Getting Around Maine

2 more images

Maine Dept of Transportation provides a great free catalog of bike routes in Maine. There are about 4 for the southern coast of maine and I have ridden all of them. They do a great job of providing info on facilities, where to park, if the roads are busy etc.
Many of the local bike stores (Kennebunkport) have the catalogs.

2 more images

To explore Casco Bay you best rely on Casco Bay Lines whose ferries deliver mail, freight and visitors to the islands. Simply hop aboard one of those; they are quite comfortable even for a longer trip like we did to Long Island. They also offer touristy cruises in the bay. However, part of the fun for us was to watch the locals on the ferry, coming from doing business (or whatever) in Portland.

All ferries and cruises depart from Casco Bay Lines ferry terminal on Maine State Pier in Portland. Fares are inexpensive, but watch the schedules - the running ferries thin out in shoulder season. See website for more info.

If you wish to go from Bar Harbor, Maine to Nova Scotia and do not want to take the ferry, the fastest and easiest way to get there is to go back to Bangor and take I-95 north to Canada, and then the Canadian highway to Moncton . U.S. Hwy 1 along the coast was horrible and it took us 5 hours to get from Bar Harbor to Calais ( the border) . Really. There is construction on U.S. 1 at the moment that backs traffic up for miles. When we went, the flagger only let traffic from the other side through, for half an hour, while our side just backed up for I don’t know how many miles. So, we turned around, and took the next side road over to U.S. 3….which also had construction. They actually had some of the road surface taken up completely, and for like 10 miles we drove on something worse than a bad dirt road in the woods. Good thing I have a truck and good tires. It was not fun. On the sections they were not working on, the road was full of very large potholes and caved in on the edges in some areas. I did an average of maybe 25 mph. Forget it! Take the interstate…

The Maine Department of Transportation has a good website for tourists who are driving through the state.

The website shown below has maps for accidents and detours and road constructions to help you drive your way around obstacles. There are webpages for realtime cameras on the major highways in the state. They have links to webpages that recommend tourist sites and predict weather conditions. They provide a phone number you can call while on the road to get the latest information to help your travels.

I found the website useful in planning our trip and avoiding some slow traveling areas.

The main method of travel around Maine is by automobile........that way you can go wherever you want to. It's also the most convenient because there is public transportation, but the majority of it is from Portland south, and that doesn't cover much of the state!

The train service to Portland is Amtrak, and you could take it from Boston, or anywhere south of Boston. There is bus service in Portland, but to get to other cities and areas from there, you have to do your homework. I've included the train website here: http://www.amtrak.com -- it's very easy to use.

I've also included below a few website links for the Maine Tourism site, the Dept. of Transportation's website with information on bus transport for the rest of the state. This includes the ferry services for the coastal islands and Nova Scotia, and the high-speed ferry (The Cat) website. In the tourism website you'll find many suggestions for getaways, tours, etc.

One more website, for the Maine Eastern Railroad, which is an option for sightseeing from Brunswick to Rockland, along the coast: http://www.maineeasternrailroad.com

(You'll have to cut & paste the amtrak, visitmaine, and maineeasternrailroad sites, sorry)

Most of the small Maine Islands, (Calendar Islands 365,) Casco Bay in particular, have very little cars.....so the Golf Cart has taken over as the main transportation.

Golf Carts have expanded with new technology, the old timers who have been around a long time, love the new fancy carts, charged electric, space ship forms for protection from rain and even snow. The summer tradionalists will go for the old disposed carts with the bare essentials.

Bicycles are also varied, one of my favorites is a 1940's version painted bright yellow, with a great woven basket on the front handlebars.

Cliff Island Website below.

You can! The CAT ferry is the fastest ferry in North America. And let me tell you, if you're not into driving, it's a long way by road from Maine to Nova Scotia. It leaves at 8am from Bar Harbor and gets to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia 3 hours later...traveling a distance of 600 miles or 1000 km. It does run only from May to October, but it's not just any old ferry. From the numerous ads we heard and saw, it's apparently more like a short haul cruise ship, complete with movies and a casino.

It seems they don't post the fares anywhere but at the terminal and on the website which made me think it was going to be ridiculously expensive...they aren't that bad, really...

Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Island has its own municipal airport. Scheduled flights are available from Bostons Logan Airport during most of the season (April-October). Outside of this period, it is best to check with the airlines, or the Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce.
The state as a whole has all the regular modes of travel. Mount Desert Island has taxis in some of the larger towns. Car and foot are the main ways to get around Bar Haarbor and Acadia National Park.