Bar Harbor & Acadia National Park are one of our favorite places to travel. Maybe it’s because it was our first national park we ever visited as a couple, or it’s the first national park we took our son J to, or just because it’s an incredible park! Bar Harbor and Acadia are beautiful and easy to plan trips to.

Our recommendation for where to stay is to camp in Acadia, or find an Airbnb in Bar Harbor, Lamoine, or Hancock. Bar Harbor is our top recommendation; however, during peak tourist season, it can be challenging to find a reasonably priced place to stay. On our most recent trip, we were just outside of Lamoine, and it was perfect.

Acadia National Park features a single, large loop road, with half of it designated as one-way. We recommend starting early in the day to beat the crowds. We were in the park at Jordan Pond one morning at 6 am, and we were the only ones walking around, which was amazing! Parking in the national park can be challenging, especially if you arrive after 9 am, so arrive as early as possible.

Day 1 – Acadia National Park

Bar Harbor & Acadia National Park are so close together that it is incredibly easy to spend time in both places in the same day. Our recommendation for your first day would be to get a sunrise pass for Cadillac Mountain. You need to purchase the pass either three months in advance or 24 hours prior to your planned arrival. You can buy that pass on recreation.gov linked HERE. The pass is $6, and it is in addition to the national park’s weekly or yearly pass that you must purchase. You can purchase an America the Beautiful pass for $80 right HERE, which is valid for one year. We recommend this option if you plan to visit more than three national parks in a year, as it pays for itself.

Cadillac Mountain at Sunrise is incredible! It is unreal, and was probably one of our favorite highlights of our trip! There are a lot of neat hikes you can do around Cadillac Mountain, or you can just walk the paved trails after you’ve watched the sun rise.

After Cadillac Mountain, we recommend hitting Jordan Pond. This was what we did, and we had the whole pond to ourselves for almost two hours! From Jordan Pond, you can do the Bubble Hikes either before or after catching lunch at the Jordan Pond House. Spend the afternoon hiking before heading into Bar Harbor to get lobster rolls on the pier for dinner. We recommend Stewman’s Lobster Pound for a sit-down, delicious dinner on the water, or grab lobster rolls from the window of Frenchman Bay Lobster Rolls and enjoy your dinner in Agamont Park!

Day 2 – Acadia National Park

For Day 2, we recommend starting out bright and early with your first stop being at Sand Beach. Before you reach Sand Beach, you will come across the Precipe Trail Hike, a great and challenging hike that we recommend doing before the trail gets too busy. At Sand Beach, you can find parking for the Beehive trail before continuing to Thunderhole and Otter Cliffs. Beehive Trail gets quite busy, and parking is a challenge if you try to access Sand Beach anytime after 9 am. Remember, this is a ONE-WAY road, so once you hit this stop, if you pass it, you can’t turn around!

Hit up a few more hikes on the other side of the park, or take a horseback ride through Acadia at Wildwood Horse Stables in the park! If you brought a bicycle, or just want to walk, there are hundreds of lovely carriage paths you can walk or bike all through the park. The best part of Acadia is that the whole park is dog-friendly!

Finish the day with dinner in Bar Harbor, and don’t forget to get some amazing soft-serve blueberry ice cream at CJ’s!

Day 3 – Bar Harbor & Acadia National Park

For your third day, we recommend taking a whale watching or puffin tour out of Bar Harbor! We took a puffin and lighthouse tour with Bar Harbor Tours and loved seeing all the wildlife we encountered. We saw a wide variety of birds, seals, and even a few porpoises! Eat lunch in Bar Harbor before driving an hour up to the Schoodic Peninsula. There are some neat hikes here, and it is the least-visited part of the National Park. Catching the sunset on the rocks here is incredible, and the view is truly breathtaking. The best part? There are barely any people here!

You can see the entire park in three days, but if you have less time, we recommend the Schoodic Peninsula, Beehive Trail, and Bubble Rock hikes.

BONUS TIP

If you’re looking for the best place to see tidepools and starfish, we recommend checking out Tidal Falls Preserve. It is a stunning little spot where, at low tide, you are SURE to see a ton of starfish! We saw around 20 the first time we stopped by! If you do go tidepooling, please remember not to pick up the starfish and let them be. We can easily kill them with the lotions and chemicals that linger on our skin. They are WILD ANIMALS and are meant to be looked at, not picked up or touched! Respect nature, so we can always enjoy it.

We hope you loved this mini guide to traveling to Bar Harbor & Acadia National Park. If you have any questions, comment below and we’d be happy to respond! Happy adventuring!

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