This Maine Island Might Be the Most Beautiful Spot in New England

“You ever been Downeast?” a local asked when I arrived on Mount Desert Island a few weeks ago. I grew up in Massachusetts, and even as a native New Englander, the term “Downeast” always struck me as odd, because Maine is pretty much north and “up” from, well, everything. Luckily, she clarified: back in the glory days of New England maritime culture, ships would follow tradewinds “downwind,” north from Boston and “east” towards Nova Scotia. Today, downeast refers to Maine generally, but specifically to the coast of Maine and, even more specifically, to everything north of Portland. To complicate things further, once you are actually in Maine, downeast becomes a sliding scale of remoteness: the further up the coast you travel, the more downeast you go, and Maine residents get a little territorial about just how downeast they are. It’s almost like remoteness is currency up here. And it’s what makes places like Mount Desert Island so special and surprising.

Most of the island is covered by Acadia National Park, known for its epic oceanfront cliffs and myriad hiking paths lined with wild blueberry bushes. There are some 18 mountains on the island—which hold the unique designation of being the highest seaside summits on the Atlantic coast north of Rio de Janeiro—and the handful of villages around the island’s perimeter are about as charming as seaside New England gets. While there is definitely a lot of old money parked in the island’s clifftop estates, this is still very much a place where locals greet each other by first name, where fisherman sail out before sunrise to pull up their lobster traps. M.D.I. is a perfect microcosm of all the things that make New England so great. Here, our tips for doing it right.

How To Get There

“If it was easy to come here, everybody would,” locals tend to say. The five-hour drive north from Boston is no easy feat, but luckily Cape Air offers daily service to the island from Logan Airport—so long as you can handle the bumpy low-altitude flight in an eight-seater Cessna. Bringing a car is probably your best bet, however, that way you can be free to explore the less-visited corners of Acadia National Park, as well as see all the coastal villages that make the island so special: Bar Harbor, Bass Harbor, Northeast Harbor, Southwest Harbor, and Tremont, to name a few.

Where to Stay

There is an entire range of B&Bs and inns on the island, but the best places to stay are the historic waterfront hotels that deliver comfort, charm, and stellar views all in one. The Balance Rock Inn in Bar Harbor is just about as good as it gets, with a fantastic bar and patio overlooking the Porcupine Islands, live piano music a couple nights a week, and a location just steps from all that Bar Harbor has to offer. Ask for one of the rooms with water views and a private sauna—there’s no better way to relax after a day of hiking. Located a few miles away in the much quieter enclave of Northeast Harbor is the Asticou Inn, a favorite of Martha Stewart and Ariana Rockefeller. Even if you aren’t staying there, make sure to stop by for lunch or dinner, as the lobster stew and popovers are legendary. Even further out in the town of Southwest Harbor is the Claremont Hotel, which first opened its doors in 1884 and sits on six resplendent acres overlooking Somes Sound, the eastern seaboard’s only fjord. The Boathouse there is one of the island’s best spots for a relaxing waterfront drink.

Where to Eat

Because the island is home to year-round Mainers as well as a huge influx of sophisticated summer residents from around the world, the restaurant scene is a good mix of well-worn favorites as well as adventurous new hotspots. Locals know that the best breakfast around is either the oversize omelettes at Café This Way or the euphoria-inducing blueberry pancakes at Jordan’s.

Seafood is obviously a must-have here, and pretty much every restaurant will have clams, mussels, scallops, cod, and lobster on the menu—the way a restaurant interprets those ingredients is where things get interesting. Lompoc Café does Spicy Dijon Mussels and a Fishwich with spicy slaw. Xanthus uses local ingredients to prepare a unique Maine-meets-France menu, and their grilled fruit de mer salad with octopus, shrimp, tomato vinaigrette, and orange is a must-do. And if you’re up for it, Red Sky offers a rich risotto topped with the meat of an entire Maine lobster.

There have also been several surprising new additions to the island’s dining scene in recent years, like the authentic Mexican at XYZ (think molé and killer margaritas), as well as vegetarian offerings at The Burning Tree.

What to Do
Make sure to spend at least one day moseying from shop to shop in Bar Harbor, picking up tchotchkes at Sailor and Hook, grabbing some wood-carved figurines from In The Woods, and trying out all the quirky, house-made ice creams at Mount Desert Ice Cream (highly recommend the Bay of Figs and Maine Sea Salt Caramel flavors). An afternoon cruise on the 4-masted Margaret Todd schooner is a glorious way to see the island’s landscape from the water.

If you love the outdoors, you will find no shortage of things to do in Acadia National Park. First things first, be sure to drive the entire 27-mile Loop Road to get your bearings. If it’s a walk in the woods you’re after, try your luck on the thrilling Precipice Trail, which features cliffside ladders and plenty of exposure for adventurous hikers, or opt for something a little more low-key and just follow the coast along Sand Beach. The cliffs here are particularly famous with rock-climbing buffs. Whether you’re a first-timer or a bona fide scrambler, consider hiring one of the guides at Atlantic Climbing School to take you out for the day and improve your skills—they’ll hit all the right spots. To see the park from a completely different angle, consider an afternoon paddling around at sea with one of the guides form National Park Sea Kayak Tours.

It’s an Acadia rite of passage to wake up early and hike Cadillac Mountain at sunrise (from May to October, it’s the first place the sun rises in America), but the crowds can often be overwhelming—you might be better off hiking the Beehive instead, a shorter route more suitable for a 5 a.m. call time. Chances are there won’t be a single other soul on the summit, or in sight. Just you, the sea, and the sunrise.

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