The Best Boston to Acadia National Park Road Trip for 3 to 7 days in Maine
This Boston to Acadia National Park road trip highlights the best seaside villages, historic lighthouses, and sandy beaches for a coastal New England road trip.
Lighthouses on rocky cliffs, seafood shacks with tasty chowder, quaint harbor towns with bobbing boats — it’s all featured on this Boston to Maine road trip itinerary. Whether you’re driving this route with the goal of getting to Acadia National Park or looking to take your time exploring the cute villages along the coast of Maine, this guide will help you plan your trip.
Following the scenic U.S. Route 1 along the coast, the drive from Boston to Bar Harbor is at about five to six hours, so we’ve recommended a few spots along the way to stop and stretch your legs or grab a lobster roll.
If you have more than a long weekend to road trip Boston to Maine, there are tons of cute villages, historic sites, and state parks to explore on the way. Just be sure to save at least two days for the trails and scenic drives in Acadia National Park (keep reading for our favorites).
Use the Boston to Acadia road trip itineraries below to draft a driving plan, then scroll through the list of towns, cities, and parks we’ve compiled to pick your stops.
Boston to Acadia Road Trip Map
This Boston to Maine road trip map shows some the best stops along the coast and the top things to do in Acadia National Park. Click on it to open a Google Map that you can save and use to plan your trip.
Boston to Acadia National Park Itinerary Options
3 Day Boston to Acadia National Park Road Trip
Day 1: Boston to Acadia National Park, stop in Kennebunkport, Portland, or Camden
Day 2: Acadia National Park (follow this one day in Acadia itinerary)
Day 3: Acadia National Park to Boston
5 Day Boston to Bar Harbor Maine Road Trip
Day 1: Boston to Bar Harbor Maine, stop in Portland
Day 2: Acadia National Park
Day 3: Acadia National Park
Day 4: Acadia National Park to Boothbay Harbor, stop in Camden and Rockland
Day 5: Boothbay Harbor Maine to Boston, stop in Kennebunkport, Ogunquit, York, or Portsmouth
7 Day Road Trip Boston to Maine
Day 1: Boston to Maine road trip, stop in Portsmouth, Ogunquit, or Kennebunkport
Day 2: Acadia National Park
Day 3: Acadia National Park and Mount Desert Island
Day 4: Schoodic Peninsula of Acadia National Park
Day 5: Bar Harbor to Rockland Maine, Camden Hills State Park
Day 6: Pemaquid Point Lighthouse, Boothbay Harbor, and Portland Head Light
Day 7: Portland to Boston, stop in Kennebunkport, Ogunquit, York, Portsmouth, or Salem
Boston to Maine Road Trip Stops
Salem, Massachusetts
The famous location of the witch trials in the 1690s, Salem is a coastal town just 15 miles north of Boston. This morbid legacy makes the city a popular destination for witchy-themed attractions, including the Salem Witch Museum, Witch Dungeon Museum, the Witch House at Salem, and the Salem Witch Trials Memorial.
The self-guided Salem Heritage Trail connects some of these museums and historical sites like the 1825 East India Marine Hall, home to the Peabody Essex Museum, the Charter Street Cemetary, with graves dating to the 1600s, and the House of Seven Gables, a 1668 mansion made famous by the eponymous Nathaniel Hawthorne novel.
While the town bursts with tourists during the Halloween season, it’s worth a stop on a Boston to Bar Harbor road trip if you’re into Colonial history or a fan of “Hocus Pocus.”
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
When you road trip Boston to Maine, you pass through a small section of coastal New Hampshire. If you have time to make a stop here, the town of Portsmouth is a great spot for a stroll. The old downtown district on the harbor is full of 17th- and 18th-century homes, several of which now house museums and tours. For a peak at the historic scene, visit the Strawberry Banke Museum, a living history museum with craft demonstrators, or join a tour at the Moffatt-Ladd House and Garden, Governor John Langdon House, or Warner House.
A buzzing commercial district at Market Square is full of cafes, bookstores, boutiques, and ice cream parlors in the shadow of an 1800s white-steepled church. There’s the riverside Prescott Park with flower gardens and the Shoreline Trail on Peirce Island for outdoor fun.
You could easily spend a whole weekend in Portsmouth if you’re on a longer Boston to Acadia road trip. The city is about an hour north of Boston and four hours from Bar Harbor.
York Beach, Maine
Neighboring York and Ogunquit are beach towns on the southern coast of Maine about an hour-and-a-half north of Boston. Either one makes a great overnight stop thanks to a large selection of picturesque inns and cottages. The village of York Beach has 1.5-mile Long Beach and a promenade with shops, eateries, and arcade games at Short Sands Beach. Between the two, you can visit Sohier Park at Nubble Point for views of a lighthouse on a rock island just offshore.
Ogunquit, Maine
One of my favorite things to do in Ogunquit is to stroll the Marginal Way path along the ocean. The entire walk is about 1.25 each way and passes Little Beach and the non-operational Lobster Point Lighthouse. Since it’s one-way, you can turn around at any point for a shorter walk.
For shopping and dining, head toward Maine Street and Shore Road. We got coffee and pastries from the local chain Mornings in Paris and strolled to the nearby boutiques.
The sandy Ogunquit Beach on a peninsula is ideal for summer visits. If you’re staying overnight, be sure to check the performance schedule at the 1930s Ogunquit Playhouse.
Kennebunkport, Maine
About two hours north of Boston, Kennebunkport has sandy beaches on the ocean and a historic downtown district on the river with seafood shacks and cute coffeehouses. We ate a really delicious lobster roll flight here at Alisson’s Restaurant, ordered ice cream at Ben and Jerry’s, and got a coffee from Dock Square Coffee House.
If you stay for longer than a meal, visit the Seashore Trolley Museum to see a classic streetcar collection or nearby Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge to walk a mile-long trail through pine forests and salt marshes. In summer, you can paddle or take a boat ride out to Goat Island just offshore to visit an 1833 lighthouse.
Portland, Maine
The largest city between Boston and Bar Harbor, Portland makes a great midway overnight stop and has half a dozen stunning lighthouses you can see.
For a quick visit, don’t miss the Portland Head Light, an incredibly scenic 1790s lighthouse on a cove in Fort Williams Park. On a longer visit, you can follow the city’s lighthouse trail, explore the Old Port district for shops and restaurants in old warehouses, and walk the blufftop Western Promenade for views over the Fore River.
Portland is roughly two hours from Boston and three from Bar Harbor.
Boothbay Harbor, Maine
The water sports, seafood chowder, and picturesque commercial district of Boothbay Harbor are worth the short diversion off Highway 1 on a Boston to Acadia road trip. Surrounded by coves and bays, the village has charming waterfront inns, cafes, and gift shops.
In summer, you can go kayaking, book a fishing charter, or join a sailing tour in search of lighthouses and seals. On land, peruse the local galleries or catch a show at the Boothbay Opera House.
Boothbay is about three hours from both Boston and Mount Desert Island.
Pemaquid Point Lighthouse
While it’s a bit out of the way down a peninsula, the 1827 Pemaquid Point Lighthouse is absolutely worth a stop when you road trip Boston to Maine. Located near the town of Bristol, the white lighthouse and little red bell tower sit on a rocky coastline where the waves crash dramatically below.
Pemaquid Point Lighthouse Park is only open seasonally (from about mid-May to mid-October) and for a small fee includes a welcome center, art gallery, picnic area, and the Fisherman’s Museum with captains’ logs and historical artifacts in the keeper’s house. The tower is open to climb for limited hours during the week. You can also rent out an apartment in the keeper’s house for overnight stays!
Rockland
Home to the Maine Lighthouse Museum, Rockland unsurprisingly has a pair of scenic light stations nearby, as well as a few museums, and a large Main Street shopping and dining district near the harbor.
Bird lovers should pop by the Project Puffin Visitor Center for exhibits and videos about the seabird — you can also get info about wildlife boat excursions here. For lighthouse tours, head to Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse, where you can walk on nearly a mile of granite blocks out to the light, or to Owls Head State Park for views of an 1820s lighthouse 100 feet above the sea.
Rockland is 190 miles from Boston and 90 miles from Bar Harbor.
Camden
Located on Penobscot Bay, Camden is home to a popular state park and, no surprise, a lighthouse on an island in the harbor. A historic harborfront district packed with boutiques and restaurants is beautified even more by Megunticook Falls, which spills into the river near the bobbing boats.
After checking out the town’s 1800s homes, opera house, and library amphitheater garden, head for nearby Camden Hills State Park to take in aerial views of the bay from atop the Mount Battie Tower. You can drive or hike up to the lookout point.
Camden is approximately two hours from Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park along U.S. Route 1.
Acadia National Park
Since it is the main destination, set aside a least a couple of days for Acadia National Park on a Boston to Bar Harbor road trip. This guide will show you how to squeeze in just one day in Acadia if you’re short on time.
Dramatic coastal views, reflective lakes, cliffside lighthouses, and quiet carriage roads — it’s all available at Acadia. On a short trip, stick to the destinations on Mount Desert Island around the 27-mile Park Loop Road. This includes the views at Sand Beach and Thunder Hole, a drive up Cadillac Mountain (sunrise and sunset are particularly scenic), and a stroll through the Wild Gardens or around Jordan Pond.
For hikers, some popular trails include the Beehive Loop (1.4 miles), a climb up rungs and rocks to a panoramic view of Sand Beach and the coast, the Ocean Path Trail (4.4 miles) along the seafront cliffs, the Bubble Divide Trail (1.5 miles) to summit a trio of hills above a lake, and the challenging Jordan Cliffs Loop (5 miles) to the top of Sargent Mountain.
With a few days in the park, you can also include a visit to the west side of Mount Desert Island to see the Bass Harbor Head Light and Echo Lake Beach, some hiking or biking on the Carriage Roads, a 45-mile network of historic paths around the island, and a day trip over to the Schoodic Peninsula on the mainland, a more secluded and less visited section of the national park.
Bar Harbor is the most popular place to stay near the park, but these towns near Acadia also make a great base for your trip if you’re after something less crowded or more budget-friendly.
Boston Acadia National Park Road Trip Tips
Distance from Boston to Acadia National Park
You’re probably wondering how far it is from Boston to Acadia National Park on a road trip. If you take the most direct route on Interstate 95, the journey is 275 miles and a little under 5 hours, barring any traffic.
Since you’ll likely be driving back from Acadia National Park to Boston at the end of your trip, I recommend taking the scenic coastal route on U.S. Highway 1 at least once. This trip is roughly 265 miles, but takes closer to 6 hours, not counting stops. There are tons of cute harbor towns and fishing villages along the way, so you could drive this path both times making different stops to break up the trip.
If you have longer and want to mix up the scenery, another option is to drive the coast one way, and then take a more inland route through Maine and New Hampshire on your way back down to Boston. There are a few different roads and destinations this could involve, but a route I’ve taken through Naples, Maine, and White Mountains National Forest and Franconia Notch State Park in New Hampshire is at least a 7-hour drive.
The shortest Boston to Acadia National Park drive time is about 5 hours.
What is there to see between Boston and Acadia National Park?
Where do you stop on the way to Acadia? The list above has lots of ideas! The drive from Boston to Bar Harbor, Maine, is full of cute villages with lighthouses, fishing harbors, and waterfront shopping and dining districts.
These are a few of my favorite stops between Boston and Acadia National Park:
Kennebunkport
Portland Head Light
Boothbay Harbor
Pemaquid Point Lighthouse
Camden Hills State Park
If you take U.S. Route 1 from Boston to Acadia National Park, you don’t have to plan out your stops in advance if you don’t want to. It’s really easy to stumble upon picturesque villages and just pull over at whatever catches your eye. If you want to make sure not to miss the best lighthouses and villages though, read through the list of stops above to pick a few destinations ahead of time. A couple of them are off the main road, so you might miss something if you don’t plan in advance.
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What is the best airport to fly into for Acadia National Park?
For a Boston to Acadia National Park road trip, I recommend flying into Boston Logan International Airport. It’s the largest one in the area so you’re more likely to find direct flights and deals. Manchester-Boston Regional Airport in New Hampshire and Worcester Regional Airport in Massachusetts are each about 50 miles outside of Boston if you don’t want to deal with big-city traffic.
To fly to Acadia National Park, Bangor International Airport is the closest option, about an hour from Bar Harbor, Maine. Just a handful of airlines fly into Bangor.
If you’re looking for a train from Boston to Acadia National Park, Amtrack has some tour options along this route.
How many days do you need at Acadia National Park?
Not counting the drive from Boston to Bar Harbor, I recommend at least two days in Acadia National Park. If you’re just passing through, you can still see a lot by using this 1 day in Acadia guide, but two or three days will allow you time for more hiking trails on Mount Desert Island.
Coastal Maine is so beautiful that you could easily spend a week or two visiting all of the towns, parks, and lighthouses in this post!
Where to stay between Boston and Bar Harbor
Depending on how many days you have for your Boston to Maine road trip, you could either drive the five- to six-hour route in one go or spend a night or two in one of the seaside towns along the way.
Portland, Maine, is the biggest city between the two and is full of museums and lighthouses. It’s about two hours from Boston and three hours from Acadia National Park.
For a smaller town, look for inns and bed-and-breakfasts in places like Kennebunkport, Boothbay Harbor, Rockland, or Camden.
Search for deals on hotels in Bar Harbor on Booking.com
