Maine Coast and Acadia with a Baby and a Dog: Our Van Road Trip
Eight days driving the Maine coast in our van with a six-month-old and a German Shepherd: Ogunquit, Kennebunkport, Portland Head Light, Boothbay Harbor and Acadia National Park, plus what worked for the baby and the dog.
Maine was the part of our East Coast trip I’d been looking forward to since we left St. Louis. Lighthouses, lobster rolls, cold water, rocky shore. It did not disappoint, and it turned out to be one of the easiest stretches of the whole summer with a baby and a big dog.
Andi was six months old here, which is a sweet spot. She was old enough to sit up in a bucket hat and stare at boats for twenty minutes, and still young enough to fall asleep the second the van started moving. Jack, our German Shepherd, was thrilled with all of it, especially anything involving a picnic blanket.
- Route
- Ogunquit → Kennebunkport → Portland & Cape Elizabeth → Boothbay Harbor → Bar Harbor & Acadia
- How long
- 8 days, part of our 5-week East Coast van trip
- Who came
- Colin, me, Andi (6 months) and Jack, our German Shepherd
- Where we slept
- Our van, including Hadley's Point Campground outside Bar Harbor
- Best for
- Families who want lighthouses, easy coastal walks and a lot of lobster
Our route, day by day
We drove north on Route 1 and moved the van every day or two. Maine’s coast looks short on a map, but there are so many peninsulas and harbor towns that it takes far longer than you think, so plan fewer stops than you want.
- Ogunquit (Jul 28): first stop in Maine
- Kennebunkport and Portland (Jul 29–30)
- Portland Head Light and Cape Elizabeth (Jul 31)
- Boothbay Harbor (Aug 1)
- Up the coast to Bar Harbor (Aug 2)
- Acadia National Park and Southwest Harbor (Aug 3–4)
Ogunquit
We rolled into Ogunquit around lunchtime and it was already busy, the good kind of summer busy. The village is small enough that we parked once and walked everything with Andi in the carrier. There are gray shingled shacks covered in lobster buoys, gardens spilling roses over every fence, and little shops like the Laughing Gull that I could have spent an hour in.
The rocky shore was gray and moody the afternoon we were there, which I’ve come to think of as the real Maine. Pack layers for the baby even in late July. The breeze off the water is cold, and Andi lived in a fleece and a hat most evenings.
Kennebunkport and Portland
Kennebunkport is exactly as cute as everyone says. We wandered around Dock Square and the waterfront, then kept going up to Portland, where we spent our time in the Old Port eating and people watching. Portland was the first place on the trip where Jack got a lot of “can I pet him?” and Andi got a lot of “how old is she?”
Portland Head Light
This was the one. Portland Head Light sits in Fort Williams Park in Cape Elizabeth, and we spent most of a day there: walking the paths, staring at the lighthouse, and having a long picnic on the grass. The park was easy with a stroller or carrier, and there’s a lot of open lawn for a dog.
It’s also where Andi did her best lighthouse pop-up of the whole summer.
The picnic is my favorite memory from Maine, though. Jack lay down right next to Andi on the blanket and didn’t move the whole time. Colin fed her lunch in the grass, and we let the afternoon go slowly.
If you’re bringing a dog, check Fort Williams Park’s current leash rules before you go. We kept him leashed the whole time and had no issues.
Boothbay Harbor
Boothbay Harbor was bucket hat day. We spent the morning by the water watching the boats, then drove out toward Newagen and spent the afternoon at Hendricks Head Beach, a small, calm beach on the Sheepscot River. It was perfect for a baby who wanted to put her feet in the sand and very much did not want to put them in the Atlantic.
Dinner was on a wharf, and Jack lay on the deck boards watching us eat lobster like he’d been promised some. (He had not.)
Driving up the coast to Bar Harbor
Leave the drive from Boothbay to Bar Harbor for the afternoon if you can. We went up Route 1 past Thomaston and Owls Head and hit the water right at golden hour. Andi slept, Jack slept, and Colin and I got a quiet hour of the prettiest light of the trip.
Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor
We camped at Hadley’s Point Campground, just outside Bar Harbor, and used it as our base for Acadia. Having one spot for a few nights meant we could set up Andi’s play mat in the van, keep her nap routine roughly intact, and not repack every morning.
Acadia’s coastline is pink granite. You can walk out onto the rocks, sit, and watch sailboats go by with your dog next to you. We spent a lot of time doing exactly that, plus a day around Southwest Harbor on the quieter side of the island.
And yes, there were lobster rolls. Many of them. The lobster spots in Bar Harbor were the easiest meals of the trip because they’re all casual, outdoors, and fine with a baby making noise.
Acadia with a dog: what to know
Acadia is one of the most dog-friendly national parks we’ve been to. Leashed dogs are welcome on most of the park’s trails and its carriage roads. A few rules to know before you go:
- Leashes have to be 6 feet or shorter, and he has to be on one the whole time.
- Dogs aren’t allowed on Sand Beach or Echo Lake Beach in the summer season.
- Dogs aren’t allowed on the ladder and iron-rung trails like the Precipice and the Beehive, which you wouldn’t do with a baby anyway.
- Rules change, so check the National Park Service’s Acadia pets page before you go.
Maine with a baby: what worked for us
- Dress for cold even in summer. Maine evenings were chilly and windy. A fleece, a warm hat and a sun hat covered every day.
- The carrier beat the stroller for rocky coast, lighthouse paths and busy villages like Ogunquit.
- Do the driving at nap time. Andi slept on almost every drive, so we planned moves around her naps rather than the other way around.
- Eat early. Lobster shacks get busy by 6pm. We ate at 5 and had the picnic tables to ourselves.
- Give the baby a floor. A play mat in the van made campground evenings so much easier.
Maine with a dog: what worked for us
- A long leash for beach time and a short one for town.
- Collapsible water bowl clipped to the carrier bag.
- Patio dining is easy all along the coast, and most places brought Jack water before we asked.
- Get the parks pass if you’re doing more than one national park that year.
Would we do it again?
In a heartbeat. If you only have a week, I’d do Portland, Boothbay and three nights near Acadia, and skip trying to see every town in between. Maine is best slow: a blanket on the grass, a lighthouse, a baby in a bucket hat, and a dog who thinks every picnic is for him.
Next up on our East Coast trip: the White Mountains, Lake George and Niagara Falls. Or see the whole route in our East Coast van road trip itinerary.
