You can drive Maine’s entire coast in one day. but everyone who does regrets it

It’s America’s original road trip

U.S. Route 1 hugs the Maine coast from Kittery to Bar Harbor, and the 200 miles between them pass through fishing villages, lighthouse headlands, and harbor towns that look like they belong on a postcard.

You could drive the whole thing in a day, but you’d miss the point. The side roads pull you down to working wharves and rocky coves that the highway only hints at.

The coast reveals itself slowly here, and the best stuff sits just off the main road.

Lobster was once a poor man’s meal

Maine’s lobster industry runs back more than 150 years, but it didn’t start as something people bragged about. In colonial times, lobster was so common that servants and prisoners ate it.

Nobody wanted the stuff. Then railroads and well smacks started moving live lobster to cities far from the coast, and demand took off.

Today, the industry puts more than a billion dollars into Maine’s economy each year.

Lobstering families pass the trade down through generations, and fishermen still follow strict conservation rules they set for themselves back in the mid-1800s.

NASA put this York lighthouse on a golden record

The Nubble Lighthouse sits on a small rocky island about 100 yards off York’s coast.

Built in 1879, the 41-foot cast iron tower still holds its original fourth-order Fresnel lens, and you can see its light from 13 nautical miles out.

NASA thought enough of it to include the Nubble’s image on the Voyager Golden Record, right alongside the Taj Mahal and the Great Wall.

You watch it from Sohier Park on the mainland, where about half a million people show up each year. Come late November, and more than 1,200 feet of rope lighting covers the whole station.

Walk the margin between land and sea in Ogunquit

The Marginal Way earned its name from the “margin” where the land meets the ocean, and you walk that edge for 1.25 paved miles along Ogunquit’s cliffs.

Josiah Chase Jr. donated the land to the town in 1925, and it landed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2022.

Thirty-nine benches sit at viewing spots along the route, so you can stop whenever the Atlantic pulls your attention. The path drops you at Perkins Cove, a small working harbor where lobster boats tie up next to shops.

The drawbridge still opens for boats in Kennebunkport

Kennebunkport started as a shipbuilding and fishing village, and Dock Square still sits where it always has, right at the junction of Spring Street, Western Avenue, and Ocean Avenue along the Kennebunk River.

The historic district holds more than 175 buildings, many from the early 1800s, in Federal, Greek Revival, and Colonial styles that trace the town’s shipping wealth.

The drawbridge near Dock Square still swings open for passing boats.

Drive three miles to Cape Porpoise, and you hit a working fishing harbor where you can watch lobstermen haul traps off the water.

Portland’s cobblestone streets lead straight to the harbor

Portland is Maine’s largest city, and its Old Port district packs 19th-century brick buildings along cobblestone streets filled with galleries, shops, and restaurants.

The working waterfront keeps fishing boats unloading daily catches right at the harbor, one of the busiest on the East Coast.

The city built its food reputation on fresh seafood and local farms, and you can taste both within a few blocks.

Nearby Cape Elizabeth holds the Portland Head Light, first lit in 1791 and one of the oldest lighthouses in the country. The Eastern Promenade trail gives you walking views across Casco Bay and its islands.

More than 60 lighthouses guard these rocky waters

Maine keeps more than 60 active lighthouses along its coast, built mostly in the 1800s to guide ships through fog and rock. Several sit right along Route 1 or a short detour off the highway.

The Marshall Point Lighthouse in Port Clyde, Owls Head Light near Rockland, and Pemaquid Point Light draw the most visitors.

In Rockland, the Maine Lighthouse Museum holds the largest collection of lighthouse lenses and artifacts in the country.

Some lights sit on offshore islands, so you need a boat to reach them, which only makes the trip better.

Camden’s harbor fills with schooners and sails

Camden sits on Penobscot Bay, and its harbor holds windjammer schooners and sailing vessels that crowd the waterline.

Camden Hills State Park rises straight from the shore, and Mount Battie gives you a wide view of the bay, islands, and surrounding hills from its summit. You can drive up or take a short hike.

The downtown runs a few walkable blocks of historic brick buildings along the main street. Camden is home port for Maine’s windjammer fleet, and multiday sailing trips leave right from the harbor.

Walk a mile-long breakwater into Penobscot Bay in Rockland

Rockland works for a living. The town sits on Penobscot Bay’s western shore and has anchored Maine’s fishing and lobster industries for generations.

Every summer, the Maine Lobster Festival draws crowds as one of the state’s biggest events. The Farnsworth Art Museum holds a major collection of American art focused on Maine, including Andrew Wyeth’s work.

But the real draw is the Rockland Breakwater, which extends nearly a mile into the harbor and ends at a lighthouse. The walk is free and open to everyone, with wide bay views the whole way out.

Crack a lobster at a picnic table by the boats

The classic Maine lobster shack is a no-frills, order-at-the-counter spot with picnic tables facing the water.

You put on a plastic bib, grab a cracker and a pick, and go to work on a steamed lobster while the boats that caught it sit tied up nearby. The Maine-style roll comes chilled with mayo on a toasted split-top bun.

The Connecticut style swaps in warm butter. Most shacks also serve clam chowder, fried clams, corn on the cob, and coleslaw.

Many sit on working wharves where lobstermen unload traps just feet from your table.

Cadillac Mountain catches the first sunrise in the country

Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island pulls millions of visitors a year, making it one of the ten most visited national parks in the country.

Cadillac Mountain rises 1,530 feet above sea level, the highest point on the U.S. Atlantic coast. From early October through early March, it catches the first sunrise in the continental United States.

You need a vehicle reservation for the summit road from late May through late October.

Beyond the mountain, the park holds more than 45 miles of carriage roads for biking and walking, plus Sand Beach, Thunder Hole, Jordan Pond, and the Ocean Path trail along the shoreline.

Bar Harbor rose from fire and Rockefeller money

Bar Harbor sits at the doorstep of Acadia, and its compact downtown puts shops, galleries, and seafood spots along Main Street and Cottage Street.

The Shore Path runs 1.5 miles along the waterfront from the Town Pier, with views across Frenchman Bay.

Before a devastating fire reshaped the town in 1947, wealthy families like the Rockefellers and Vanderbilts summered here.

Whale watching tours leave the harbor all summer, with humpback, finback, and minke whales spotted regularly.

The free Island Explorer shuttle connects trailheads and park destinations during peak season, so you can leave the car behind.

Drive Maine’s Route 1 from Kittery to Bar Harbor

You can cover the full Kittery-to-Bar Harbor corridor in stages over several days, and that’s the way to do it right.

Route 1 passes through every coastal tourism region in the state, from the Southern Maine Coast through Greater Portland, MidCoast Maine, and Downeast.

Detours lead to harbors, peninsulas, and islands you can reach by ferry.

The route is busiest from Memorial Day through October, with fall foliage creating a second peak in September and October. Expect two-lane roads and slower speeds for much of it, so plan your fuel stops.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

Read more from this brand:

• This free mile of Maine coastline ends at something you won’t find anywhere else in the country
• Acadia’s forbidden roads: no cars allowed for over 100 years
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