Combining nature with town experience

We plan to visit MDI in August. We like a combination of active pursuits (hiking, bicyclying, fishing) for daytime pursuits plus dinners and breakfasts in nice little restaurants in town(s). Any recommendations for lodging that would offer the possibility of such combination without too much driving? Or should we perhaps stay on the outskirts of town where we can walk in for an evening and just drive to the park (or take the bus?)?

Combining nature with town experience

Hi Spondy. I can only recommend what I know. Every year we stay at a place called The Acadia Hotel. It is located on Mount Desert Street right off the Village Green in Bar Harbor. Nice, reasonable, not pretentious and a great location. You are just around the corner from Main Street and can easily walk to any one of a number of restuarants in town. For breakfast, you have Cafe This Way practically next door and it is an easy walk to Jeannie%26#39;s, Two Cats and Jordan%26#39;s. Those will keep you going with great breakfasts. One final benefit of the Acadia is that it is about a 30 second walk from the Island Explorer hub at the Village Green. All buses come through there. Great for many hiking venues. They will drop you off and pick you up anywhere SAFE along their route. They also transport bikes.

Good luck.

Combining nature with town experience

I don%26#39;t know what you have heard (if anything) about MDI and Acadia National Park. Briefly, the island is approximately 100 square miles. Most places can be reached from any other place on the island in about 20 mintues or less.

Bar Harbor, the largest village on the island, has a business district (shops, restaurants, etc.) that is roughly three blocks by five blocks, so as paflyfisher has suggested, most things are within easy walking distance.

Beyond paflyfisher%26#39;s advice, check %26lt;www.acadiamagic.com%26gt; for lodging and activity alternatives. If you are interested in B%26amp;Bs, try %26lt;www.sleepbarharbor.com%26gt;.

I would recommend using the Island Explorer shuttle in August---it will get you most places you might want to go (except for the summit of Cadillac) and bring you back.

As for restaurants, check out the Overview section at the top of this page. That same section has writeups on hikes and walks.

If you are interested in a guided tour that among other things, takes you to the top of Cadillac, try Oli%26#39;s Trolley.

That ought to get you started; if you have specific questions, there are many here who will be only too happy to respond.

Spondy, I%26#39;ve posted some recommendations for restaurants in other strings, havning just returned from an awesome long weekend in BH. I would recommend staying someplace in ';town'; withing walking distance of the shops. The first night we were there we stayed at the Haborside Hotel right next to the Bar Harbor Club and it was beautiful. We moved to the Holiday Inn Regency (aka Holiday Inn Sunspree Resort) for the rest of the weekend because we had Priority Club points to use for a free stay. It was over a mile from town so we didn%26#39;t really like the location -- we just liked being ';right there'; at the first place.

We drove through the park several times -- you get a pass for your car ($10) that is good for 5 days. We also rented bikes one day and found that we were not nearly in shape enough for the hills!! BUT, it was a great work out and still lots of fun.

If you like to walk/hike, definitely take the hike around the lake and end at Jordan Pond House, it%26#39;s a beautiful walk and one of the highlight of our trip.

Better trip to the top of Cadilac is to hike. Easiest route South Ridge: Next: North trail: Next: West face from bubble pond: Hardest. Start at the tarn, take KurtDietrichs stairs over door and take the murray path up the gorge and work your way over to Cadiallac. (i suppose that%26#39;s from the east side.)

Have you done all of those ascents of Cadillac?? I%26#39;ve always heard that the West Face was the hardest trail because it%26#39;s quite steep. I%26#39;ve only done the north ridge and the south ridge and parts of Dorr and the Gorge Trail. And I ascended Cadillac on the old Green Mountain Railway bed.

Thanks so much to all who%26#39;ve responded, plus I%26#39;ve learned a lot from reading other threads and links from the forum. We%26#39;ve booked a room at the Acadia Hotel. We like the idea of being in town at the end of the day, but I confess I%26#39;m a bit worried about noise. We expect to be up early and spend our days out in nature, so would prefer to relax and sleep at night rather than party late. Also, can%26#39;t tell from the photo of Acadia Hotel whether guests really use the porch (and any public rooms?).

Disclaimer: I can only speak to my personal experience. We have stayed at the Acadia Hotel about six or seven times now. It has always been in September which is the off-season. That said, the Acadia has always pretty much been filled during our stays (No Vacancy sign up; no extra parking spaces). The off-season visitor may be a different animal than the in-season visitor. That I do not know.

That said... the porch at the Acadia is a wraparound porch. The front faces the street and is obviously where the main entrance is. However there are rooms that open directly off of the porch around the left and right side. We prefer and always stay in one of those rooms around the side. It is quieter, I believe. Also when folks sit on the porch it is generally across the front from corner to corner. Again it is September but I have never run inot any rowdiness on the porch. There have been folks sharing a bottle of wine before dinner and sitting out sipping a late night latte. But nothing rowdy. I%26#39;m not sure Chris, the proprietor, would tolerate it. SImilarly, I have seen a group up on the second floor balcony ';partying'; but again they never seemed rowdy to me.

Is there noise? Certainly. You are along a main road (Mt Desert St. is Rt 3) through town. You will hear the occasional truck go by during the night. If you want real quiet then you have to go to some little side street where many B%26amp;B%26#39;s are or out of town. What you lose is convenience. As I have said before and others have concurred, you can%26#39;t been the Acadia for a reasonable rate; nice, clean room and terrific convenience. You within a minute of town and 30 seconds from the Island Explorer buses. You beat that with a stick!

There are other things that I spelled out in my review. Our room (the room we also request every year) has a very small television. Does that bother me? No. I%26#39;m not there to watch tv even though I have caught my share of Penn State and Philadelphia Eagles games on that small tv. Not all room have telephones. Ours does not. Again I don%26#39;t care, we have cell phones. And don%26#39;t forget, rooms in an inn that has been converted from a priivate residence are generally smaller than rooms in a chain hotel and that is the case here. Along with that goes some limited closet space. Again, I am not trying to talk you out of the Acadia. We love the place and are returning again for a week this September. I am just rying to give you a realiztic picture which I hope I have.

Go. Have fun. Enjoy Bar Harbor. Enjoy Acadia. And enjoy the Acadia Hotel. I have found it to be a great place and hope you will as well.

Thanks, paflyfisher. Although I thought I was clarifying in my last post, I think I actually muddled things. We WANT to be able to sit out on the porch and use any public rooms at the Acadia Hotel (if there are any available). I was concerned about noise from town, but not noise from the porch.

We%26#39;ll go and I%26#39;m sure will have a great time. Thanks again for all your helpful info.

Oh OK. First off, to the best of my knowledge, there are no public rooms in the hotel. There is, of course, the large covered porch. On the porch, you are just a couple of car lengths from the street and sidewalk. People will walk by. There will be a steady stream of cars. But I have never found them to be distracting. Yes there are motorcycles going by on occasion and they can be loud. But like I said, I found the porch a relaxing place to sit and sip a latte at the end of the day or just chat a bit with my wife or other guests.

I don%26#39;t think it will be a problem.