Maine Travel Guide
The Maine I Keep Coming Home To: Favorite Places from a Mainer Living Away
Snug Harbor Farm — Kennebunk
If I could bottle up my ideal version of a Maine garden, it would probably look something like Snug Harbor Farm. It’s part nursery, part garden shop, part secret garden, and one of those places where you go in thinking you’ll make a quick stop and end up wandering around forever. The greenhouses are filled with topiaries, succulents and plants, the grounds feel perfectly New England without being overly precious, and there are usually a few peacocks wandering around for good measure. I rarely leave without wanting to completely redo some part of my yard.
The Kennebunks
Kennebunk and Kennebunkport are probably some of the more obvious places on this list, but they’re places I keep coming back to for a reason. They’re polished and beautiful, but if you know where to look, you can still find plenty of the old Maine mixed in.
White Barn Inn, Auberge Collection is Maine at its most elevated. It’s been a local landmark for more than 150 years, and somehow manages to feel luxurious without losing the old New England charm. Go for dinner, drinks, or make a night of it. It’s the kind of place that makes you want to dress up a little and romanticize being in Maine.
Then there’s Luca, one of those shops I always want to wander through because it feels much more like my version of Maine than a store filled with obvious nautical souvenirs. It’s the kind of place I want to find when I’m traveling: beautiful things, good clothes, and pieces that you might actually wear or keep once you’re home.
And on the complete opposite end of the spectrum is Nunan’s Lobster Hut in Cape Porpoise, which has been serving lobster since 1953. No frills, no reservations, and lobster dinners served essentially the same way they have been for decades. It’s family-run, casual and exactly what you want an old Maine lobster place to be. Save room for the homemade pie.
I think that’s what I love about the Kennebunks. You can have dinner in a beautiful old barn one night and sit down to a lobster with a bag of chips the next. Both feel like Maine to me.
Wolfe’s Neck Woods State Park — Freeport
Wolfe’s Neck is one of those places that feels very Maine without needing much of an itinerary. The trails wind through the woods and eventually open up along Casco Bay, with rocky shoreline, islands and those classic Maine views that somehow never get old. When we went, the shore was covered with washed-up lion’s mane jellyfish, which the kids thought was equal parts fascinating and horrifying. They can get huge and are actually common in Maine’s colder waters. It turned a simple walk into one of those random summer memories we’ll probably talk about for years. Pack a picnic, wear shoes you can climb around in, and definitely look down when you’re walking the shoreline.
Glidden Point Oyster Farm — Edgecomb
I don’t even particularly love eating oysters, and somehow Glidden Point is still one of my favorite Maine summer stops. That probably tells you everything. It sits right along the Damariscotta River, and you can grab oysters straight from the farm, sit outside by the water and shuck them yourself. It’s casual and unfussy and feels much more like actual Maine than a polished seafood restaurant created for tourists. Go with someone who loves oysters and volunteer to photograph them instead.
Damariscotta
Damariscotta is one of those Maine towns that I think people drive through without realizing they should have stopped. It has a proper little Main Street, the river running alongside town, old storefronts, bookstores, coffee shops and plenty of oysters. It feels alive without feeling overly touristy, which is becoming harder and harder to find along the coast. Walk Main Street, pop into The Beach Plum Company, Wildings, and a bunch of other cutie shops, wander down toward the water, and then go down to Schooner Landing for their weekly “pier party” which is live music on the pier.
The Old Port — Portland
Yes, the Old Port is touristy. And yes, Mainers still go there. I think that’s something people sometimes misunderstand about Maine: there aren’t endless hidden towns that locals are secretly keeping from everyone else. We go to a lot of the same places visitors do because they’re genuinely good. The Old Port is one of them. Cobblestone streets, old brick buildings, working waterfront, great restaurants and little shops all packed into a few walkable blocks. It has changed a lot over the years, but there are still moments when it feels exactly like the Portland I remember. Some of my favorite places are: Baske, Fitz and Bennett, Viand, Blanche & Mimi, and Stellan. And get a drink on the rooftop, Luna.
Great Diamond Island
One of my favorite things about Portland is how quickly you can leave it behind. Get on a ferry and suddenly you’re looking back at the city from Casco Bay, headed toward an island where everything feels slower. Great Diamond has old homes, quiet roads, water in seemingly every direction and that slightly removed-from-the-world feeling that Maine islands do so well. The ferry ride is half the reason to go. Bring a sweater even if you swear you won’t need one. We spent the day there, first lunch at Crown Jewel– a cutie little place that doesn’t look like it belongs in Maine but is so cool. We then walked around and spent some time collecting shells and sea glass on the beach.
Saltbox Lavender Farm
There’s something about a lavender farm in Maine that feels slightly unexpected, which is probably why I love it. Rows of purple against all that green, the smell of lavender in the air, and that quiet farm feeling that makes you want to stay longer than you planned. It’s one of those summer stops that isn’t about doing very much at all. You wander, take some photos, buy something lavender that you definitely didn’t need, and leave feeling like you did summer correctly.
Little River Flower Farm — Buxton
Little River is the kind of place I’m always looking for in Maine. It’s a 110-acre working organic farm with fields of flowers, blueberries, lavender, old farm buildings and a walking path along the river. You can pick your own flowers and blueberries depending on the season, which is exactly the kind of summer activity I want with my kids: simple, outside and ridiculously pretty. They grow thousands of cut flowers every year, so by midsummer it feels like walking into someone’s very good idea of a Maine summer.
Other
Sebago Days — Sebago
This one is pure nostalgia for me. Sebago Days is not chic, curated or trying to be anything other than what it is: a small-town Maine summer celebration. Carnival rides, fair food, games and everyone coming out for the weekend. It’s the kind of thing that reminds me why I love coming back here with my own kids. There are plenty of beautiful, aspirational versions of Maine. I love those too. But this is also Maine.
Ossipee Valley Fair — Hiram
If you want the opposite of a polished coastal-Maine itinerary, go to the Ossipee Valley Fair. It’s an old-fashioned agricultural fair with livestock, animal pulls, competitions, rides, food and all the wonderfully unpolished things that come with a small Maine fair. It’s smaller and more local-feeling than some of the bigger fairs, which is exactly its charm. This is the Maine I remember from growing up: dusty shoes, farm animals, fried food, kids running around and staying until everyone is completely exhausted.
