Vacation Rentals in Acadia National Park

The dramatic coastline and islands of Acadia National Park are a great place to search for atmospheric, comfortable vacation rental properties. This Maine destination is packed with options. Whether you look in Southwest Harbor or near Mt Desert, you'll find plenty of timber cottages and larger family homes – just waiting for vacationers to occupy.

If you are traveling as a larger group, the Acadia National Park features a range of roomier rentals for visitors to consider. In upscale villages like Bar Harbor, you'll encounter huge homes with six or more bedrooms and extensive grounds, terraces, games rooms and all of the parking space you could ever require.

The Acadia National Park is second oldest in the eastern United States, having protected a stretch of gorgeous Maine coastline since 1919. These days, it's heaven for water sports fans, hikers, climbers, seafood lovers and anyone who adores unspoiled nature. And there's no shortage of vacation rentals in the park, either.

You'll find the Acadia National Park around two thirds of the way up Maine's Atlantic coast., a few hours drive from Portland (ME) or Augusta, ME. The main part of the park consists of Mount Desert Island, although there are many smaller islets to explore.

The best way to get there is to take I-95 to Bangor then take State Highway 1 to the ferry at Winter Harbor. Delta, United Express, and American Eagle also run seasonal flights to Bangor International Airport.

The trails of Mt Desert Island and the Isle de Haut offer endless routes for hikers (and mountain bikers) to explore, including climbing Cadillac Mountain for superb views across Bar Harbor.

Maine has an incredible collection of seafood restaurants, and Bar Harbor hosts some of the state's highlights, with gourmet lobster and crab dishes on the agenda almost everywhere you go.

The sea and the lakes on Mt Desert Island are one of Acadia's recreational highlights. Join charter fishing trips with expert skippers, or rent kayaks to paddle around picturesque lakes like Jordan's Pond.

The park has a 57 mile long network of carriage tracks laid out by billionaire John D. Rockefeller, and you can explore them all thanks to carriage companies like Wildwood Stables.

Park Loop Road runs for 27 miles around the main island, providing a beautiful introduction to the rugged coastline and forested lakes that are there to discover.

This charming sandy beach is as close as Acadia gets to a sunbathing spot, and is absolutely breathtaking. The water may be chilly, but the surf is great – and the scenery is sublime.

Accessible via a dramatic wooden walkway, Thunder Hole is a natural geological formation where the waves “boom” for hours before high tide and the waves can splash as much as 40 feet above the edge. It's an awe-inspiring place.

Rising 1,500 feet above Mt Desert, Cadillac Mountain dominates most of the park and for most of the year it's the first place in the USA to see the sun rise. It's also the place to take incredible snaps of the park at its most glorious, and it's not a tough climb.

Because it's a National Park, Acadia has a few regulations which visitors need to get to grips with. For instance, if you intend to fish, the season lasts from April to September and fishing licenses are needed for everyone over the age of 16, If you're boating on the lakes, some places are out of bounds during eagle breeding season, while the carriage roads are out of bounds to all motorized vehicles.

It might also be worth checking out the events schedule in the Acadia National Park before you go. For example, there's the Night Sky Festival in September, which takes advantage of the island's amazing stargazing conditions. Nature lovers might also want to catch the Birding Festival in late spring, when the experts will help you spot everything from warblers to falcons.