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Travel guide
Acadia and Bar Harbor
4 days · 8 things to do
Best time to go: June to October
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Welcome
Acadia and Bar Harbor, in a few days
The first national park created east of the Mississippi covers nearly half of Mount Desert Island, named by Champlain in 1604: pink granite mountains dropping into the Atlantic, glacial lakes and 72 km of car-free gravel roads. Bar Harbor, once the summer retreat of the East Coast's great fortunes, serves as the home port for lobsters, whales and sunrises on the summit of Cadillac.
- Day by day
- D1 Day 1 2 things
- D2 Day 2 2 things
- D3 Day 3 2 things
- D4 Day 4 2 things
- Worth sorting before you go
- Words that help
- The practical page
- Packing checklist
The trip
Day by day
Map of the sights (numbers follow the suggested order). It prints with the base map.
D1
Day 1
2 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Cadillac Mountain · 2 hAt 466 metres the highest point on the US Atlantic coast, a pink granite dome with views over Bar Harbor and Frenchman Bay, and the country's first sunrise from October to early March.
- Afternoon · Carriage Roads · half a dayA 72 km network of car-free gravel roads built by John D. Rockefeller Jr. between 1913 and 1940, crossing sixteen cut-stone bridges and now enjoyed by cyclists, walkers, riders and skiers.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Bar Harbor Grand Hotel ↗ · All places to stay by budget →€250 a night
D2
Day 2
2 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Bar Harbor free · half a dayThe former summer retreat of the Rockefellers, Vanderbilts and Pulitzers, with the Shore Path past their surviving cottages, a sandbar to Bar Island at low tide and the Abbe Museum.
- Late afternoon · Beehive Trail · about 2 hA short but dizzying climb up the east face of a 158-metre granite dome above Sand Beach, using iron rungs and railings fixed into the rock, with a gentler path back down.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Bar Harbor Grand Hotel ↗€250 a night
D3
Day 3
2 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Ocean Path · 2 hA 3.5 km coastal trail along the granite rocks from Sand Beach to Otter Point, passing Thunder Hole, where the swell booms into a narrow cleft, and the 34-metre Otter Cliff.
- Afternoon · Jordan Pond · half a dayA crystal-clear glacial lake framed by the rounded Bubbles, circled by a 5.3 km trail, with popovers, butter and strawberry jam served on the Jordan Pond House lawn facing the water.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Bar Harbor Grand Hotel ↗€250 a night
D4
Day 4
2 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Bass Harbor Head Light · about 1 hAn 1858 white lighthouse on the pink granite cliffs of the island's quiet south-western tip, seen from the rocks below, where the low sunset light colours the granite.
- Afternoon · Schoodic Peninsula · half a dayThe park's only mainland section, far quieter than the island, with a one-way loop road, waves breaking on pink granite at Schoodic Point and trails through the spruce of Schoodic Woods.
Before you go
Worth sorting before you go
📶 eSIM data
Online the moment you land, no roaming bill.
Get one · Holafly
Online the moment you land, no roaming bill.
Get one · Holafly
🛡️ Travel insurance
Health, luggage, cancellation.
Cover it · Ekta
Health, luggage, cancellation.
Cover it · Ekta
💳 Fee-free card
Pay at the real rate, with no exchange markup.
Open one · Revolut
Pay at the real rate, with no exchange markup.
Open one · Revolut
🚐 Airport transfer
A private car at a fixed price from the moment you land.
Book it · GetTransfer
A private car at a fixed price from the moment you land.
Book it · GetTransfer
Some links are partner links: we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.
Good to know
Flavours & local habits
🍽️ Worth tasting
- Burgers and barbecue: brisket and ribs cooked low and slow, done differently in every state.
- Clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl: the classic lunch on the San Francisco waterfront.
- Mexican food: tacos from a truck in Los Angeles, a Mission burrito in San Francisco.
- Pancakes and weekend brunch: a national habit, generous to the point of excess.
- Craft beer, and California wine from Napa and Sonoma.
⚠️ Best avoided
- Tipping is not optional: add 15 to 20% in restaurants and bars.
- Prices on menus and in shops exclude sales tax, which is added at the till.
- Do not plan more than four or five hours of driving a day: the distances are larger than they look on the map.
- Never travel without health insurance. A night in hospital can cost thousands of dollars.
- In summer, do not hike down into the Grand Canyon in the heat of the day: the climb back out is where people get into trouble.
Getting by
Words that help
🗣️ English is the main language here, so there is nothing to learn by heart.
The essentials
The practical page
CurrencyUS dollar (USD, $)
BudgetAbout €220 a day, mid-range
Best seasonJune to October
PlugA/B · 120V
Tap waterSafe to drink
Tipping15 to 20%, expected
Emergency911
EntryUK, Australian and most EU passports need an ESTA, applied for online before departure, for stays of up to 90 days; a few EU countries sit outside the Visa Waiver Program and need a full visa. Canadians need neither, only a passport. Anyone who has been to Cuba since January 2021 cannot use an ESTA and must apply for a visa.
HealthNo vaccination required. Keep tetanus, diphtheria and polio up to date; hepatitis A is worth considering if you eat well off the tourist trail. In the desert parks, the heat is the real risk.
Scan to open this guide online, always up to date.
https://offwegooo.com/en/guides/acadia
Don't forget
Packing checklist
Have a good trip.
Guide made on offwegooo.com · Photos via Pexels · Details are indicative, check before you leave.