We recently spent 4 nights and 3 full days (plus 2 half days on travel days) in Bar Harbor, Maine where we explored Acadia National Park.There are lots of motels and some nicer inns in Bar Harbor, but they book up fast so I would definitely recommend you book accommodations early! Below is a day by day itinerary of our trip:

Day 1:

On day one we flew into Bangor, rented a car and drove to Bar Harbor. We used Dollar Car and had a very positive experience! On the way to Bar Harbor we stopped for lunch at Island Take Out, an incredible place that I never would have thought to stop if it weren’t for the google reviews. It’s located behind a gas station and resembles a shack, but the reviews do not lie and the food is incredible! It was probably the best jerk chicken sandwich I have ever had. 

We arrived at our motel, Gallagher’s Travels right at 3pm to check in and then immediately hit the trails. 

We went straight to Precipice trail, which is described as the hardest hike in Acadia National Park. If you are generally fit and not afraid of heights this hike is a really fun one! The path is full of metal rungs and ladders and there is quite a bit of rock scrambling. The hike took us about 2 hours. 

Because we arrived to the trail at the end of the day we had no problem with parking. However if you do this trail in the morning or during the day be sure to get there early! Limited parking was a common theme throughout our trip. The parking lot for the trail can be found here: Parking lot.

After the hike we headed downtown for dinner and drinks. The first stop was The Barnacle, an oyster bar with a cozy atmosphere. We ordered a half dozen oysters and a drink each before walking around the town some more and getting dinner at Royal Indian (I know, Indian food for dinner our first night in Maine, but we had already had seafood for lunch and a pre-dinner appetizer).

October views from Precipice Trail


Day 2:

On day 2 things did not go exactly as planned but they definitely worked out for the best. We intended to hike all day, but the parking situation was worse than we expected and we ended up doing a morning and evening hike, with a mid day nature cruise in between. This ended up being an incredible day and I wouldn’t change the itinerary if we did it over again! That being said, I do have some tips to help you avoid the mistakes we made. Mainly, if you want to drive straight to the hikes, plan on doing so either early in the morning or late in the afternoon. You can also park for the whole day in the large visitor center parking lot and take the Island Express bus around to the different areas. This is probably the better option if you do not want to worry about parking! 

We started our morning with the Bee Hive hike, an easier version of the Precipice hike, but still fun. Even at 10am the trail was already packed with people and there was some traffic as we waited to go up the ladders. 

After the Bee Hive trail we were already hungry. We attempted to go to Jordan Pond, a popular area in the park and the only restaurant in the national park that we were aware of. We also planned to do some additional hikes in the area; however all parking was full and there were not spots available within walking distance to the restaurant.

Giving up, we headed to town for lunch, where we ate at a place called Lunch. The sandwiches were pricey, but good, and really no more expensive than anywhere else in Bar Harbor. While eating we decided to sign up for a nature cruise which we had heard someone else on the hike talking about. After lunch we walked over to the dock and purchased two tickets for the next cruise. 

The nature cruise ended up being totally worth it, as we saw 4 bald eagles, osprey, seals, ducks, and white tailed deer! I had never seen a bald eagle before in my life so that alone made the cruise worth it. Besides all of the sites, the captain of the boat was full of history and very entertaining. All in all I am actually glad we did this instead of the hikes all afternoon.

You can check out more about the cruises here!

That being said, we did still manage to fit some more hikes in. After the cruise we headed back to Jordan Pond around 4pm and this time we were able to get parking. We ate at the restaurant on site, tried the famous popovers (they are really good!) and started our hiking adventure around 5pm. I have never really been an evening hiker before, but after this trip I am starting to think evening hiking is the way to go! The trails have mostly cleared out by this time and the golden hour is perfect for taking pictures. Plus, there is some thrill in knowing you had better finish the hike or risk walking part of the way back in the dark. 

We took Jordan Cliffs Trail from one end of the pond to the other, and then walked the easy path along the edge of the pond back to the parking lot. I think Jordan Cliffs Trail ended up being my favorite hike. It was during golden hour, we had the trail to ourselves, and it was full of rock scrambles and rungs and ladders similar to Precipice trail but not as steep. We managed to get back to our car just as the sun went down and had a pub dinner downtown before heading to bed. 

Jordan Pond


Day 3:

Day three of our trip was a rainy day, and instead of hiking around the same area we decided to drive over to Schoodic Island, Maine and see another area of Acadia National Park. There we hiked the Schoodic Head Trail, which was more of an easy walk through the woods than a hike, and saw beautiful views of the ocean. We spotted some seals from shore, and while the sky drizzled, we enjoyed the peaceful nature which was much less crowded than the prior days. After stopping at Schoodic Point we grabbed lunch in Winter Harbor from a cozy cafe called J.M. Gerrish Cafe before heading back to our motel. The rain started coming down harder so we napped and then spend the rest of the afternoon poking around the galleries and shops in downtown Bar Harbor, resting up for our big day of biking the following day. 

Off shoots of Schoodic Head Trail lead directly to the water


Day 4:

Day four was a day for bikes instead of hikes. Acadia National Park has 45 miles of rustic carriage roads, a gift from John D. Rockefeller Jr., which are closed to cars and free rein for bicyclists. I enjoy riding my bike but hate doing so in the road with cars so I was really looking forward to this.

We rented bikes from Bar Harbor Bicycle Shop in the morning and biked straight to the carriage roads. There we biked all day, 26 miles total with a stop for lunch. We went to the grocery store in town before heading out to fill our backpack with packable food for lunch and I am very glad we did as I was hungry most of the day out there on the roads and needed to stop for food frequently. 

The area to explore is huge and while there are lots of hills I found it all pretty manageable. Plenty of older people rode ebikes and the regular hybrid bikes we rented were in decent condition. The rental shop gave us a free map as well as a recommended route and we pretty much just followed that with an additional detour to go to the top of a mountain. 

Even though our bikes were due back by 4pm we turned them in a little early as my quads were dead by this time and we had biked quite a bit. After resting up at the motel we decided to stop by the mini golf course nearby that we had driven by several times – Pirate’s Cove. Mini golf was a blast and there was a barbecue restaurant right across the street where we grabbed dinner – Mainely Meat BBQ. The food was excellent.


Day 5:

Our final day, Saturday, was supposed to be the sunniest day according to our weather apps. For this reason, we waited until then to try and make a sunrise reservation on Cadillac mountain. Cadillac mountain is the the first place to see the sunrise in the United States. Because there is limited parking, you have to make a vehicle reservation in order to drive up the mountain. While some tickets are available earlier, the majority of tickets are released two days before entry. The sunrise reservations go almost immediately, while we had no issue making a reservation for later in the day. We tried our best to make a sunrise reservation, even refreshing our screens on two different devices at 10a.m. on the dot, right when tickets are released, but we still weren’t able to secure a spot. Tip: make sure you have an account and are logged in before you try to make a reservation! You can make your reservation here. Since we could not go at sunrise, we booked the earliest time slot available, 7a.m. This ended up not working out as it was super cloudy and foggy up there that early in the morning. I doubt the people who were up there at sunrise were able to see much either so I am actually glad we did not get up at the crack of dawn for potential views. Looking back I probably would have tried for sunset instead. It is also possible to hike up to Cadillac Mountain, which we seriously considered although we would have had to wake up at 3:30 or 4:00am. After seeing it at 7a.m. though we were super glad we didn’t. So make sure you check the weather/fog forecast before making any decision! 

After our failed attempt to see the views from Cadillac Mountain we decided to squeeze in a quick hike before heading back to our motel to check out and leave for the airport. We hiked North Bubble, South Bubble, and Bubbles Rock, all of which are very short trails. Even though we arrived at the trails slightly before 9am parking was already almost full!  Bubble rock was cool, and the trails gave us our final hiking fix before heading to the airport. Once back in Bangor we grabbed lunch from Harvest Moon Deli, another great sandwich shop, before embarking on our flights home. 

All in all it was a great trip and I would highly recommend planning your next hiking/biking vacation in Acadaia National Park!

Where we stayed: Gallagher’s Travels Bar Harbor Motel and Cottages

Where we hiked:

  • Bubble Rock

  • North Bubble

  • Jordan Pond

  • Schoodic Point

  • Beehive Trail

  • Precipice Trail

Where we ate:

  • The Barnacle, Bar Harbor

  • Jordan Pond House Restaurant

  • Lunch Bar Harbor

  • Island Take Out, Bar Harbor

  • Mainely Meat BBQ, Bar Harbor

  • J.M. Gerrish Cafe, Winter Harbor

  • Harvest Moon Deli, Bangor

Other Activities:

  • Bar Harbor Bicycle Shop

  • Bar Harbor Whale Watch Co.

By : Sarah