Coastal Maine itinery help needed, how many days and what not to miss

[N0rdicStar]

Obviously Acadia will be a must but are there any other places we shouldn’t miss?

We have 10 days(to include Boston). Dh wants to include New Hampshire. I think it will be too much. Salem yay/ nay? LLBean apparently a must too, potentially a night in Portland.

Help!!!!

Salem is worth visiting, it is very tacky in places with a lot of occult nonsense (ironic that the Salem witches which triggered all the woo were in fact not involved with the supernatural). There is a good walking tour based on the true story, an excellent museum and art gallery which are worth seeing.

How long will you spend in Boston? I usually recommend either the Duck tour or one of the trolley tours to get the lie of the land. The hop on hop off tours are good if you have limited time and want to see a few things. The Constitution (the oldest commissioned warship in the world) is interesting and free but you need to have your passport with you to get on to it. The Aquarium is excellent but very busy in Summer, Science Museum similar. The view from the top of the Prudential Tower is great and there is an audio tour that explains the main points of interest. The Museum of Fine Arts is a fantastic gallery but enormous, The Isabella Stewart Gardiner Museum is smaller, quirkier and cheaper (free if your name is Isabella, $2 off if you are wearing Boston Red Sox merchandise), there is an excellent audio tour there that you can upload to your phone.

You can take a boat trip round the harbour islands which would be good on a calm day, or a whale watching trip, though if you are going to Maine it would probably be better to go from there.
There is a vast array of food outlets in Quincy Market but try the Public Market next door for an amazing range of local food, there is also a cafe area which is less frenzied than Quincy Market.

The only place I have been in Maine is Boothbay, which was lovely (amazing icecream shop), the botanical gardens there are beautiful. We are planning a road trip up there this summer so I will be following this thread with interest.

I'm not sure about visiting LL Bean, it's just a shop, but if you feel the need for duck boots go for it! Freeport has masses of other outlet stores so if you want to shop that's the place to go, if you're coming from the UK be aware that the exchange rate is pretty dire at the moment so everything seems expensive in the US.

Where are you planning on going and for how long?

Only planning on 2 days in Boston- Harvard, MIT, Freedom Trail and Quincy Market?

Do you have a particular reason for Harvard and MIT? They do have great museums and lovely big buildings but they wouldn't be my first choice in Boston (they are in Cambridge, not Boston, as a Bostonian would tell you!). Quincy Market is a food court with some tourist tat stalls attached, although there is a reasonable selection of (mainly pricey) shops nearby (including the MN holy grail of Sephora, which is lovely). The Holocaust memorial is right next to Quincy Market and it is worth spending a few minutes walking through it. Newbury Street is much better for shopping and quirky bars and cafes. In two days I would recommend staying on the Boston side of the river and exploring a bit more.

We are just going to get in the car and follow our noses on our road trip (no children any more so less need to plan ahead), not sure yet how long for. We may head to Nova Scotia as well. We went to Boothbay for a weekend and it was about 3 hours from Boston (leaving on Friday afternoon) if that helps your planning.

Think we'll ditch Quincy Market then. Got teens, 2 interested in MIT and Harvard also thought might be cheaper around there for 5. Will have done a week in New York and a week on Cape Cod before. Planning on focusing on The Freedom Trail,is it worth doing?2 doing it in GCSE history and I'm quite interested.Lucky you just doing it with 2, so going when it's just the 2 of us. Keep seeing all these lovely hotels and cabins for 2.

Quincy Market is on the Freedom Trail, it’s right next to Faneuil Hall, it is ideal for feeding teenagers because there is every kind of food you can imagine, ice cream etc, just don’t expect anything classy!

The freedom trail is worth doing if you’re interested in history. There are online guides that will give you details of the various points of interest or you old do a guided walk. It will take you to the Constitution and also to the Bunker Hill Monument and museum, climb the monument if you have the energy! The museum is free and gives an interesting account of the battle. I assume you’re British, in which case get ready to be seen as the baddies in all the discussions of the revolution.

I would also recommend the Tea Party ship, which isn’t on the Freedom Trail. My teenagers enjoyed it, there’s a bit of audience participation and the actors are fun.

Cambridge might be cheaper, there is a fantastic Indian restaurant (probably not what you’re coming to the USA for) not far from Harvard called Nirvana, they do a lunch buffet which is great value. If your teens are into vintage clothes there is a huge shop in Cambridge called The Garment District that they might like. My dds spend hours there whenever they are here.

We are looking forward to our trip, we’re aiming to go in late June. Definitely easier with just two of us!

We loved Bar Harbor and Acadia. We also loved Boston and wished we spent longer there. We got the train from Boston to wells and drove on from there up the coast.

During that trip we stayed in Conway to visit the white mountains. We only spent two nights there and it was very rushed but it was definitely worth visiting. We stayed in a lovely B and B with family rooms and a great breakfast.

I love Maine. I'll second Boothbay Harbour and also Bar Harbour. I also really liked the Kennebunks. Portland is definitely worth a visit. Freeport has a great Patagonia outlet which IMO is better than LL Bean. If you happen to be there on a Tuesday, look out for the Freeport Flag Ladies. They are bonkers. For outlet shopping, Kittery is worth a stop. Salem is tacky as hell but worth a stop for a few hours.

Booth Bay and Bar Harbor are worth a visit.

The Kancamangus highway is amazing too.

Kittery Trading Post and the Outlets

We visited the outlet mall at Kittery, good cheap Levi's and Timberland shoes AFAICR.
We liked Maine but we ^loved* Vermont. Just saying.

We loved a whale watching trip in Gloucester and agree that Portland in Maine was a great city. New Hampshire was our favourite state on our little tour- no sales tax is also a nice boost if you are shopping!
A HUGE highlight from cape cod was the shining sea bike trail. It’s an amazing (super flat) bike ride out to woods hole past glorious beaches and amazing scenery. I’m not an avid cycler and we did from falmouth down to Woods Hole and it was mind blowing. My bottom was agony for the subsequent days but it was worth it!

Make sure you take route 1 not I95 up to Acadia. I can’t remember where we stopped off but that coastal route is gorgeous. Take it slow. Stop often.

Another vote for Kennebunks. More of a lunch stop for us. Amazing lobster rolls from a hatch in the wall. Cape Elizabeth, Crescent Beach and Fort Williams among the way to BH.
Lexington and Concord are nice if you have longer in Boston and interested in the history.
White mountains etc amazing but have v young kids so we always focused on coast.

Ah yes. Kennebunkport. Lovely.

Do you think we can do Salem in the morning and Kennebunkport in the afternoon or is that too ambitious. Telling dh we’re ditching LLBean.

Def doing the shining sea cycle thing( if I can find a cheap motel near by).

That’s true actually- one of our favourite bits was the White Mountains- we stayed in a fab Airbnb for 4 days I think in Lincoln. There was a great cave place nearby where you could scramble through lots of caves (DH) or walk round them, enjoying the waterfalls etc (me!) and a zoological park near a lake- think there was a water park in Lincoln too but we were there in autumn. Lovely scenic loop drive of the mountain area- and we went to Mount Washington and took the train up to the top which was amazing.

Near Kittery stop for lunch at Chauncey Creek Lobster pier (though only if you like lobster!)

Ok so re evaluating the Boston hotel although I’ve heard driving in Boston is a nightmare and we’ll have a car. Any hotels in Boston with parking that would sleep 5 and not be a nightmare to get to?😬Found 1 in Cambridge with parking, wondering if it would work out better but would prefer to be in Boston if poss.

There is no need for a car in Boston, could you pick it up when you leave? Lots of hotels downtown have parking but it will be valet parking and will cost quite a lot. I just checked the hotel closest to us and it is $53 a day. It’s the Courtyard Marriott North End (Beverly St I think), very nice and pretty easy to get to from the airport and easy to get out of the city towards Maine too. I’ve no idea how expensive it is though.

Traffic in Boston is terrible at times and the roads are not a nice grid system like other US cities, it’s quite chaotic (and don’t get me started on the tunnels). Boston drivers are aggressive to each other (lots of horn honking) but incredibly considerate to pedestrians, you’ll find them stopping for you if you even look like you’re thinking about crossing the road.

If your hotel in Cambridge is near the T (the underground) then just use that to come into Boston, it’s very easy to use. Or get an Uber.

I just found this thread and we did a very similar trip in 2017. We did Boston for 4 days including Harvard, then through Salem to Kennebunkport for a couple of days then up to Portland. We went to LLBean which is brilliant and did shopping in Freeport then went to Newport, Rhode Island and to Cape Cod for a week. We are going back this summer and doing a week in Boothybay because we wanted to see more of Maine and then a week near Chatham, Cape Cod. We just want to focus more on the areas we liked and get a bit further North. We loved Portland and didn't like Newport. The coast around Cape Elizabeth is wonderful, great beaches. If your DH is outdoorsy don't scrap LLBean, it is not just a shop. My son has a fly fishing lesson there and enjoyed looking at hunting shooting fishing stuff for hours (there are lots of other sips nearby so you can do something else). Have a great time.

We went to Salem at Halloween. The kids loved it. I don't know if I would bother at any other time though. Cape Anne was pretty and Martha's Vineyard was glorious but it was October. Think it's packed in the summer.
Fabulous place.