Grindstone Neck that has been coming since the 1890s.
Schoodic Point
The point is the reason to come. Waves break against broad granite ledges with nothing between you and the ocean, and on a day with any swell running it is more dramatic than Thunder Hole and far less crowded. A one-way loop road runs out to it through spruce, with pull-offs the whole way.
Schoodic Woods Campground (4.8 across 475 reviews) is the park's newest and quietest, opened in 2015, with bike paths running from the sites to the point. The Schoodic Institute occupies the former Navy base, a chateau-style building that housed a radio-intercept station from the 1930s until 2002.
Things to do
Drive or cycle the loop. Climb Schoodic Head for the view back to Cadillac Mountain across Frenchman Bay. Musquito Harbor Brewing (4.8 from 227 reviews) is the local brewery, and Grindstone Neck Golf Course (4.1 from 49 reviews) is a nine-hole course from 1895 with ocean on three sides.
Getting here and when to go
By road it is about an hour from Bar Harbor, down Route 3, along Route 1 through Ellsworth, then Route 186. In summer a passenger ferry crosses from Bar Harbor in about an hour, which is the better arrival if you are happy on foot or a bike; note it carries no cars.
Late June to early October. There is no supermarket and dining is limited to a handful of places, so plan around that rather than assuming you will find something.
For park lodging, the Where to Stay for Acadia, Maine: Towns or Camping? compares the main island towns, Schoodic and camping by the part of Acadia you intend to visit.
Planning notes
Things to do
About Winter Harbor
Winter Harbor is a town in Hancock County, Maine. The 2020 Census municipal table records 461 residents for Winter Harbor town. The Winter Harbor municipal website provides town-office contacts, public records and community notices.
Explore Schoodic Point and the loop road
Schoodic's granite shore is the main reason to come. Follow the park's loop road and choose stops at the designated pull-offs rather than stopping wherever a view appears. Waves can reach apparently dry rock, so enjoy the headlands from a sensible distance above the water. The route has vehicle-size restrictions.
Choose a walk or bike outing
Schoodic Head and the peninsula's trail network offer woodland walking and elevated views. The bike paths around Schoodic Woods create another way to explore, with park maps distinguishing paths from the road loop.
Spend time in the village
Winter Harbor's harbor and small businesses provide a useful counterpoint to a park day. Schoodic Institute adds science and education to the peninsula through its programs. Grindstone Neck Golf Course offers another outdoor option; a program or round of golf needs its own schedule rather than being treated as a guaranteed extra after a hike.
Getting there and around
Reach Winter Harbor by road from Route 1 via the Schoodic Peninsula. A seasonal passenger ferry links the area with Bar Harbor; it is a different plan from driving and requires a suitable return sailing and onward transport.
When to visit
Summer offers the broadest combination of visitor services and transport. Early fall can suit walking when the required businesses and buses are still operating. In other seasons, build the visit around park conditions, available meals and a confirmed place to stay rather than treating the whole peninsula as closed.
See also: Cadillac Mountain.
Common questions
Can you get to Winter Harbor by ferry from Bar Harbor?
Yes, in season.
A passenger ferry has long crossed Frenchman Bay between Bar Harbor and Winter Harbor, meeting the Island Explorer bus that loops around the Schoodic side of Acadia.
It saves the long drive around the head of the bay and leaves the car behind.
Is the Schoodic side of Acadia less crowded?
Considerably.
The Schoodic District is the mainland piece of the park, and it takes a small fraction of the visitors that Mount Desert Island does, with the same pink granite shore and far easier parking.
What you trade is choice: fewer restaurants, fewer beds and a long way around the bay unless you take the ferry.
What is a pickled wrinkle?
A wrinkle is a periwinkle, the small sea snail that clings to rocks along this shore, and pickling them is an old Downeast bar snack.
Order one out of curiosity, then order something else for dinner.
Where can you camp near Winter Harbor?
Schoodic Woods Campground is the one inside the park with wooded sites and bike paths running straight into the Schoodic District.
Both fill through the summer, and the park campground runs on a seasonal schedule.
