Maine base in Sept / Oct

We/re travelling to Boston in late Sept 2007 and would like to drive North and spend a week in Maine. Where is the best place to base ourselves in order to take advantage of the scenery whilst not being too remote? We would like to rent a cottage rather than b%26amp;b / hotel and be within 5 hours of Boston?

Grateful for any advice .... thanks

Maine base in Sept / Oct

Wow, that%26#39;s a hard one to answer. You wouldn%26#39;t want to go any further north than Bar Harbor in order to still be within 5 hours of Boston. But that leaves almost the entire coast to chose from.

My prejudice would be to stay in the Bar Harbor area. That way you can hike in Acadia National Park, have a good choice of restaurants in the evening, and have easy access to whale watch boats, bicycle rentals, lobster boat tours, etc. etc.

There are clusters of small rental cottages in this area, for example http://www.barharborcottages.com/ or if you mean by ';cottage'; a small house to rent, you can find that also.

Another place to consider is Camden, a very scenic sailing town about two hours south of Bar Harbor. But my first choice, by far, would be Bar Harbor and the Acadia region.

Maine base in Sept / Oct

Is your main goal to see foliage/scenery and relax in quiet surroundings (lakeside would probably be best)....or are you interested in staying near/ enjoying the rocky coast and ocean?

We%26#39;d prefer to stay on the coast and drive inland to daytrip to lakes and forests. I%26#39;m having difficulty finding a website for cottage / cabin / house rentals as we%26#39;d rather do that than stay in a hotel or bed and breakfast, any suggestions? Thanks

I%26#39;m not sure if there is %26lt;one%26gt; website that covers cottage rentals for all of the coast. %26lt;www.visitmaine.com%26gt; might provide some links that would be useful.

Bonniemaev provided one url for the Bar Harbor area; another more general one is %26lt;www.acadiamagic.com%26gt;

For other locations a bit closer to Boston, e.g., Camden, Rockland, etc., your best bet is to try the specific forums for those places.

%26lt;%26lt;We%26#39;d prefer to stay on the coast and drive inland to daytrip to lakes and forests. %26gt;%26gt;

Maine is actually a fairly large state. There is only one interstate highway (controlled access road) upon which you can make good time. The rest of the roads in the state will be relatively slow-going as they are two-lane roads that twist and turn and go through vilage after village.

The last week of September, you%26#39;ll likely find the loveliest leaves inland in towns like Bethel, Rangely, Moosehead Lake, the Baxter State Park region.

None of these areas are easy day trips from Bar Harbor, or for that matter, any town on the coast.

Suggestion that you decide what your priority is--staying on the coast or seeing pretty leaves, then pick your base based on what you want to see/do.

www.beloins.com

Good site for rentals of the type you%26#39;re looking for: www.vrbo.com

great cabin rental sites might be cyberrentals.com, a1vacations.com, or maybe check out The Maine tourism association for links.

I have rented houses, cottages, etc., for the past 17 years, midcoast to way Downeast. Click on my name and in my postings I have lots of rental info. I will be there again in July, last June made me opt for later this year!!! This year I rented from www.jaretcohn.com