Acadia National Park

Acadia National Park

ByChris Cagle

Acadia National Park is an Atlantic coast recreation area, primarily on Maine’s Mount Desert Island. Its landscape is marked by woodland, rocky beaches and glacier-scoured granite peaks such as Cadillac Mountain, the highest point on the United States’ East Coast.

Acadia’s boundary is unlike any other National Park. It extends its reach over half of the Mount Desert Island of which it occupies. The reason for this is that it was created from donated parcels.

Acadia National Park
Acadia, Mount Desert

Staying in Acadia National Park

There are a few nearby towns to stay in when visiting Acadia National Park.

  • Bar Harbor, ME (2 miles away)
  • Trenton, ME (7 miles)
  • Ellsworth, ME (15 miles)
  • Lamoine, ME (15 miles)
  • Surry, ME (22 miles)

VISIT Acadia National Park:

Park Details

Acadia National Park was established on July 8, 1916, and has a total area of 49,057 acres (77 square miles, or 199 square kilometers).

Address 25 Visitor Center Road, Bar Harbor, ME, 04609
Phone207-288-3338
HoursYear round, 24 hours a day
Entrance Fee$30 per vehicle, valid for 7 days
Learn MoreOfficial Website

When to Visit: Weather vs. Peak Visitation

Acadia National Park is the 18th most visited park in the country.

We crunched 30 years of historical weather and/or park service data to find the best months to visit Acadia National Park. We looked for the optimal temperatures, the least amount of snow and rain, and stayed away from peak visitation months if we could help it. All this data then helped us paint a picture as to what the absolute best time to visit Acadia National Park is.

Our data shows the best months to visit Acadia National Park are May, September, June & July.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Park Visits20,26816,12338,060110,096324,654661,891782,144795,426667,392557,62481,08914,381
Precipitation96871131049489695985120111124
Avg Temp303139516271777769574635
Max Temp464557687986888883726050
Avg Temp141623344452585851413121
Min Temp-12-7-22132425047352414-3
Temperature values in °F; Precipitation in Inches

Acadia National Park Road Trips

Many family vacations consist of stringing one or more national parks together during a week-long trip. Creating these types of trips is our specialty! Here are the road trips we've created where Acadia National Park is visited.

Trip NameTrip MilesTrip Days
Acadia, Kennebunkport to Boston3397

Other Nearby National Park Sites

From national monuments, to historic sites to seashores and more, here are the other parks closest to Acadia National Park.

NameDistance
Saint Croix Island International Historic Site76 mi
Appalachian National Scenic Trail113 mi
Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument114 mi
Kejimkujik National Park149 mi
Fundy National Park181 mi
Salem Maritime National Historic Site184 mi
Cape Cod National Seashore188 mi
Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site191 mi
Lowell National Historical Park194 mi
Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area196 mi

Nearby Campsites & RV Parks

If you are looking to pitch a tent or park an RV at a campsite near Acadia National Park, here is a list of the closest campsites in the surrounding area. They all have slightly different amenitites, so its best to check them all out instead of just chosing the first on the list.

NameDetailsMiles Away
Blackwoods - Acadia National ParkBar Harbor, ME more 3 miles
Lamoine State ParkTrenton, ME more 8 miles
Seawall - Acadia National ParkSouthwest Harb, ME more 9 miles
McClellan City ParkColumbia Falls, ME more 20 miles
Great Pond MilitaryGreat Pond, ME more 42 miles
Camden Hills State ParkCamden, ME more 42 miles

Nearest Ski Resorts

For those of you who are the diehard outdoors type, visiting a national park on a ski trip can be quite the adventure. Here are the ski resorts within 100 miles of Acadia National Park:

NameLocationSummitDifficulty Score™Distance
Bigrock MountainCherryfield, ME1,641 ft40%22 mi
SaddlebackRangely, ME4,120 ft53%23 mi
Camden Snow BowlCamden, ME1,093 ft39%47 mi
New HermonHerman, ME450 ft32%65 mi
Titcomb MountainFarmington, ME750 ft34%98 mi

Nearest Airports

When visiting a National park, many people are faced with either a very long drive across country, or a much shorter flight. For those of you looking to fly into Acadia National Park, we've listed the closest airports in the area.

Large Airports

A large airport has scheduled major airline service with millions of passengers per year. This type of airport always accepts international flights. Here are the closest large airports to Acadia National Park.

NameCodeCityDistance
Portland International JetportPWMPortland, ME115 mi
Logan International AirportBOSBoston, MA196 mi
Quebec Jean Lesage International AirportYQBQuebec, QC228 mi
Halifax / Stanfield International AirportYHZHalifax, NS234 mi
Theodore Francis Green State AirportPVDProvidence, RI243 mi
Montreal / Pierre Elliott Trudeau International AirportYULMontréal, QC281 mi
Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International AirportYOWOttawa, ON371 mi
Medium Airports

A medium-sized airport has scheduled regional airline service. This type of airport may or may not accept international flights. Here are the closest medium-sized airports to Acadia National Park.

NameCodeCityDistance
Hancock County-Bar Harbor AirportBHBBar Harbor, ME10 mi
Bangor International AirportBGRBangor, ME44 mi
Augusta State AirportAUGAugusta, ME78 mi
Saint John AirportYSJSaint John, NB132 mi
Fredericton AirportYFCFredericton, NB133 mi
Portsmouth International at Pease AirportPSMPortsmouth, NH157 mi
Presque Isle International AirportPQIPresque Isle, ME162 mi

Credits: Campground data provided by USCampgrounds.info. Map shapes from CartographyVectors. Weather data from NOAA. Airport data from OurAirports.com. Images from Unsplash, Flickr and Parks&Trips. All data has also been updated and augmented by Parks&Trips.