Bar Harbor Maine is located on the Northeast Coast of Maine on Mount Desert Island. There are many camp sites, hotels, hiking trails, shops, boating and more, around almost every turn on the island. We camped at the Bar Harbor Campground for a week and tried to experience some of the things that the Island had to offer. I would have loved to do even more, but our budget was tight.
Bar Harbor Campground
Bar Harbor campground is the campsite we stayed at for a week in Maine. It is the campground closest to downtown Bar Harbor, ME. There are plenty of amenities on site and it has a good location to get to Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor, and most of the island.
The sites are all first come first serve, so I was fairly certain we would find something. We found a site that had a view of the Harbor. It was a tent site without power for about $200 for the week. The location was close to the restrooms, pool, bath house and the laundry.
The pool was a nice sized pool that we went to a couple of times, but it was generally very busy. The kids enjoyed the park more than anything. There was a lot of things to keep them occupied and the view was amazing all around. There was a full view from the park of the bay. We could see some sail boats and the sun rise and sunset was beautiful.
Swimming on Desert Island
The kids enjoyed swimming more than anything else. They really wanted to swim in the ocean, but every spot I found was always packed. Torrie found a place called Eco Lake. Eco Lake had a small beach area that was not as busy as the ocean beach areas. We went to the lake two different times while we were camping. It was easy to get to, and easy to find a small spot on the beach to enjoy the water.
The only other place we went was Hadley Point Beach. This was a beach to the ocean, but it is not a sand beach. There are a lot of rocks and clam shells everywhere. We did enjoy ourselves playing in the water as the tide was rising. Also, seeing some clams still intact and snail shells everywhere was very interesting.
Dining while Camping on Desert Island
We did not go out to eat much while camping. Most of the time we made dinner and breakfast on the campfire, and I mean real food. There was also snacks all around, blueberry bushes everywhere! We did go to two different restaurants just of the island. One was The Governors, which offers more of a dinner type experience. Very reasonably priced for this area.
Most of the places on the island was very expensive for our budgets. We did splurge one time for fresh clams, Maine lobster and clam chowder. This was at a small restaurant on Highway 3 just off the island. It was Gateway Lunt’s lobster pound. The food was amazing, and the price was one of the most reasonable I found to get a special dinner in the area.
Touring Desert Island/Bar Harbor Area
Since there was four of us, we chose to drive the truck around the island. We made the trail in Acadia National Park and drove most of the island. There were amazing views all around. Things that you just do not get to see every day. I am sure most people that live there do not thing it is that amazing, but it is unimaginable for most people that I know to get a chance to see the things Maine has to offer.
The lighthouse that we were able to go to was The Bass Harbor Light Station. It was a cute little lighthouse on the bay. There is a few educational pictures along the short path, but you can only see the outside of the lighthouse. I probably would not have gone to the lighthouse if I knew that, but we still enjoyed it.
We had an amazing time in Maine. The experiences will last a lifetime. I hope in the future I can come stay longer and be able to afford going on some of the whale watching tours in the area. I had never been to Maine and have not been to the East Coast since I was around 11. Moms biggest part of her bucket list was to visit Maine and eat Maine lobster. She has now done that