Fall in Bar Harbor, Maine

What to do

Hiking

Acadia National Park offers a ton of hiking trails for all skill levels, you could easily spend a week here exploring them. What I really like about it is they offer different views, some of mountains and forest, others lakes and ocean. I recommend using AllTrails to research any hike before starting out to identify the level of difficulty and prepare accordingly. Below are a few of the hikes we did on our 5 day trip:

• Great Head Trail – easy hike with a few technical spots, stunning views of rocky cliffs and the ocean. We came back to this one three times because we enjoyed it so much, makes for a good sunrise/sunset hike with a coffee or dessert. (My husband also proposed to be here so I may be a bit biased)
• Bubble Rock Trail – moderate hike with one technical climb spot, gorgeous view of Pemetic Mountain and Jordan Pond from the top. The top also makes for a good picnic spot.
• Schoodic Head Overlook and The Anvil Loop Trail – moderate hike with some technical rocky/root-y areas, fairytale-like forest throughout, arguably my favorite scenery. It felt like we were hiking through a Hansel and Gretel forest. The only part I didn’t love is it loops back along the road parallel to the shoreline, but not for too long. We found an opening to go out to the shore which is pretty, but there were tons of mosquitos so it was short-lived.
  **Schoodic Peninsula is an hour drive from Bar Harbor, but definitely worth it. We timed it to get there right as the sun was rising and didn’t encounter any other people on the trail. A few cars started to pull up as we were leaving. If you want to make a day of it, either start out later or plan on a couple hikes, as the few restaurants nearby don’t open until lunch.
• Otter Cliffs and Thunder Hole Trail – easy trail, most accessible. This path is definitely the tourist trap, all the tour buses stop at Thunder Hole so it’s very crowded compared to almost everywhere else. I personally felt Thunder Hole was underwhelming, but the full trail was a nice, casual walk. The farther you go past Thunder Hole, the less people. We didn’t see any otters but did enjoy sitting on the cliffs and listening to the waves crash. Parking fills up quick so plan to get there early, or you can hike up from Sand Beach/Great Head Trail.

I’ll also note here that we saw a lot of cycling around Acadia National Park, if you prefer that type of activity. You’ll have to check which roads are open to bikes ahead of time. There are a few shops in downtown Bar Harbor that you can rent gear from.

Water Excursions

Since Bar Harbor is on, you know, the harbor…there are plenty of water excursions to choose from. Bar Harbor Whale Watch Co offers a number of tours from whale watching to general wildlife and lighthouse cruises. We didn’t personally do any cruises while in Bar Harbor since we weren’t there all that long and really wanted to maximize on hikes, but if you find yourself with some downtime or are a wildlife enthusiast, it looks like a fun outing. I did read some reviews that the whale watching cruise goes pretty far offshore and whale sightings are not guaranteed, so you might just find yourself on a 4 hour boat ride…some reviewers also commented about seasickness. The lighthouse and wildlife cruises are shorter and don’t go as far out, so would make a safer option for those who do get seasick.

Day Trip

• Camden – About 2 hours (76mi) from Bar Harbor, another northeastern coastal town.
• Schoodic Peninsula – A little over an hour (46mi) from Bar Harbor, part of Acadia National Park. Forest hiking area on the coast.
• Isle au Haut – About 2 hours from Bar Harbor, requires a 1.5 hour drive to Stonington and then a ferry to Isle au Haut. The ferry landing Duck Harbor/Acadia Landing is open seasonally from June to October, which is the closest landing to the best trails.
• Bangor – A little over an hour (48mi) from Bar Harbor, inland city known for arts, food, and historical sites. Bangor is Stephen King’s hometown and you can also visit sites that inspired his novels.

Shopping

Downtown Bar Harbor has no shortage of shops and restaurants to explore. There’s a store for anything you could want. We were able to find parking each time we drove up, but it definitely gets busy and might take some searching to find one. This area also gets crowded around mid-day because cruise ships port here, often times more than one…so we preferred coming in the early morning and late afternoon/evening.

Spa Day

The Harborside Hotel, Spa and Marina is part of the Opal Collection and offers the usual spa services if you’re looking to relax on your trip. We didn’t personally use their spa, but I feel confident recommending them as we’ve stayed at Opal Collection hotels before and enjoyed their spas.

Where to stay

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Resort Bar Harbor, the picture above is the view from our room (notice the cruise ship I mentioned earlier). It’s a nice property with great views and the restaurant has good food, but we really chose this hotel to accumulate IHG points since I’ve had a loyalty account with them for years. Breakfast was included in our rate and the menu had a nice variety of options. Breakfast is from 7-11am if I remember correctly, so we would have a small snack in the room before heading out for a sunrise hike and then come back to the hotel for breakfast. It was too cold to use the pool on our visit in September, but we fully appreciated the hot tub. This hotel is about 1.5 miles from Downtown Bar Harbor, and offers a bus that will take you to and from downtown and a few other locations. Since we rented a car we just drove ourselves or walked downtown using the generous foot path. This is also one of the few, decent hotels that was more affordable.

Other hotels I considered but ultimately passed on due to price/lack of loyalty points are:

• Harborside Hotel, Spa and Marina (Opal Collection)
• West Street Hotel (Opal Collection)
• Bar Harbor Grand Hotel

Where to eat

• Galyn’s – Haddock special so incredible we had it twice, recommend making a reservation for one of the three tables on the front patio.
• Geddy’s – Fun atmosphere, gets busy so recommend making a reservation or grabbing a seat at the bar.
• Thirsty Whale Tavern – Rumored to have one of the best Maine lobster rolls, I thought it was just okay, but full disclosure I prefer warm butter lobster rolls. The restaurant menu is mostly fried seafood.
• The Stadium – Excellent coffee menu and bakery selection, delicious popovers with Maine blueberry jam.
• Rosalie’s Pizza – Cute atmosphere, good pizza, perfect to eat in or take back to the hotel.
• Jeannie’s Great Maine Breakfast – This is a cute diner but we had a terrible experience with the service so I would recommend trying any of the other breakfast diners, or stick to hotel breakfast.

We both have said numerous times since our trip that we want to back solely for the Haddock at Galyn’s and popovers at The Stadium.

How to get around

A rental car is necessary to get around Acadia National Park easily. Some hotels do offer shuttle service to downtown Bar Harbor and I believe some spots in the park as well, but double check with your hotel before relying on that.

When to visit