The best camping in Acadia National Park, ME

Driving the 27-mile Park Loop Road as it curves along the Maine coast and swoops past Cadillac Mountain is a “choose your own adventure” situation. Shall you scramble up a lofty “ladder trail” or hike to an island across a sand bar with ocean views? Or simply go tide-pooling in a rocky cove? The upper-crusty influence of the park’s founders is most evident on the 45 miles of finely graveled carriage roads, now hosting bicycles instead of horse-drawn buggies. For an ever-classy end to a day, visit the Jordan Pond teahouse at the base of Mt. Penobscot for tea and a popover.

• Best for hikers: From Blackwoods Campground, campers can hike to the coast and Cadillac Mountain.
• Best for bicycling: Schoodic Woods Campground borders a one-way, scenic loop road.
• Best for families: South of Southwest Harbor, Seawall Campground offers picnic tables and is great for hiking, biking, kayaking, and swimming.

1. Reservations are required for all four campgrounds in the park. There are no first-come, first-served walk-in campsites.
2. Make reservations online through the National Park Service up to three months in advance for Blackwoods, Seawall, and Schoodic Woods campgrounds.
3. Blackwoods is open from early May, while Seawall and Schoodic Woods open in late May.
4. Reservations for the five tent sites at Duck Harbor Campground on Isle au Haut (reached by mailboat) are available beginning April 1 every year. Duck Harbor campsites are open from mid-May.

High season is July and August, when the weather is warmest, up to 90°F, and kids are on summer vacation. Spring and falls are also pleasant, but temperatures are about 10 to 20 degrees cooler. Leaves typically change color in mid-October. All campgrounds close in mid-October, and the Park Loop Road closes by December 1. Two short sections that can be reached from outside the park—Jordan Pond Road and Ocean Drive—remain open. In winter, visitors can cross-country ski and snowshoe the carriage roads but hiking trails can be icy and treacherous.

• Most of the park is located on Mount Desert Island, also home to the town of Bar Harbor.
• The Schoodic Peninsula is part of the mainland. It is an hour’s drive between the peninsula and Mount Desert Island (and there are no shuttles).
• Island Explorer operates 10 shuttle routes between the park and local communities from late June through mid-October.
• A commercial ferry travels between Bar Harbor and the village of Winter Harbor on the Schoodic Peninsula. In summer, the Island Explorer shuttle picks up visitors in Winter Harbor and carries them to sites along the Park Loop Road on the peninsula.
• The Bicycle Express shuttle runs from Bar Harbor to the park carriage roads from late June through late August.