My husband Todd and I just got back from an epic Fall Foilage Roadtrip. Our trip was 10 days and we visited 8 different cities. We started in Massachusetts (Salem & Boston). Then we headed to Portland, Maine and then ended up in Bar Harbor, Maine!
Why Visit?
Bar Harbor is the quaintest, cutest town I think I have ever seen. It’s a not only a cute town, but also has the stunning mix of mountains and oceans with Acadia National Park being right on the coast line! Not only is there delicious sea food and nice ocean walks, but there are tons of great hikes! Bar Harbor is definitely made for the nature lover.
P.S. on our roadtrip this was the first stop we saw the large crowd that travels in the Fall time for the leaves changing! We saw sooooo many tour buses. It was definitely busy, but not terrible by any means.
Where to Stay?
Bar Harbor has some super beautiful, but expensive hotels. There are also lots of places to stay around the mountains in Acadia. We wanted to be close to the main town area without spending an arm and a leg, so we ended up staying at the Central House Inn, which was such a great location! It was a super cute and homey bed & breakfast. Todd and I laughed so hard about the wallpaper (check out my Instagram highlight if you missed it). But even if the wallpaper was a bit much, we still enjoyed our stay!
Note, do not stay here if you arriving at a weird time of day, they only have certain check-in hours.
Where to Eat:
Bar Harbor did not disappoint in the category of Food! We ate good!
The Terrace Grille: When we arrived in town we were starving so we decided to go to the “yellow umbrella restaurant” as recommend by a friend! The seating is normally outdoors (in the warmer months), but since it was so windy we ended up eating inside, which allowed us to have a beautiful view! We got our fill of seafood (I had crab quesadillas!). We 100% recommend this place if that’s what you are hungry for!
Side Street Cafe: We randomly stumbled upon this gem for dinner and quickly loved not only the menu, but also the story and the atmosphere of this restaurant. We both went with burgers and clam chowder, but there was a lot of good options, including a build your own mac & cheese! This also seemed to be a more affordable option! Bonus, they had some really fun mocktails! I ended up trying a blueberry one (because blueberries are all the rage in Maine!)
Pink Pastry Shop: For dessert we went for some blueberry whoopie pies! This pastry shop was adorable, but because of the busy season, there was hardly any food left by the time we got in! I would recommend stopping by earlier in the day if possible!
Jeannie’s Great Maine Breakfast: I think this was our favorite place we ate in Bar Harbor! This breakfast was to die for. Yes there will probably be a wait, but yes it’s totally worth it! (tip: while you wait check out the Christmas shop next door) Todd had the Apple Spice pancakes and I went with Blueberry French Toast. We recommend both!
Note: we wanted to eat at the Jordan Pond restaurant to try the blueberry popovers (the only restaurant in Acadia) however we couldn’t get a reservation and it was soooo busy! Definitely try to get a reservation way in advanced if this interests you!
What I Wore:
What to Do:
Acadia:
Acadia National Park is one of the main attractions! There are so many options to explore the outdoors; tons of hikes, bike riding trails, and beautiful sights. We wanted to stay longer because we felt like we barely touched the surface of what there was to do!
I highly recommend stopping by the Hulls Cove Visitor Center (you have to buy a pass to get in anyway) and talking to the Park Rangers to get the most out of your trip!
Drive the Park Loop: Once you’ve stopped by the visitor center (or one of the drive through points) and picked up your $30 dollar visitor pass, you are already driving along the Park Loop! The loop is fun to drive on for beautiful views and in the fall, to see the fall foliage. I recommend playing some chill music and taking in all the sights (download any music ahead of time because you won’t always have service). The loop is a single way road for a large majority of it, so just be aware while planning. The signs are pretty straight forward, but a map was super helpful for us.
Also, you will take this loop to get to where you need to go for any hikes. Warning, parking is super limited. We often double backed/waited for open spots. However, we were always able to get a spot. They do have a bus system if you would prefer to park in the main parking lot.
Get a National Parks Passport: This is something you can pick up at any National Park. It’s a relatively cheap way to track where you’ve been. Each National Park has it’s own sticker and you can stamp at a few different parts in the park. We started our Passport and it’s sparked a want to go to many more different parks! P.S. There is even an app!
Hike North Bubble (or any other hike in the area!): We had a long list of hikes we wanted to go on, but we opted for North Bubble because of its short distance and big pay off. This gives you a beautiful view of Jordan Pond at the top.
We also wanted to do Beehive, a trail that includes some rungs on exposed cliffs, but ran out of time. There is also the well known Precipice trail, which is for experienced hikers, as well as many other trails. I recommend looking on the app AllTrails to read reviews and to plan your hikes!
Walk Ocean Path: I set this a part from the rest of the hikes, because it truly is more like a walk. Park at Sand Beach and then from there, there is a pathway next to the road that you can walk along. Along the way, there are a lot of amazing outlooks! Above are just a few we found. This would definitely be rated as easy.
Thunder Hole: One of the coolest features of Arcadia is Thunder Hole! This naturally formed inlet sounds like thunder when the time/water is just right! Sadly, we were not there at the right time, but it was still a beautiful sight!
Cadillac Mountain: Cadillac Mountain is the highest point in Acadia. A lot of people hike for sunrise, but with our short timing we decided to drive up! This mountain top is different from anything else I’ve seen. You can walk around on a large part of it, and it’s rather flat. You can see from my hair how windy it was up there! So chilly, but very much so worth it!
Sweater (similar)// Dress// Pants
Get Professional Pictures Done: The views of Acadia are picture worthy, so picture worthy that we decided to get pictures done by a professional photographer while there! These will also be our Christmas pictures this year! Can’t wait to print them and hang them in our home! If you are looking for a photographer in the area I recommend Morgan Buck Photography! Morgan was seriously amazing to work with and my husband, who was a bit unsure about doing pictures with someone he didn’t know said how fun it was afterwards and how he was so glad that we did that!
Bar Harbor:
Now let’s talk about what you can do in the cute town area of Bar Harbor!
Bar Island: While Bar Island is a nice little surprise tucked in the neighborhoods of Bar Harbor. At certain times of day, when the tide is low, a bar opens up that connects two pieces of land. We decided to drive out to the Bar, and then get out and walk around. We did see cars drive all the way to the other side! It’s definitely a neat feature, but make sure you time your visit at just the right time!
Kiss a Whale: okay you might not be able to kiss a real whale, but you can give this guy a big kiss right?
Explore the Shops: Bar Harbor is full of adorable local shops! We loved the outdoorsy and Christmas ones the best! The shops pretty much line up to the coast, so you are only a few steps away from a good view at all times!
Other Suggestions:
The Naked Blueberry
Route 66 Restaurant
The Chart Room
Thirsty Whale
Mt. Desert Island Ice Cream
2 Cats
Cafe This Way
Choco-Latte
Coffee Hound
If you want further information on Bar Harbor, make sure to check out the resources I used to plan our trip on my Pinterest Fall Foilage Trip board!
Also, I have created a Google Map of our stops to help you plan!
You can check out the rest of our trip here.
Lastly, I created a Fall Playlist for our trip that was awesome to listen to during all the driving! You can check it out here.
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-Kasey
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