The Big Spots in Acadia National Park That Aren't Trails
Plan your trip to Mount Desert Island
People who don’t live here love to make itineraries about what to do when you are here and we get it. It gives people clicks for their content.
This post, which we’ll be building out as we go along and assessing people’s needs, is not like that. It’s just us telling you (and giving you resources to find more) about the top spots in Acadia National Park that aren’t trails.
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK
The park is the big draw. It’s lovely. It feels magical. It’s the only national park in the northeast. If you are visiting, this is the place you want to hang out at most of the time. This is especially true if you like to hike, bike, or walk.
If you are randomly here through an internet wormhole and don’t know anything about Acadia (that’s what we call it for short), it’s on a big island off the coast of Maine. That island is called Mount Desert Island (we call it MDI for short because we like to shorten things here) and Acadia takes up most of the island.
A bit of the park is also off island on the Schoodic Peninsula.
MDI is made up of towns, too. So, yes, people live here (like us!). The towns are Bar Harbor, Northeast Harbor, Southwest Harbor, and Tremont. Trust me. Other sources mess this up. They do not live here.
If you click here, you can access a full park map, courtesy of the National Park Service. When you visit, there are also maps at visitor centers in the park.
We are approximately 4.5 north of Boston.
WHEN TO VISIT
Any time is a good time, really. It’s just what you’re into. The park doesn’t maintain some things and shuts down the Park Loop Road to vehicles in the winter. Some of the restaurants shut down, too. They actually take turns staying open, which is really kind. Summer is the most popular time and then fall, but there’s something to be said for experiencing the area in the winter.
DOES IT COST MONEY TO VISIT ACADIA?
Yes. It does. You can buy an Annual National Park Pass (valid at all national parks for a year) or you can buy a 7-day or annual Acadia Pass.
But the money you use? It can’t be cash.
WHAT SHOULD YOU DO WHEN YOU ARE HERE.
On this site, you’ll find a ton of more detailed things to do and lists and stories about some of them, but the big general draws for Acadia are:
Hiking
Biking
Walking
Driving the Park Loop Road
Kayaking
Whale watches and nature trips on the water
Museums and galleries and the Criterion Theatre.
POPULAR PLACES TO SEE IN ACADIA NATIONAL PARK
JORDAN POND HOUSE
The Jordan Pond House is a cool building that’s open from May to October usually and has been here since the 1890s. It serves tea and popovers. Popovers are not scones. If people tell you this, they are lying and probably didn’t actually visit. No offense to them.
Popovers are fun. They are like Yorkshire pudding without the beef broth aspect and you eat them with jam usually.
The other cool thing about Jordan Pond is that it’s a bit of a hub for some other activities.
If you feel like doing nothing, you can chill on the grassy lawn and look at the pond. You can not swim in the pond. You can kayak or canoe though.
If you feel like a mellow hike, you can walk around Jordan Pond Path. The boardwalks can be slippery in the rain (or the next day), but there’s hardly any elevation and it’s pretty fun.
If you feel like a big hike, you can head up the Jordan Cliffs Loop. This bad boy is a 5-mile hike. There are rungs. There are cliffs. There are rock faces.
Feeling in between mellow and a bad-boy hike? The North Bubble Trail is about a mile roundtrip, so it’s shorter. The elevation gain is approximately 500 feet. There are big steps. It’s pretty lovely up on the bubble to see the pond and the area. You can add on the South Bubble Trail if you’re feeling extra.
THE PARK LOOP ROAD
There are some people who only drive the Park Loop Road when they come to the park. If you can, you really should try to do a bit more even if that just means getting out of your car along the road. The park is just so cool.
So, the Park Loop Road is about 27 miles. A good portion is one way. It gets super crowded in the summer by the entrance station and you need a pass to drive most of it. You can drive it, bike it, or use the Island Explorer (a free shuttle).
There are tons of vistas. It is beautiful.
Thunder Hole and Sand Beach
A good amount of the island’s coast has steep cliffs of granite (or it’s private property), so Sand Beach is kind of a big deal because it’s sand. There are big steps down to that sand.
It’s accessible off the Park Loop Road. There’s a parking lot with changing rooms. The parking lot often gets full in peak season. The Island Explorer stops here though.
The beach is between Great Head and another mountain both covered by Maine trees. You can hike up the Great Head Trail at the far end and look across to the Beehive Trail or out to the ocean.
There’s also a cute walk that most can do along the coast (and the Park Loop Road) from Sand Beach through Thunder Hole and further.
Thunder Hole is, according to the park, “a popular destination year-round, is a carved out inlet along the rocky eastern shoreline of Mount Desert Island. When a storm or the turning tide forces waves into this narrow channel, the air escapes with a thunderous reverberation that is both deafening and thrilling. We recommend coming 1 – 2 hours before high tide for the best chance of hearing this roar. Wave sprays here have been seen to reach over 40 feet (12 m) in height. At low tide, follow the stairs down for a close look at the cliff walls carved by the crashing water.
“Stay aware when visiting Thunder Hole. Even in calm weather, rogue waves can suddenly wash over the surrounding granite ledges and outcrops. In storms, sections of the walkway may be closed.”
Cadillac Mountain
It’s the biggest mountain in the park (1530 feet). You can hike it. You can drive up it. If you drive up its 3.5 miles, you need a reservation.
It is popular, which is why it has that reservation system.
You can see Eagle Lake, Bar Harbor, Schoodic Peninsula, lots of ocean and park.
The Cadillac Mountain South Ridge Trail is one way up. The North Ridge Trail is one way back down or up. Both are somewhat challenging.
Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse
This lighthouse is right on the island, pretty much the opposite end from Bar Harbor and it is adorable. Built in 1858, its been lighting the way for almost two centuries and definitely longer than Acadia’s existed. It sits on granite. You can go up close to it or check it out in a more vista-way via very short trails leading to a boulder field scramble.
Sieurs de Monts and the Wild Gardens of Acadia
Off an extension of the Park Loop Road sits Sieur de Monts. The building and spring and adjacent wild gardens focus on the park’s cultural history.
In 1916, the park was actually created as Sieur de Monts National Monument. It obviously had a name change. That happened in 1929. De Monts was a French nobleman and explorer.
The Nature Center talks about park biologists and their good work.
The springhouse behind the center (it has a fancy Florentine canopy) is pretty cool to look at. The Wild Gardens of Acadia is a small and lovely area of paths were more than 400 plants (that are native to the island) are labelled.
There are a ton of hiking trails from here that go up Dorr Mountain. These paths were some of the first we trekked here. They have granite stairs in sections (built by the Civilian Conservation Corps) that wind around. Some sections are steep. Some sections are narrow. It can be slippery when wet, but it’s wonderful.
For those who don’t want to work on their calve strength and knees, you can also go on the lovely boardwalks of the Jesup Path, which extends (as trail not boardwalk) to Great Meadows. There are many birds here in the late afternoon and early morning. It is wheelchair and stroller accessible, but a bit narrow.