Mainer on the Go recommends the Turnpike but I find that deadly dull. You can take 295 from Portland nearly to Augusta instead of the Maine Turnpike stretch of 95 that swings west to Auburn and Lewiston. I'd say the usual route is to do as Mainer on the Go suggests: I-95 to Augusta, Rte 3 to Belfast, Route 1/3 to Ellsworth and Bar Harbor. We try to time our travcel through Liberty so we can justify (at least in our own minds) a stop at John's every time we're in the area. Great place to top off your Red Barn seafood lunch. Go about one mile and watch for a Suburban Propane store on your left the Red Barn is just beyond it on the right (I describe it this way becaue the Red Bar sign and building are usually obscured by trees until just before you get to it.) No steamed or baked lobster here, but great fried clams, fried scallops, frisd shrimp, fried haddock, fried lobster nuggete, lobster rolls (no celey or fillers - just lobster meat and a little mayo), good burgers for the non-seafood folks, great whoopie pies for dessert, and a lobster stew that has won the local chili-and-chowder contest for the past ten years! When you're ready to head on to Acadia, it's one mile south on US 201 and a left turn back onto Rt 3.Д¬heck your mileage as you turn onto Rt 3 - then go between 20 and 25 miles on Rt 3 and start watching the right hand side of the road for a small (very small) strip mall in the town of Liberty, On the end of the strip of stores (nearest Augusta), is John's Ice Cream Factory - one of the best spots in the entire state for home-made hard-served ice cream. Turn left at the light onto US 201 north. At the far end of the bridge there's a traffic light at the intersection of ME Rt 3 and US Rt 201 North.

After you get off Exit 113 in Augusta and head east on Rt 3, you'll soon cross a high bridge over the Kennebec River with a partial view of the city of Augusta to your right. Lunch along the way? This route takes you past one of our favorite spots in the entire state for seafood - no scenery to speak of, but indoor seating or outdoors at picnic tables, quick order-at-counter-wait-for-them-to-call-your-name service, and easy-on-easy-off your intended route. For our money, the extra $2.00 is worth the lighter traffic congestion and easier driving, but to each his/her own. You'll find tolls on both routes (I-95 is a toll road between Kittery and Augusta, ME but also has exit-entrance tolls at the I-295 interchanges) staying on I-95 will take you through two toll plazas with a total of $4.00 in tolls I-295 also takes you through two toll plazas, with a total of $2.00 in tolls. I-295 serves coastal communities like Freeport and Brunswick (and points beyond it on Rt 1), generating considerable local and tourist traffic I-95 runs inland and skirts around a few small towns and Lewiston and Auburn. I-295 goes through downtown Portland I-95 goes around it.

Over the years, we've found it easier, and often quicker, to stay on I-95. Some folks will advise using I-295 instead of I-95 between South Portland and Gardiner, ME (just south of Augusta). Watch for signs to the Observatory as you approach Bucksport (you'll see the bridge well before you get to it - off to your right as you drive north on Rt 1.) A good stop along the way is at the Penobscot Narrows Bridge Observatory, an enclosed two-story observation deck built into the top of one of the towers of the Penobscot Narrows Suspension Bridge - great view of the area, including the mountains of Acadia in the distance to the east. From Belfast to Bucksport, you'll get occasional views of Penobscot Bay, an extension of the Atlantic Ocean. In Belfast, ME, about 45 minutes east of Augusta, Rt 3 joins US Rt 1, so you'll be following US Rt 1/ME Rt 3 from there to Ellsworth, where the two routes divide and you'll want to stay on Rt 3 to Bar Harbor.

Should take you between five and five-and-a-half hours driving time not counting whatever stops you make along the way. Follow ME Rt 3 from Augusta to Bar Harbor/ Acadia National Park. Stay on I-95 until you reach Exit 113 in Augusta, ME, where you will pick up ME Rt 3 East. Take I-95 North through Massachusetts and New Hampshire into Maine. based on avoiding the worst of the coastal traffic but still getting a feel for some of the Maine coast before getting to Bar Harbor.Дepending on where you're starting in Boston, get directions to I-95 North. You may well get several different suggestions.

Boston to bar harbor road trip