A family trip to Acadia National Park

Though I have been to Maine almost every year of my life, I had never been to Acadia National Park until summer 2025. This often surprised people, and felt like a gap that needed be filled in my Maine resume. Last year, we decided to rectify the situation, and in August, we made it happen. I’d love to share some photos and a few details on what we did, if you’d like to see!

Like many national parks, Acadia takes a bit of work to reach. We flew into Portland (Breeze has a direct flight from Raleigh!), rented an SUV, and drove an hour and a half north to spend a few days with my family on our island in the Midcoast region. And we weren’t alone! It was a delight to travel with family friends and get to introduce them to our beloved place. 

Day One

After a few days in the Midcoast, we drove 2.5 hours further north to reach Mount Desert Island, home to Acadia. We arrived in time for a late lunch at the appropriately-named Lunch Bar Harbor. It’s on the Village Green (one of two central hubs in Bar Harbor — the other is the waterfront) and it was tough to find parking even on a Tuesday afternoon. This made us thankful we’d rented bikes for the week, meaning this was one of the only times we’d need to find parking downtown. We ate our paninis and grilled cheeses on the green, picked up a few cookies from The Sweet Bite to bring on our hike, and hopped back in the cars to head to the park.

John had mapped out our hikes in advance, and Tuesday afternoon’s was the Gorham Mountain/Cadillac Cliffs loop. As usual, he did a fantastic job, selecting a hike that had a great view at the top and was challenging but not too taxing for the kids (five of them, who ranged in age from four to nine). Everyone enjoyed navigating the iron rings, crawling through rock tunnels, and bouldering up the mountainside.

Though we were a bit short on water (since we had partially emptied our bottles at lunch) the cookies were a great reward at the top, as was the beautiful view of Sand Beach. In total our loop was 1.7 miles.

Once back at the bottom, we piled into our cars and drove about 15 minutes out of the park and back into town to check into our rental home. After considering several options all over Mount Desert Island, we opted for this one, and we were very pleased with it! In addition to the floor plan, aesthetic, and amenities (a goodie basket of local treats, s’mores supplies, a foosball table and so many toys in the garage, and the best host guidebook I’ve seen in years), we loved that it’s owned by MDI natives who teach at the high school on the island. 

Bethany and I quickly made a grocery list and drove a minute or two into town to pick up supplies for the week at Hannaford’s. Dinner our first night was at Abel’s Lobster, a picturesque spot on Somes Sound (the only fjord on the East Coast!) with an incredible sunset view.

We waited about 45 minutes for a table (they don’t take reservations), but there’s plenty to look at while you wait. We wandered down to the marina next door, played a bit of corn hole, and got drinks at the bar. Once we sat down the food was delicious. 

In addition to its three bedrooms, our rental had a yurt, and that’s where the kids slept. Though it was a tiny bit nerve-wracking (it was located about hundred feet from the house with no way to lock it) the kids were excited to sleep in such adventurous surroundings. It also meant the adults were free to chat, play games, and move freely about the house in the evenings without worrying about waking anyone up, which was a real gift!

Day Two

The only small downside to our rental? It was at the top of a steep hill, which meant every bike ride to and from town — including our first one on Wednesday morning to pick up our bikes — ended with a final push of exertion. We just told the kids they were earning their ice cream :) 

We rented bikes from Acadia Outfitters, which was fine, but the guide book said Bar Harbor Bicycle Shop was hands-down the best bike rental option and because they didn’t steer us wrong otherwise I’d choose them if we could do it over. 

After stowing the bikes and breakfast at home we drove out to hike the South Bubble. I had heard horror stories about Acadia hike parking while planning this trip, but this was one of the only, or perhaps only, times we had to wait for a parking spot. (It was a small lot, for one of the park’s most popular hikes, and we waited about 20 minutes.)

This hike was just fine but probably the least interesting for our crew, which tracks with my grand theory of hiking with kids: they are so much more likely to complain on an easier-but-boring trail than they are on a harder, more interesting trail. Though more challenging hikes might seem intimidating, we find that they’re almost always the better pick for our crew. 

Something else I’ve realized over the years: I’m not afraid of heights, but I am afraid of edges, especially when it comes to kids. While I was never worried about edges on the Gorham Mountain hike, South Bubble made me quite nervous at times. 

This all sounds kind of negative, but it was a lovely hike and fun to spot our next destination while still up on high: Jordan Pond House! We were not able to make a reservation in advance (they only release a few for each day) so we waited about 30 minutes for a table — but again, there was plenty to do, and the kids enjoyed poking around at the edge of the pond until our number was called. 

We sat on the lawn for lunch and had a picturesque view on a bluebird day. We ordered a few of their famous popovers to split (so yummy); I ordered the chicken pot pie, which is also served over a popover. I loved the whole experience, but if you have a kid who’s nervous around bees (as we do) just know that they come out in droves when the jam arrives with the popovers. They have a whole jam protocol in place and no one got stung, but just something good to know. 

One more random note: the bathrooms at Jordon Pond House, a park property, were not great. This was kind of surprising, because it’s otherwise a nice spot, and the bathrooms everywhere else we went in the park were fine. 

After wrapping up lunch, we drove over to Cadillac Mountain for our 3pm reservation. (Timed entry is $6 and slots open 48 hours in advance.) We spent an hour and a half at the top: taking in the view, clambering over the rocks, looking at the ranger’s interactive activities, chatting, and picking and eating a LOT of huckleberries. Fun fact: Cadillac is the highest peak within 50 miles of the East Coast all the way until you reach Brazil!

That night we opted to eat an earlier dinner at home (spaghetti and meatballs in the backyard, yum) then biked downtown for ice cream at Jordan Pond Ice Cream & Fudge Shop. This was at the other green center of Bar Harbor, the one on the waterfront, and it was a good five degrees colder than at our rental. We were sad we forgot our sweatshirts! (We visited in late July/early August and had impeccable weather — sunny skies and mid-70s temps with just one grayer day.)

While at the waterfront we spotted the restaurant, Geddy’s, where we had a reservation for our final night’s dinner. My heart sunk a bit when I saw it, because while I’m sure it is perfectly lovely, it looked a little more touristy than I had anticipated. Put a pin in that, we’ll revisit :) 

Day Three

Thursday was Shep’s birthday! We ate breakfast at the house then headed to the park to start our day at Anemone Cave. Like a few other attractions in Acadia, this one needed to be timed to the tide, as you can’t enter the cave if the tide is too high. (We used this site to check the tides in advance.)

Not only did we hit the tide right, but we hit the crowds right, too — when we arrived, there was only one other family present, but by the time we left there were about 40 people inside.

When it got more crowded we walked along the coast to explore the tide pools, which the kids loved. In addition to the eponymous anemones we saw an urchin, periwinkles, hermit crabs, regular crabs, and — after MUCH dedicated searching by John — a beautiful palm-sized sea star. 

From there we drove a few minutes along the park loop to Sand Beach. By this time it was spitting a bit – not your ideal beach day – but we made the most of it, dipping our toes in, throwing the football, and exploring the lagoon behind the dunes. We also ate the picnic lunch we had packed back at the house. To be fair, we might not have swum much more even if it had been sunny — the ocean temp was about 53 degrees during our visit — so we didn’t mind having a cloudy day.

After an hour and a half or so we returned our beach supplies to the cars and set out on foot for Thunder Hole — a 10-minute walk along the coast. Thunder Hole is another of Acadia’s more-famous destinations, but John had wisely warned us to keep our expectations low (which, as all EFM readers know, is a major key to life happiness!). He was right to do so, because even though we arrived in the ideal mid-tide range, it was a calm day at sea and the Hole was not particularly thunder-y. 

We had left this afternoon open in our schedule. After realizing it was our best chance to take the bikes on the carriage roads, we zipped back to the house, repacked, and zoomed down the hill to meet the free Island Explorer bus at 3:15pm. We had the bus to ourselves and riding on a mini coach bus was an exciting novelty to the kids :) 

We opted to ride around Eagle Lake, a 6-mile loop. Though we saw plenty of e-bikes, we were all on manual bikes — the big kids on their own, our friends’ five-year-old on a tagalong and Annie (4) in a trailer. There were some hills as we pedaled through the peaceful, misty Maine forests, but the kids conducted themselves valiantly and we made the 4:30pm bus home with time to spare. 

Dinner that night was at Side Street Cafe (we rode our bikes downtown) and we were grateful we made a reservation. We all enjoyed our food and the kids really enjoyed the complimentary air-dry clay handed out with the menus, which did a bang-up job at keeping them occupied. We ended the night with birthday cake back at the house, and I think Shep felt celebrated even though he had to blow out three hastily-lit matches instead of birthday candles :) 

Day Four

Friday, our last full day, dawned bright, warm, and crisp once again. We biked downtown to Jordan’s Restaurant, drawn in by the blueberry pancakes on the sign out front. While the blueberry pancakes themselves were a bit underwhelming, the blueberry muffins were particularly delicious and the classic diner vibe was a delight. 

From there, we pedaled down a side street to the sandbar to Bar Island. This was our final destination that required timing the tide, as the sand bar only opens for the hour and a half around low tide (and they won’t let you forget it, with dire signage warning you to be back across to the mainland at the appropriate time lest you be stranded and require a $150 water taxi rescue). We moseyed our way across, stopped to stack several rock cairns on the far side, then walked up to the summit for a view of downtown. 

Once safely back across the sandbar, we split up: June and the moms headed to the Village Green for a tiny bit of shopping (Window Panes was easily our favorite store!) while the dads took the other kids to Sherman’s in search of keychains. We met up to return our bikes then walked back to the house to have a clear-the-fridge lunch. 

Up until now our day had gone pretty much as we had planned it, but in the afternoon we veered from our itinerary and it was 1000% the right decision. Isn’t that a good feeling?! We ended up canceling our kayak rental as well as our 5:15 Geddy’s reservation, and instead, we were able to do our planned final hike — Beech Cliffs — at a more leisurely pace AND have time to take a dip in Echo Lake at the end.

Beech Cliffs was a perfect final hike, a real crowdpleaser with four ladders to climb and a gorgeous view of Echo Lake and the far islands at the top. 

Swimming in Echo Lake was a delight, too — much warmer than expected (about 75 degrees!) and just so fun to swim in the shadow of a mountain. 

After changing back into clothes in the parking lot, we drove straight to our new dinner spot, plucked from the pages of our rental hosts’ guidebook: Sweet Pea’s Farm Kitchen. We were charmed from the minute we stepped foot on property: there were high-bush blueberries to graze on while we waited for our table, a fire pit to gather around, rolling green paths for the kids to run and chase each other, and a sumptuous garden filled with tomatoes, leafy greens, sunflowers, dahlias, and so many other beautiful things.

This dinner lives on as a perfect evening in my memory: good friends, delicious food (wood-fired pizza and jewel-like salads!), a soft sunset, and fun conversation recapping our highs and lows from the trip. 10/10 would recommend if you ever find yourself in Acadia.

Because we couldn’t help ourselves, we ended the evening with one last scoop of ice cream at Mt. Desert Island Ice Cream – our favorite of the shops we tried (of which there are many in MDI).

Day Five

After packing up and checking out of our rental, we made a last-minute decision to visit the Bass Harbor Head Light Station before going our separate ways. It was a bit out of the way, but an easy path down to the water once we got there and worth taking the scenic route out of town.

And there you have it, friends! As an honorary Mainer, I am SO glad I can finally say I’ve been to Acadia, and would heartily commend it to any reader looking for a New England adventure. Happy to answer any questions in the comments, as always!