If you have time for a short detour, turn right onto Eddy Road immediately after the bridge and follow for one-half mile, then take the next right onto Fort Road to Fort Edgecomb. Drive down Route 1, and stop by the five-year-old Maine Heritage Village, a collection of shops, food, and exhibits, and then tour the historic buildings of Wiscasset before you set out on your search for fall foliage. In this guide, they not only recommend accomodations, restaurants, shopping but also scenic drives/routes in even the most remote areas of Maine.Wiscasset is known as the prettiest village in Maine, so be sure and spend a little time exploring. I swear by the guidebooks recommendations as all of their books are written by locals of the areas. Excellent guidebook written by people who either live or have lived in Maine or spent ALOT of time here. Check out Christina Tree's 'Maine: An Explorer's Guide'. If you're just west of route 495, then its only a bit over 2 hours (depending on how far south/north/west of the highway you live) if you go the speed limit on route 495. The only way it might be tough is if you're from the part of western MA that borders on NY, then that's a bit of a hike! But if you get up and out very early, say by 7am or so and then leave Maine around 6 or 7pm, you could be home by 11 or so. Again I used to live in MA and still go there alot and it's not a bad trip. So its definitely doable for a daytrip.Īfter traveling north on more scenic route 1 to the Cape Elizabeth/Portland area, you could take the speedier route 95 the whole way back to NH and that would take you about 2 hours to the MA border. I took the York/route 1/1A exit and just drove on it the entire way w/a few short detours here and there at the Cliff Walk in York, the Nubble Lighthouse just north of York, Ogunquit and the beach, etc. I drove the above suggested route about 6 months ago after I had to go NH for just an hour or so. Consequently, route 1 and 1A would be a better bet to getting a small taste of the coast than taking route 95/Maine Pike the entire way to the Cape Elizabeth/Portland area. The other posters were right in that you do have to get off the main drag to see some of the nicest scenery, but in this southern portion of the Maine coast, getting off of route 1/1A to sitesee might only be a 15/20 minute detour. Going the above route will take you through some pretty scenic areas but it'll also take you through some commercial ones. Or you could just continue on route 1 though it'll be much slower. Then hop on route 95 out of Kennebunkport and then route 77 (check the map) to Cape Elizabeth, Portland Headlight and Two Lights Park/ Lobster Shack. I use to live in MA just west of route 495.Īnyway, you could take 495 north into NH and then when you cross into Maine, take the route 1 and 1A exit/York and drive on that through Kennebunkport. In fact, if this really is a day trip, you could easily have a very satisfying day with these two parks and Portland. Then, also in Cape Elizabeth, you have Two Lights State Park, which includes fantastic views and Two Lights Lobster Shack. In Portland, the Old Port is fun, as is taking a trip around its nearby islands on the Casco Bay Ferry Line.Ĭoastal beauties very close to Portland include Fort Williams park in Cape Elizabeth, which includes the Portland Head Light. Popular spots would be Kennebunk and Kennebunkport, York, Ogunquit and Portland itself. That being the case, assuming you have only, say 8 hours in Maine and you want to go to Portland, I would suggest you pick two or three side trips off Route 95/295/Route 1. Instead, to really see the coastline, you have to get on and off the road to go down peninsulas. If you take a really close look at a map, you'll see that there isn't really a scenic route in the sense that you can drive one road along the coast to get from point A to point B. When you say day trip, do you really mean you plan to go to Portland and drive back to western MA in the same day? That's pretty ambitious.
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