We flew into Maine's airport in Portland from RDU airport in Raleigh to start our trip.
Another easy airport to get to is Boston Logan International Airport, which is just a two-hour drive from Portland.
Bar Harbor was beautiful. If you like a bustling and walkable small town on the water, you'll love it here.
Especially because you can do excursions like a lobster boat tour and go whale watching.
We stayed at the most amazing modern bed and breakfast in Bar Harbor, called The Atlantean. The owners blew us away with their hospitality and cooking.
One of the nice things about Boothbay Harbor was how it felt less busy than other areas we visited, and there were a bunch of charming hotel options.
There was less to do there than in Bar Harbor and Portland but it was nice to not compete with a ton of tourists too.
Portland impressed us with its mix of old and new. It's very much a functioning port city – as it has been for well over a century – and the tourist scene was thriving.
If you only have 5 days, we would recommend the following abridged version of what we did:
If you have to skip a city, skip Boothbay Harbor. You can even stop at the Botanical Garden in Boothbay Harbor on your way to Portland from Bar Harbor,