United States / Maine 

The Barnacle is our favorite bar in Bar Harbor. It offers excellent cocktails aside a great selection of local craft beer in a warm and welcoming downtown space.

Famous for its French fries (which are, not unexpectedly cooked in duck fat), Duckfat is worth the visit to try those alone. But its salads and paninis are also delicious. And if you like milkshakes, be sure to get one of those as well (the salted caramel was fantastic).

The Side Street Cafe has something for everyone. If you’re looking for a traditional Maine meal, their lobster dinners are tasty and reasonably priced. They also offer a wide selection of salads, sandwiches, and entrees, as well as interesting cocktails and local beers.

An excellent choice for dining in Ogunquit, the Crooked Pine offers seating in its charming historic building or outside on its beautiful patio. The food is New England fare with French and Italian influences, and it’s all delicious.

The Portland Beer Hub offers an incredible selection of local beers. It’s a shop where you can pick up a bottle of a local favorite, or sit at the bar and order a draft or flight.

Delectable American cuisine with New England influences crafted from locally sourced ingredients in a charming downtown space. Fore Street also offers tasty cocktails, local beers, and an impressive wine list.

Fantastic Thai food in Camden, Maine? You’d better believe it. Long Grain serves up excellent curries, stir fries, house-made noodles, and more.

The Portland Hunt + Alpine Club pours truly excellent cocktails (the best we found in Maine) alongside Scandinavian small plates.

The Maine Beer Company makes some of the best beer in the state (and it’s a crowded market, so that’s saying a lot). Their Freeport tasting room may be a little out of the way, but it offers samples of their excellent brews, tasty pizzas, salads, and more.

The Thirsty Pig offers tasty pub grub along with a great selection of local beers. The restaurant’s main attraction is its sausages, but its sandwiches are great, too.

This charming pub is a great option for drinks in Bar Harbor. It offers a full bar and a good selection of local craft brews, as well as tasty bar snacks.

Started as a spot to get deliciously crafted non-alcoholic beverages, Vena’s also offers an equally extensive menu of alcoholic cocktails. Whether you prefer cocktails or mocktails, you’re sure to find something tasty at this charming spot.

Really fantastic and inventive baked items. Everything from bread to rolls to flaky pastries. You can also grab a coffee here to go with your pastry.

In a charming location overlooking Camden’s beautiful harbor, The Waterfront serves up tasty New England fare and seafood.

These donuts are fantastic and made from a mashed potato base (but it works, trust us). They come in many inventive flavors. They do seasonal flavors and if you’re visiting in the fall I have to put a plug in for their apple donut.

Portland’s famous potato donut shop has been serving delicious and inventive pastries since 2012. Be sure to stop by for breakfast (or lunch or something) during your visit to Portland.

This restaurant is regularly listed as a top choice in Portland Maine. They serve local and seasonal fare. The food was good, not great in our opinion. It’s a solid option, but we weren’t dazzled as we were at some other Portland eateries.

Our favorite coffee shop in Portland, Bard Coffee offers delicious coffee, tea, hot chocolate, lemonade, and more.

The Standard Baking Co. is a great option for a light breakfast during your time in Portland. The pastries are delicious, their breads are great, and they offer tasty coffee and tea as well.

Miyake is a Japanese restaurant in downtown Portland. If you’re getting tired of New England cuisine, this is a great spot. It uses seasonal ingredients. Definitely try their take on a lobster roll wrapped in sushi rice.

A tapas restaurant with French and Spanish inspired tapas using seasonal ingredients. Also offers great cocktails and good wine list.

A modern speakeasy with inventive cocktails, a huge selection of whiskey and rum, and a good wine and beer list. Also serves a good menu.

Taproom and beer garden with a cool list of international beers.

The shop is a seafood joint which cells oysters, caviar, and tinned seafood sprads. The oysters are cheap and come on large trays of ice with classic fixings.

If you love hazy IPAs, you’ll probably want to try Austin Street Brewery. We love hazy IPAs, but we still found their menu repetitive and a bit uninteresting, but the beer was still pretty good.

This restaurant is a mainstay in Portland, ME. It’s large with a huge bar, but offers great New England seafood and classic cocktails. Reservations strongly suggested.

An upscale bagel shop, open for breakfast and lunch.

This brewery offers interesting beer and tasty food. They have locations in Bar Harbor, Camden, Bangor, and Biddeford.

We weren’t impressed with Atlantic Brewing. The beer was uninteresting and sub-par. The food was fine, but nothing special. If you’d really like to visit a brewery while you’re in Bar Harbor, this is a fine option, but otherwise you can skip it.

Food Eventide Oyster Co Duckfat Fore Street Central Provisions Honey Paw Scales Rose Foods Miyake Izakaya Minato Chaval The Shop by Island Creek Oysters Luke’s Lobster Standard Baking Company Holy Donut Tandem Bakery Drink (Breweries) Rising Tide Goodfire Shipyard Allagash Foulmouthed Austin Street Oxbow Lone Pine Bissell Brothers Drink (Non-breweries) Portland Hunt and Alpine Club […]

New England inspired Asian cuisine with a strong cocktail game.

Built in 1825, Owls Head Lighthouse overlooks spectacular Penobscot Bay, offering an incredible view of the seascape and islands. It’s well worth the short walk out to the lighthouse for the view. There’s also a small museum and gift shop.

Perched at the end of a breakwater about seven eighths of a mile long, Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse is a picturesque lighthouse in Downeast Maine. To reach the lighthouse, you must walk the length of the breakwater, which can be treacherous during high tide and large swells.

The Penobscot Narrows, near where the Penobscot River flows into the Atlantic Ocean, were a strategically important site during early American Republic. An impressive fortification, Fort Knox, was built on the west bank of the Penobscot River to defend against a potential British naval assault.

A series of 9 interesting historic buildings in York.

Built around 1786, the Wadsworth-Longfellow House was the home of one of New England’s most prominent families. The poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow grew up here. Today, it houses a museum containing numerous original items and artifacts, as well as the Maine Historical society.