Just paid $36 for 4 ounces of lobster in a lobster roll in Bar Harbor town. Is that the going rate these days? Any places you’d suggest outside of town where you get more for less? Seems wild.
I 35 (f) am planning a solo trip to bar harbor for 1 week in early Oct. I have already booked accommodations.
Welcome any and all tips re: hikes, places to see, dining, breweries, safety etc. I’m an early riser and would love to catch some sunrise views!
I’ve done solo trips before but usually with my dog. He won’t be able to join me on this adventure unfortunately.
Also this is my first Reddit post (please be nice) not sure what other info might be helpful to include
Hi, first time visitor here. My wife and I will be there the first weekend in October, and I wanted to book a reservation to drive up for the sunrise. We're planning for October 4, so 90 days before that should be tomorrow morning.
But something weird seems to be happening with the recreation[dot]gov app. I went to check it out today so I'd be prepared for the ticket frenzy tomorrow. But it's showing every day between now and the end of the season as "Not Released." Like even if we wanted to go tomorrow, it's claiming the tickets haven't been released yet. Not unavailable, which is what I'd expect if they were sold out.
Any advice? Am I looking in the wrong place?
We're headed to the park next month. We've got a great site at Seawall and will be camping three nights.
I am not a fan of cars. I do like driving them (though I am a fantastic driver), and I like passenging even less (because I am prone to car sickness). I know our campground is a bit far from the main action, but it does look like some of the trailheads would be within an hour, 1.5 hour ride, but I'm also wondering what the roads in are like. It looks like the shoulders on 3 can get rough?
I do not savor jockeying for parking or racing to be the first person out of the campground in the morning. When I'm camping, I really like to enjoy my morning coffee at a leisurely pace while listening to the birds. If biking the entire route to some of the trailheads isn't realistic, is there some less competitive parking spot where we could park the car and cycle the rest of the way to the trailhead? Is there any way to lock a bicycle safely near the trailhead parking areas? Bikes are flat bars with wide (42c and 35c respectively) gravel tires. We are one very serious rider and one hobbyist who just got off a 165 mile, four-day tour but who is not the biggest fan of steep climbs or descents (but is happy to hike-a-bike for short climbs).
Should I wear my winter coat to one in the dead of July? Feels like an odd thing to do, but everything I see online is saying it’s COLD
Hi everyone :)
My husband and I are headed to Acadia for the first time and need a little help, please.
We would like to hike the North and South Bubbles as well as the Jordan Pond loop all in one go. We have a map but just cannot wrap our heads around the best way to go about it.
Could someone please give us some insight as far as how this would look logistically? I am not sure if we are completely over thinking things and making it harder than it needs to be or what.
We plan on driving in.
Hi! me and my family are planning a trip to Acadia on july 5th. I saw on the website page that from july3-5 there is no required entrance fee so it’s free? Because we were planning to take the shuttle which requires a standard pass to get on is it still going to be required on that day? thank you so much I tried calling their numbers and sent a voicemail
Acadia/MDI · 1st week of June, 2026
I did my first solo hikes ever this week in the beautiful Acadia. I normally hike with my partner but had the opportunity to visit Acadia while on a girls trip. I was hesitant to hike alone as a young woman, but if anyone is looking for some encouragement, please do it! I do not consider myself a very experienced hiker and did a lot of research to determine which trails I felt were best for me (thank you to this subreddit for the advice). I hiked in sneakers with my travel backpack. I ended up hiking Beehive with a connecting Bowl, Jordan Pond, and the Bubbles/Nubble/Eagle Lake/Jordan Pond Carry Loop with half of Jordan Pond added to the beginning and ending. I believe it totaled ~11 miles. I arrived at the Beehive trailhead at 8am — unfortunately, that was too late. There were enough people ahead of me that there was a line to get up the rungs; it took about an hour to get up to the top. I did expect this, so I wasn’t too upset, just wanted to let everyone know the experience. It was not as difficult as I hyped it up to be in my mind. Not a single view wasn’t worth it. There were so many people around that I felt very safe. The only trail that I didn’t run into people on was the Connor’s Nubble to Eagle Loop to Jordan Pond Carry section. Jordan Pond took me an hour. There were a lot of families casually walking, and I would recommend it for just about anyone. Beware of the rocky terrain before/after the halfway point (depending on if you do it clockwise or counterclockwise) if traveling with children/dogs/older folks. After, at 11:30am, I stopped at the House for a popover and blueberry ale (worth it). Then I went on to the loop and that was about 6.5 miles and took me 3 hours. Made it back to my car in time to get to the visitor center and pick up a magnet with 10 minutes before closing. I have a little recency bias, but this has been one of my favorite NPs (and I’ve visited 8 parks in 8 months)!!! Happy to answer any questions!
A few pics from Jordan Pond (including the popover sundae) and of JP from atop South Bubble (including the glacial erratic bubble rock). Great day at Acadia!
Hey everyone! Brand new to this sub and looking for advice! My husband and I will be traveling to Acadia this September for the first time and we could really use some advice/recommendations. Food spots, favorite trails to hike (we have been on several hiking trips out West but we are not big campers), tips/things to avoid, or anything else you have seen/done around the area that might be worth visiting. We will likely rent an Airbnb, and would love recommendations if anyone has a spot (bnb or hotel) they really enjoyed. We are road tripping from PA so flights/car rentals won't be necessary for us, in case that matters to anyone LOL.
Thanks in advance!😊
ETA: I'm sorry if this has been posted to death on this sub already and please feel free to delete if so! Candidly, I'm at work at the moment and didn't have much time to peruse.😅
Looking to do a whole warm cooked lobster for lunch. Ambience, cost, taste, apps, sides? Other considerations like dessert or drinks? We will be in Southwest harbor for dinner so my inclination was thurstons in Quietside for a change of pace. But I keep hearing about the experience of Beals.
Just returned from a 4 day trip to Acadia. Enjoyed every bit of it. We drove up the Cadillac mountain day time. But really wanted to see the sunrise there. As the tickets open 2 days before, I tried getting tickets going to recreation.gov website, I logged in like 10 mins past 10 AM, but the site said Not Available. So in our second attempt, me and my family members (3) all created accounts in recreation.gov website and tried to get tickets, but immediately (few seconds past 10 AM) the site reported that the tickets are not available. Literally as soon as they opened....
Has anyone faced this issue? How else would you get those tickets?
My husband and I will be spending next Friday (7/10) at the park. We are renting ebikes to hopefully maximize our time and see more of the park that way. Just looking for recommendations for shorter hikes we could explore throughout the park that are worth a stop? We frequently hike and don't mind a more moderate trail, rock scrambles, etc. We're packing food for breakfast and lunch so any recommendations that are great for eating at the top are also appreciated! We know the park will likely be busy, any recommendations for trails that are not as popular/busy? Thanks in advance for all suggestions!
Here’s what I got for Oceans Path on a Sat morning. Is it truly this necessary to leave that early based on crowds? I am wondering because I am from Baltimore & everything I’ve learned is that it is insane in the summer. Also- any other recommendations for back up hikes if crowds are insanity?
Hi! I have a ticket for the sunrise at Cadillac mountain tomorrow morning. I was reading over the ticket and it says we also need a printed out Acadia park pass taped to the windshield.
I bought the pass online and have the QR code. Do I need to go enter and get it printed somewhere before going tomorrow or will they be able to do that at the entrance?
Thanks!
Hi! I’m looking for any insight into planning my trip. I’ve scoured this subreddit but just am having a hard time piecing it all together and see how helpful and friendly this sub is. We’re staying at a campground (one the island explorer does stop at) from Saturday night - Tuesday morning, so two full days to do some hiking and we will have our car. We are early 30s and fit, love to hike and just want to see the best with least amount of crowds possible but also in a short amount of time. Going mid July.
Questions to help me plan:
- Cadillac mountain - we want to hike up it and see the sunrise. Would it be possible to do another hike after, let’s say after a little bit of a break at the top and what do you recommend? Especially since we will have our car for this one so will have to park. Thinking to do this Monday?
- beehive, bubbles, Jordon pond, sand beach…oh my- we want to do at least one these highly recommended hikes I’ve noted on this subreddit. Would it be possible to do one after Cadillac and if so which one do you recommended? Any of them hard that we should do on Sunday? And should we just take the shuttle there, or get up early and park?
—— subtext to this, could we do Jordon pond/bubbles after Cadillac sunrise? Or too much hiking?
Any other recommended hikes for the best Acadia experience?
- then one question about the shuttle - I see the last one from bar harbor to gateway center is 10pm. Is this accurate and how reliable is the shuttle this late on a Sunday or Monday? We have dinner planned and I wonder if this would be a good use of the shuttle to get to/from accommodation.
Open to all suggestions and advice. Thank you!
We're a 60-ish couple in decent health - can hike 5-6 miles/full day with mild to moderate elevation climb. We have 2 half-days and 2 full days and hope to touch the highlights, but do need some downtime. Does the following itinerary sound reasonable? Are there any "must-sees" that can be picked up without too much extra effort? Edit: We're traveling Sept 28- Oct 1, so I know it will be busy.
Day 1 (arriving ~ 1 pm) - Park at Gateway Center, take the Island Explorer to Jordan Pond Loop. Hike the loop. Relax at Jordan Pond House.
Day 2 - Reserve/drive to Cadillac Mountain. Enjoy the Summit area. Drive to the North Ridge Trail to hike.
Day 3 - Take the Island Explorer to Sand Beach. Hike Gorham mountain, Thunder hole, Otter Cliff.
Day 4 (leaving Acadia noon-ish) Take the Island Explorer to Jordan Pond. Explore South Bubble and Bubble rock.
I wish we could tack South Bubble onto Day 1, but starting late, I'm not sure we'd have the energy to hike the full 5-6 miles.
Last night of our trip and we’re thinking Havana or Lebrun. However I’ve seen some reviews that say they’re a bit over hyped. Currently staying in Lamoine. Thanks!