Family trip to Maine

[mrocco90]

Hi we're thinking of taking a family trip to Maine at the end of June for my sons 6th birthday. We would drive from Connecticut. We would be doing 2 nights 3 days. Hoping to keep the trip under 500$.
Any of advice on hotels,resturants and activities would be greatly appreciated. Also is there a lot of things for a 6 year old to enjoy? Didn't realize how much harder this is to plan compared to Disney.
Thanks!

 

[Shanti]

Mount Desert Island is gorgeous. So much to do and see. Rockefeller gardens and cobblestone carriage tour was great, as was kayaking, and riding in a 100 year-old sailboat. Blueberry picking was nice. Great trip, all round.

 

[seb65]

I agree about Mount Desert Island/Acadia being wonderful. And so reasonable! My kids loved it there as did us adults. We have also been to Old Orchard Beach. Wells, Ogunquit, York are all nearby. My son would choose Maine over Disney, actually. He is an outdoors kind of kid.

 

[Eureka]

Depends where you are going. I grew up about an hour away from MDI/Acadia. Beautiful, but it won't be cheap staying right around the harbors (Bar Harbor, Southwest Harbor, etc) in the summer. That's prime tourist season. Same as Ogunquit...but if you go there, check out Five-O for great food and be sure to do the Marginal Way walk from town to Perkins Cove.

Just realized you said a 6 yr old...I read it was 16. Maybe not Five-O then. When DH and I were in Ogunquit a few years ago (without the kids), we saw lot of kids flying kites on the beach. There are boat tours in Bar Harbor that we did when my kids were that age and they loved it.

Portland is also a great area, and closer to you from CT. Lots of places to eat and shop in the Old Port area. And of course there's the one and only (original) LLBean in Freeport.

 

[tink9702]

I'd go further inland - check out Sebago Lake and spend the weekend boating & swimming.

 

[Ensusieasm]

Hi we're thinking of taking a family trip to Maine at the end of June for my sons 6th birthday. We would drive from Connecticut. We would be doing 2 nights 3 days. Hoping to keep the trip under 500$.
Any of advice on hotels,resturants and activities would be greatly appreciated. Also is there a lot of things for a 6 year old to enjoy? Didn't realize how much harder this is to plan compared to Disney.
Thanks!

From Hartford it would take you 6 hours plus stops to get to Acadia National Park. It's a long drive, but worth it! There is an Inn on Lake Alamoosook in Orland, Maine , right on the way, one hour before Acadia, that would be a great first night stop. Breakfast and kayaks are included and the price is right. The next day, continue one hour to Acadia National Park. 25 bucks gets the whole family in the park for up to 7 days! Such a deal! A drive up Cadillac Mountain is a must, along with a drive on park loop road including a stop at Sand Beach. After Acadia spend the night in Bar Harbor for wonderful, shopping, dining, and the gorgeous island studded harbor. The next day take a morning nature cruise out of Bar Harbor before you head back to Connecticut.

 

[DG-12]

We go to Sebago Lake every summer. If you are looking at a budget or $500 I would go for lake rather than ocean. Sebago put a you within an hour of Portland as well. Definitely enough to keep you busy for 3 days.
Krainin Realty has rentals on the lake and is reliable.
The drive from Hartford would be like 4ish hours.

 

[nhgirl]

We went to Old Orchard Beach back when my daughter was about 6. She loved Fun Town Spash Town which is not far from there. A friend of mine stays at Billowhouse Oceanfront Motel in nearby Ocean Park Maine. Her family has been going there every summer for many years.

 

[mrocco90]

Thanks everyone for the advice! Hoping to book tonight!

 

[kj2mom]

We have a summer house in York. We love the beach, taking the trolley to the little downtown, Yorks Wild Kingdom, Perkins Cove (they have boat cruises from here) and the Marginal Way are only a short drive, a day trip up to LL Bean is totally doable (be sure to check our Wicked Whoopie, yum!) and the Kittery Outlets are nearby too. Some of these areas can be very busy with seasonal tourists so for us the key is always to try to go against the grain as to try to avoid some of the craziness. The thing that we love about York is the distance to get there for us is fairly short (we live in MA and it takes us about 1 hour and 20 minutes door to door) and it puts us fairly close to many other things. My children also love having a picnic on Mt. Agamenticus, it is not really high but it does allow for a great view!

 

[DopeyDame]

We went to MDI/Acadia for a week last summer for our family vacation. Kids were 6 and 3 at the time. It was amazing! I wasn't sure what to expect, and honestly wasn't especially looking forward to it. The whole experience was absolutely spectacular. It's beautiful and there is so much to do for kids.

We stayed at the Bar Harbor/Oceanside KOA campground in one of the cabins. It had air conditioning, running water, a shower, toilet, a main room with a double bed (maybe queen, don't remember) and a little cubby-room with bunkbeds. Perfect. It's at the other end of the island from Bar Harbor and Acadia, but it's not a far drive and the island has a shuttle system that worked great (to avoid the hassle of parking in Bar Harbor). They also have campers and campsites if you are a real camping family.

Bar Harbor itself is an adorable little town. Mount Desert Ice Cream is named one of the best ice cream places in the country, and it really is. Do. Not. Leave. without trying something there.

Everything within Acadia National Park was great too, and they have lots of free kids and family programs. Definitely stop by the visitor's center and get the Junior Ranger booklet for your son. If he completes it, he'll get a real live patch that my kids still cherish. There are lots of short hikes that are absolutely doable with kids, and many of the really beautiful/famous sites are accessible via car and then a short hike.

Make sure to find out when low tide is, and go exploring on the "Bar" of Bar Harbor during low tide.

Go see this: http://www.mainelumberjack.com/ I know it sounds crazy. Trust me, never in my wildest imagination did I think I'd see a lumberjack show. It was awesome. And the kids loved it.

This was one of the highlights: www.divered.com It was a great boat tour absolutely aimed at kids. It's definitely not cheap, though, so it might not work for your trip this time.

Clearly we loved it. We'll definitely head back there in the next year or two.

 

[3boymthr]

We did Acadia last year for a long weekend in July. Travel wise I'd allow more than 6 hours to get there. It took us 10 hours to get home and we live in Southeastern MA right on the RI border in part because of the massive quantities of traffic.

If you like to camp there are some great campgrounds on Mt. Desert Island. Some of them have the camper cabins for reasonable prices. We camped Hadley's Point at for $29/night. Most of the campgrounds are serviced by the complimentary LL Bean bus which will take you to prime spots in Acadia and Bar Harbor. Lots of activities for the kids to do when not sight seeing.

We also stopped at LL Bean on the way up for a pit stop.

 

[rchampagne]

I've been to all of the beaches in Southern Maine, and I think Old Orchard Beach would be the most fun for a 6-year-old. Kids love the rides at www.palaceplayland.com. Plus, there's fun shopping and restaurants all around the pier area. And FunTown/SplashTown is a short drive away as well, for bigger rides. Lodging is always a bit so-so, as most places are mediocre around there, but it's still a lot of fun.

 

[nikkistevej]

My family did a "New England" state trip last summer, really enjoyed it. In Maine, we did white water rafting in Bingham Maine. It was beautiful, exciting, so much fun. We all loved it!

 

[Bree]

My family did a "New England" state trip last summer, really enjoyed it. In Maine, we did white water rafting in Bingham Maine. It was beautiful, exciting, so much fun. We all loved it!

My MIL & FIL live about 35 minutes north of Bingham!

 

[kathy884]

Gosh -- I've got to agree with other posters about trying Bar Harbor/Acadia/Mt. Dessert Island. I haven't been yet, partly because we live in the Midwest and it's too far a drive for us (personal preference to keep drives fairly short) and about $600 pp for flights. We keep heading to the Colorado Mountains another place we absolutely love that is easier and less expensive for us to get to (We can drive and/or fly for just $250pp round trip). With as close as you are, I would head out there in a heartbeat. Some of the lodging in Bar Harbor especially is really pricey, but if you don't mind a clean/comfortable motel or something like that, there are affordable options too. That's what we'll be going for if/when we ever get out there. The place just looks absolutely beautiful with tons to do.

 

[Ensusieasm]

Gosh -- I've got to agree with other posters about trying Bar Harbor/Acadia/Mt. Dessert Island. I haven't been yet, partly because we live in the Midwest and it's too far a drive for us (personal preference to keep drives fairly short) and about $600 pp for flights. We keep heading to the Colorado Mountains another place we absolutely love that is easier and less expensive for us to get to (We can drive and/or fly for just $250pp round trip). With as close as you are, I would head out there in a heartbeat. Some of the lodging in Bar Harbor especially is really pricey, but if you don't mind a clean/comfortable motel or something like that, there are affordable options too. That's what we'll be going for if/when we ever get out there. The place just looks absolutely beautiful with tons to do.

It is a magical place. I hope you get to experience the view from Cadillac Mountain one day. I'm lucky to live just an hour away. It never gets old.

 

[snowman]

I love that so many people have recommended my home part of the state. DW and I just moved off MDI last year and miss it terribly. If you do go, make sure to eat at Mainely Meat. It is lovely BBQ (we had them cater our wedding).

 

[leebee]

Hmmm... Depending on where in CT you are, it's going to be about 6 hours of drive time, plus stops, traffic (Hartford, Worcester, Boston area). Recently DD and I visited CT and it was almost 7 hours home, from Manchester, CT, to Bangor, with stops and traffic. Bar Harbor is about another 75 minutes from Bangor, depending where on MDI you are going, without considering traffic. If you are only planning on 3 days/2 nights, I think you are going to spend a lot of your vacation time on the highway! I would consider going to the York, ME/Portsmouth NH area instead. It's about a 3 hour drive (once again, depending on where you are in CT) and there are lots of things to do in the area. My family lives in York, but when we visit we often stay in a hotel. We've stayed in the Microtel Inn & Suites in York and it was fine; clean, comfortable beds, free breakfast. We have also stayed at the Homewood Suites, Hampton Inn (downtown) and the Residence Inn (downtown) in Portsmouth, NH. Microtel and Homewood were affordable in the summer; Hampton Inn and Residence Inn not so much (but reasonable at Christmas), because of the downtown Portsmouth location. We've also stayed at the Anchorage Inn and Sea Latch Motel in York Beach. These places are clean but basic motels, their real selling point being they are located directly across the street from Long Sands Beach, which is a beautiful, mile and a half long, soft white sand beach. York Beach is a fun place to spend a few nights, even if the downtown area is a little honky-tonk-ish. Lots of touristy things to do, beautiful beaches, York's Wild Kingdom, Fort McHenry in Kittery, historic houses to tour in York Village, close to Portsmouth NH if you want to go to the Children's Museum or tour a submarine, wander through shops, see what is happening at Prescott Park (outdoor theater, oftentimes children's theater),etc. You can also check out the Ogunquit Playhouse and Hackmatack Playhouse in Berwick. Maybe even drive up to Saco for FUntown/Splashtown. York/southern Maine seacoast might be a better destination, given your timeline.

 

[Alicenwonderment]

I live in the Portsmouth NH area which is right over the border to Kittery. On the Portsmouth side check out what is going on at Prescott Park. I'm not sure how early in June they start doing the play. There is also Water Country in Portsmouth. I'm not sure how it is now. I used to work there in the 90s. You may also want to go on a whale watch. I believe there is one out of Portsmouth. You may also want to spend time riding on a boat to the Isles of Shoals. Also there is Strawberry Banke. If you are going to Kittery be sure to stop at Yummies (candy store). In York there is a Stonewall Kitchen store and at certain times you can watch how the jam is made. Portland is also a fun place to go too. You may want to try Peak's Island. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peaks_Island,_Maine Others have made great suggestions too. The one thing to keep in mind is that not everything will be running on full summer hours until the July 4th weekend. Good luck!