Maine: Where to stay/recreate?

Thinking of driving up to Maine in early September for a week. Near the water most likely.

Never been to Maine, I've been to Vermont and Keene NH. Looking for recommendations in Maine, near the water, good places to recreate outside, things to do, or see.

If you even have specific accomodation recommendations, I'm game.

Thank you
-Spicoli

 

Could ask in the Maine or north east BS thread but @GarlicFarts could probably give some ideas

 

Southern ME coast is more "touristy". Midcoast (Bath area & up) is more typical small coastal towns/villages. Recreation opportunities are endless.

Maine Tourism has a nice website.

 

Check out the town of Rockland. Awesome spot, great food good fishing.

 

Acadia NP is worth seeing but it can be crowded. I'd think September would be OK. After kids are back in school and before the leaves are at their peak.

Nowhere near the coast but we spent a couple of nights in Millinocket which is the closest town to Baxter State Park. There are some amazing hiking trails including the northern terminus of the AT.

 

Recreation - mountain bikes, kayaks, hikes, what are you looking for? I can absolutely get you some things.

There's car shows, some road bike rides, there used to be a tow truck weekend in old orchard beach but I can't find details for this year right now.

 

Just went back for the second year in a row to Acadia. Yea it's not as big as other parks and can be crowded, but if you take not popular trails like we did a few days, we only ran into a few other people. Schoodic peninsula while technically part of the park was WAY less crowded and my kids enjoyed it (9 and 7)

As others have stated, there are a shitload of opportunities to do outdoorsy things there.

I love my time in Maine. Next time I want to take 95 all the way to the end so I can say I've been to both ends of it, hit up Baxter SP and do some star gazing.

 

Poke your head in here, some Maine folk

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/new-england-b-s-thread.204874/page-10329#post-30772408

 

What kind of water, ocean or lake? During fall Maine ocean water temp will probably be in the mid to high 50's.

I live in a lake town near Augusta, ME that doubles population in the summer. There's still tourist in the early fall, but it slows down significantly and a lot of the VBRO and AirBB are more available. Leaf peeper season is typically early-mid Oct when they get busy again and the trail heads get crowded so you might hit a sweet spot with early Sept.
For reference Augusta is about 45 minutes to the ocean (Popham, Reed, Wolfs Neck) and about 75 minutes to the western mountains.

If you want mountains Bethel/Newry would be a good spot. Great mountain biking (Mt Abram, Inland Woods) and hiking (Grafton Notch, Sunday River, Frenchman's Hole). Early Sept will be before leaf peeping and ski season so you may be able to get deals on lodging. I used to own a rental cabin in Bethel and we would not raise rates until October.

If you're going to visit further north Gulf Hagas is an often overlooked destination and I preferer it to Baxter. Both are kind in the middle of nowhere.

 

Looks like prices might be cooling for my week of vacation....so this might be an option. Looking at a cabin in Brunswick for $1500, that's more my speed for 6 nights.

And that leaves me pretty close to Darmiscotta - Whoopie Pie Blair lives there and was hoping to meet up with him.

Lots of good recommedations here, I appreciate it!

I need to get to Maine and RI! That will leave me Hawaii, Alaska and North Dakota!

 

Good choice. Brunswick is a great town with a lot of good restraints on the main strip. It's a college town with Bowdoin College right there.
Bowdoin College has a free art museum.
For ice cream Fielder's Choice is awesome locally made ice cream with huge servings for cheap. If they have the fall flavors out, I recommend a 50/50 of ginger snap / pumpkin.

You'll be close to ocean beaches: Reed State Park, Popham Beach.
It's close to Freeport if you want to do some shopping. (FYI, IMO Linda Beans restraint is mediocre and a tourist trap). Tuscan Brick Oven Bistro is good.
You'll be close to Portland which has so many good restaurants and the Old Port is always hopping. The Great Lost Bear has decent food, but their beer menu is huge with many of them on tap.
Topsham is also close buy and has a similar vibe to Brunswick. Bath also has a good town, just avoid driving in the area at 3-3:30 when BIW shipyard has their shift change.

 

Thank you, you are too kind. I appreciate the info!

 

Rough plan:

Drive to New Haven day 1 - layover and get some Frank Pepe's.

Continue on to Brunswick Sunday morning.

Stay in Brunswick until Friday or Saturday the following week.

Need to dip into Rhode Island somehow to knock off that state.

 

Check out the mansions at the Breaker in Newport RI.

 

Maybe too late for the OP but I recommend the Rangely Lakes, Moosehead, and Baxter this time of year.