Acadia to Boston

We will be leaving Acadia first thing Sunday 12th July and need to be back in Boston early afternoon the following day 13th to fly home.Do we need to book a motel for the Sunday night beforehand. We have limited time to do this last part of our tour of New England and want to see the highlights. If we need to book,we only need a basic motel somewhere. Have any of you done this trip and if so where do you suggest we head for on the Sunday evening. An itinary would be great. We would particularly want to see the coast. Many thanks Chris and Ken

Acadia to Boston

Acadia (Bar Harbor/Mount Desert Island) is approximately a 5.5 to 6 hour drive via the interstate highways to Boston. I think a reasonable strategy would be to drive to Portland (about a 3-hour drive via the interstate roads), enjoy a great dinner there, and then continue on the next morning.

I see what you said about a basic motel, but you might consider staying in the Old Port area of Portland, where you can walk around amongst the shops and restaurants.

The problem with ';seeing the coast'; is that even the so-called coastal route (Rte 1) really doesn%26#39;t hug the coast, although some of the views are very good. Route 1 in Maine in July is very slow, especially as you go farther south and west from this area.

An alternative is to take Rtes 1%26amp;3 along the coast from Bar Harbor and Ellsworth as far as Belfast, then take Rte 3 to the interstate (I-95), then I-295 into Portland. That would provide you with some good coastal views while avoiding the worst of the congestion.

Acadia to Boston

I think you probably should book a motel for the Sunday night. The middle of July can be very busy in Maine. You don%26#39;t want to spend a lot of time driving from place to place looking for availability.

If you did want to drive along the coast on Sunday, a nice stop would be the Penobscot Narrows Bridge where you can take a 22-story elevator to the top of one of the supports for the view. There is also an old fort there to tour.

Another stop would be Camden, although that can be a parking and traffic nightmare in mid-July. Mount Battie just north of the village has a great view of the coast and surrounding area. Rockland, Maine has a nice art museum featuring the work of Andrew and Jamie Wyeth.

Freeport, Maine could be a place to spend the night, if you didn%26#39;t want to go to Portland. Freeport has some nice outlet shopping including the flagship store of L.L.Bean which is open 24 hours a day. There are some basic chain motels in Freeport. Azure Cafe is a good place to have dinner.

Freeport has easy access to Interstate 95 which will take you to the Boston airport in about two hours, or maybe three given that it is July and there are some toll boths between Portland and Boston.

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