Acadia National Park Suggestions

[Johnskiismore]

Haven't been to Acadia NP since I was in Boy Scouts, and was planning a vacation there this June. I know people have asked advice before on this forum about the park, and I want to know what is a great campground to stay at that is close to water (yes I know the park is on the ocean, wanted a camp site really close), good views, near bike trails (on and off road), and the like.

Thank you in advance for any advice!

 

[wa-loaf]

What do you want from your campground? RVing it or tent camping? Want showers in the campground or ok with hoofing it a bit to get to them?

For basic campsites: http://www.nps.gov/acad/planyourvisit/campgrounds.htm

Blackwoods is close to Bar Harbor if you want to get into some of the nightlife there. Seawall is on the more quiet side of the island.

There are a bunch of RV parks near the entrance to the island that I don't know much about.

 

[Johnskiismore]

Tent sites, forgot to add that. Would be nice to be around tents and wedged between RV's. Don't mind walking a bit for showers, and don't care to be too close to nightlife. At a campground we enjoy the fire, BBQ, and ice cold :beer:

 

[Johnskiismore]

What do you want from your campground? RVing it or tent camping? Want showers in the campground or ok with hoofing it a bit to get to them?

For basic campsites: http://www.nps.gov/acad/planyourvisit/campgrounds.htm

Blackwoods is close to Bar Harbor if you want to get into some of the nightlife there. Seawall is on the more quiet side of the island.

There are a bunch of RV parks near the entrance to the island that I don't know much about.

Thank you for the link, I think Blackwoods will be just right for us!

 

[cbcbd]

Yes, go to Blackwoods... you are a short walk to a view of the water from the campground, you're right down the road from Bar Harbor, near Otter cliffs, near the mountains... anyway, there aren't too many camping options around Acadia anyway but Seawall is really way out in the middle of nowhere on the other side of Somes Sound. Very secluded and close to some tidepooling, but just a real long drive to Bar Harbor, the main mountains (Cadillac, Champlain, etc), and the carriage road bike trails.

 

[wa-loaf]

FYI: there are a couple back ways into the park where you can avoid paying the fee on the auto road to get to sand beach and thunderhole/ottercliff. Schooner Head road out of BH to get to Sand Beach. There's a little parking lot and a short trail down to the back side of the beach. You can also take Otter Cliff road off of rt3 just north of Blackwoods campground to the cliffs and it's a short walk up to Thunder Hole from there.

Echo lake is a great place to swim if it gets really hot. Just look for the pull-off on the right off of the road from Somesville and Southwest Harbor. There are some nice hikes on that side of the island too. They are a bit shorter, but fewer tourists. Acadia Mountain and St Sauveur have some great views of Somes sound. Beech mountain is a short hike, but there's a fire tower at top and there is (last I was there) a nice farm stand on the road down there.