Accommodations

Maine offers a wide range of getaways with a variety of beach cottages, vacation homes, hotels, and ski resorts. Choose an accommodation near any of Maine's local attractions that offers comfort while making the most of the historic locations and attractions at affordably priced rates.

View our Maine Vacation Rentals or Maine Resorts

Activities

Aside from the natural beauty of the beaches and rugged coastline, Maine offers numerous historic lighthouses. The Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunk offers the world’s largest collection of trolleys on display. For those with more artistic tastes, you can stroll the Portland Museum of Art or listen to the Portland Symphony Orchestra. Sand and minerals left behind by a glacier some 8000 years ago has created the Desert of Maine, near Freeport. A year round recreation area, the Camden Snow Bowl offers hiking, mountain biking, tennis courts, ball fields, fishing, boating and swimming. The Camden Snow Bowl is a community owned ski and recreation area. From the summit of 1300' Ragged Mountain, skiers and riders have an incredible view of the Atlantic Ocean. While Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island is one of the smallest national parks, it ranks #5 in number of yearly visitors, who come to Acadia to hike granite peaks, bike historic carriage roads, or relax and enjoy the scenery.

Events

The Caribou Winter Carnival and Snowmobile Festival in February is eleven straight days of fun that includes downhill canoe rides, sleigh rides, comedy nights, ice skating, roller skating, and more. Full rigged windjammers sail into the Boothbay harbor in late June for two fun-filled days of harbor side concerts, fireworks, an antique boat parade, a street parade, games and activities for the children, and plenty of food. Along with tons of Maine lobsters, early August brings the world famous Maine Lobster Festival to Rockport, featuring maritime displays and demonstrations, Maine arts and crafts, harbor cruises, contests, lots of wonderful entertainment, a giant parade, and much more.

Mountain Activities

Maine offers a wide range of popular ski resorts, including Sugarloaf USA and Sunday River, but they and the rest of the Maine ski resorts do not have to be covered in snow to enjoy. While well known for the skiing and snowboarding, in the summer and fall they offer spectacular backgrounds for hiking, bicycling, horseback riding, camping, and fishing.

Water Sports

The Maine Atlantic Coast is perfect for a wide variety of water activities, including jet skiing, ocean kayaking, diving, parasailing, windsurfing, sailing, fishing, and of course swimming. The beautiful beaches and rugged coasline also offer many historic lighthouses.

Golfing

Three seasons each year, Maine offers a great golf vacation and you can enjoy a game of competitive golf on one of the many fine golf courses located in Maine. You can find both private and public golf courses for both 9 and 18 holes of play, with professionals available for lessons. Great courses, beautiful greens and spectacular views are just a couple of reasons why visitors can enjoy their golf vacation getaway.

History

The famous explorer, Samuel de Champlain, led the first Europeans that colonized Maine in 1604. The French settlers named the area Acadia, but later English colonies pushed the French settlers and the native Abanaki tribes out of the area and into Canada. Some of these French settlers migrated instead to French Louisianna, where the Acadian name was corrupted to Cajuns. A number of English settlements were established along the Maine coast in the 1620s, although the rugged climate, deprivations and Indian attacks wiped out many of them over the years.