Portland Maine Weekend
Overall vibe of Portland Maine:
Portland, Maine is a really cool town to spend a weekend in. The downtown area is filled with cute restaurants and shops and the nearby neighborhood West End, is full of Victorian homes. It’s a smaller town on the coast, so there’s also great views, places to walk and picturesque lighthouses. It’s a great weekend getaway or a great place to add to your Acadia National Park trip (that’s what we did).
Coastline By Portland Head Light
Quick Guide to Portland, Maine:
Overall vibe: cute restaurants and shops, Victorian homes, smaller town on the coast, lighthouses
How long to stay: 2-3 nights
Where to stay: Bar Harbor, Southwest Harbor or Northeast Harbor
Getting around: you can walk most places if you’re staying in West End or Downtown. We rented a car since we were going to Acadia National Park afterwards and it was nice to have in Portland to get to East End Beach, Mackworth Island and the Portland Head Light.
Mount Battie Lookout Point in Camden, Maine
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Where to stay in Portland, Maine
Downtown or West End are the best areas to stay for a weekend.
We stayed in this Airbnb in West End. The location is great and the Airbnb itself was good (nothing special but totally fine if you’re looking for something simple).
If we went back, I’d stay in one of these hotels:
Best restaurants in Portland, Maine
Lazarri Pizza (Instagram: @lazzari_portland): really good hipster pizza place.
Fore Street (Instagram: @288forestreet): really good seafood/American restaurant. The vibes are rustic, trendy and romantic inside and the food is really rich and delicious.
Crunchy Poke (Instagram: @crunchypoke): really good and fresh poke.
LB Kitchen (Instagram: @lbkitchenportlandme): healthy lunch cafe with yummy bowls and more.
Eventide Oyster Co (Instagram: @eventideoysterco): the most popular spot to get Lobster Rolls. We discovered that we don’t care for lobster rolls but the vibe inside is amazing and it’s a good spot to get drinks.
Central Provisions (Instagram: @_centralprovisions_): good tapas restaurant.
The Local Press (Instagram: @thelocalpress): casual lunch spot with good sandwiches.
Best places for coffee, cocktails and kombucha
Bard Coffee (Instagram: @bardcoffee): best place for coffee downtown.
Root Wild (Instagram: @rootwildkombucha): super cute kombucha-ry with amazing kombucha on draft.
Blythe and Burrows (Instagram: @blythandburrows): AMAZING, trendy place for cocktails.
Blythe and Burrows
Sagamore Hill Lounge: another good spot for cocktails close to Lazarri Pizza!
Best things to do in Portland Maine
Walk around downtown: it’s on the water and there’s a lot of great restaurants and cute shops to explore.
Portland Head Light: lighthouse with stunning cliff-lined coastline views all around. This is definitely a must see viewpoint!
East End Beach: beautiful place to walk along the water (there’s an awesome trail along the coast).
Mackworth Island: a little island you can do a 1 mile loop walk around. It’s beautiful, quiet and easy to walk to.
Portland Farmers Market: the farmers market was awesome; there’s a lot of quality produce and some fun, artsy stuff.
Portland Head Light
Day trip to Camden, Maine (or stay for a night): Camden is a really adorable, small town on the water between Portland and Bar Harbor (1.5 hours from Bar Harbor or Portland) with lots of cute restaurants, hotels, shops and places on the water. Walk around, shop and eat on the main street (I loved the store Jessie Toabias) and drive up to the Mount Battie lookout point.
Mount Battie Lookout Point in Camden, Maine
Portland Maine to Acadia National Park Drive
We flew to Portland and stayed there 2 nights, rented a car, then drove to Acadia National Park (2 hours 45 min). I’d highly recommend making it part of your trip (and stopping in Camden which is half way between Portland and Acadia). This link will take you to my Acadia National Park guide with everything we did there :)
Google Map of All Portland, Maine Recommendations
I saved all of my recommendations for you in the map below to make it super easy to get around! Here’s the full link so you can save it: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/3/edit?mid=1F3asMdtdM3YE-jUlXSEcTnPb5ryosxs&usp=sharing.
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