We recently went to Bar Harbor Maine for Labour Day weekend and we had such a wonderful time! We were hoping that maybe the leaves would start to change and we were lucky that some were! It’s such a beautiful spot to visit any time of year but especially when the fall foliage is changing!
I split up this blog post with a quick 3 day Bar/Harbor Portland Itinerary to help you plan your next trip to beautiful Maine. I’m also sharing everything we did each day of our trip!
Here is a 3 day Bar Harbor/Portland Maine Itinerary to help you plan your next trip to beautiful Maine!
DAY 1 Bar Harbor
Dock from CAT ferry
Lunch at Stewman’s Lobster Pound
Check into Atlantic Oceanside
Dinner at the Bistro
Swim and go watch the sunset
DAY 2 Portland Maine
Breakfast at Bread and Friends
Stroll around downtown Portland
Go shopping
Dinner at Earth Hidden Pond
Day 3 Bar Harbor
Breakfast at hotel
Hike Acadia Park
Lunch at The Happy Clam Shack
Stroll around downtown, take the trolley
Dinner at Jack Russell’s Steakhouse
Day 1 Bar Harbor Maine
We were invited over on the CAT ferry from Yarmouth NS and it was absolutely amazing! We drove on and the process was super easy! You can walk on, drive on and even bike on. Pets are also allowed but we decided to leave our pups at home with family.
The ferry was about 3 hours and there was so much to do on board! We played trivia (I am obsessed with playing trivia lol, when we went on our cruise last year, I played daily!). They also have several delicious food options and adult beverages as well and there’s also a cute little gift shop with gifts and souvenirs.
We watched the ferry take off from the back of the ship and it was such a beautiful view. Highly recommend watching sail away!
The staff were absolutely wonderful and everyone was so friendly! We got to meet Captain Stu and even have a tour of the bridge! The kids were so excited Captain Stu let them use the horn!
Sadly they weren’t sailing back the day we had to leave so we drove home. Everyone had so much fun we really wanted to go back on! Looks like we’ll have to plan another CAT ferry trip soon!
They currently have some an endless summer promo on so be sure to check them out here and you can save up to $300 on fares!
When we arrived in Bar Harbor we decided to go grab a quick lunch before checking into our hotel.
We headed to Stewman’s Lobster Pound and the location was absolutely perfect. We ate on the patio and it was beautiful! The seafood dip is absolutely delicious!
After lunch we headed to our beautiful hotel. Atlantic Oceanside is just up the road from where the CAT docks and it’s super close to so many great restaurants and shops!
I cannot say enough about how wonderful the staff were at Atlantic Oceanside. Everyone was so friendly and kind!
The property at the hotel is absolutely INCREDIBLE!!! I highly recommend watching the sunrise in the morning down at the dock. It was absolutely beautiful! We have some really great videos over on my instagram here. Definitely make sure to take time to walk around the property!
There are two pools but we only did the indoor pool. The outdoor one was beautiful and heated and also has a jacuzzi. The kids wanted to stay inside, otherwise, I would have been outdoors in the sun!
They also have a fitness room right by the pool and a daily complimentary continental breakfast which was absolutely AMAZING!
They had different pastries each morning we were there but they also had eggs, sausage, potatoes, oatmeal, cereals and lots more including fresh fruit! I highly recommend stopping by for breakfast!
The night we checked in, the kids wanted to go right to the pool and stay until bedtime so we decided to order food to take back to our room from the Bistro.
The food was phenomenal! The burger was SO good and the fries! I also had a caramel pumpkin spice cheesecake and it was AMAZING!!
The hotel also has a cute little gift shop with lots of local goodies, drinks and frozen treats!
Day 2 Portland
We decided to head to Portland so we could do some shopping and go to Trader Joe’s. Sadly we don’t have any in Canada!
We had breakfast at the hotel but stopped at Bread and Friends for some brunch. The food was delicious! The za’atar foccaccia was amazing, highly recommend! We went a bit late around 11:00 and many pastries were unfortunately sold out. I definitely recommend going earlier.
We strolled around downtown Portland for a little bit and then we did our shopping.
We wanted to go to dinner at Earth Hidden Pond in Kennebunkport but it was getting late and it’s about 3.5 to Bar Harbor.
We ended up driving back and we went to Jack Russell’s steakhouse which is directly across the street from Atlantic Oceanside. A friend suggested we try it and boy, am I glad we did!
WOW! The food was absolutely delicious! We had a cup of chowder, crab cakes, homemade pretzels, and steak. Everything was so so so good and we loved it! Definitely recommend stopping by!
The morning of our last day we had the continental breakfast again and then we swam for a bit before checking out.
Then we headed to Acadia park to do a little hike. Let me tell you, the hike we chose was not “little”! It was INTENSE!
It was quite high up and I was a bit nervous but everyone absolutely loved it and the view was absolutely stunning!! I highly recommend stopping by but definitely do your research first! I didn’t realize how big Acadia park is and how many trails/hikes there are! I thought we could do a few different ones but ours took about an hour and we had to go. I’ve definitely got some others saved on my list for when we come back.
We then headed to The Happy Clam Shack for lunch and it was soooo yummy! We split a lobster roll and it was amazing! Such a cute little spot too!
The kids had fun playing bean bag toss and drawing with chalk while waited for our food. Definitely recommend checking out this cute local spot!
After lunch, we started our journey back home which is about 7 hours. Everyone was so sad to leave, Kennedy keeps saying she wants to move to Bar Harbor lol! We had such a wonderful time and can’t wait to go back!
Hope you enjoy this 3 day Bar Harbor/Portland Maine Itinerary for your next trip!
Up next… Orlando and Bahamas… stay tuned!
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