If you are anything like me, you love to plan everything including your extensive list of new travel destinations. Well, here’s a new location for your list that I didn’t know existed until recently…but now it’s a place I could not recommend more!
This summer my family and I did a cruise to New England and Canada and one of our stops was Bar Harbor, Maine. In the weeks leading up to this vacation, I was excited about so many of the stops, but not all that excited about visiting Maine (which meant I did not bother to research it either).
Let me tell you…it was my favorite stop of the entire trip.
Bar Harbor has two main defining features, a sweet little seaport town, and Acadia National Park. The town of Bar Harbor is home to several cute, little shops that sell tons of local products — such as blueberries or maple, two things Maine is famous for. We shopped for souvenirs (hello Maine blueberry tea) and enjoyed scoping out the seemlessly endless array of ice cream shops.
While the town was beautiful and inviting, visiting Acadia National Park was one of the most beautiful adventures I’ve ever experienced. We started by making a stop to check out the hidden beach, Sand Beach. This was a great place for us to take in the beach view and grab some family photos! From there we continued on a trail along the coastline that had lots of rocks to climb on and incredible views to take in. In comparison to Los Angeles, the fresh air was so clean and every breath we took in smelled like a perfect balance of sea breeze and pine trees!
Arguably the best part of Acadia National Park (aside from the views) was having lunch at ‘Jordan Pond House Restaurant’, a restaurant located right in the middle of the national park. Not only was the food delicious (their specialty is popovers!!), but the restaurant was serene and truly relaxing. The nearby lake trail was a perfect post-lunch walk and the water was so clear and calm!
Jordan Pond House Restaurant
Hopefully I’ve sold you on adding one of my favorite secrets to your travel bucket list!