Dog Friendly Vacation Spots: Maine Edition

Looking for vacation destinations that are dog friendly? Look no further than Maine. My partner, Marty, and I visited the state last summer with our dog, Rory, and found it to be extremely dog friendly. The state is especially appealing to those who love the outdoors. If you and your furry friend love hiking, Acadia National Park has all the pet friendly adventure you could want.

Rory loves road trips. When we first added her to our family, we road tripped to Ohio picked her up and drove 10 hours home with her. She loved the car. From that moment on she’s been a road tripping pup.

Last summer we road tripped from New York to Maine. I’ll share some of the places we stopped along the way until we reached our destination, Acadia National Park.

During our travels, Rory needed a couple of baths after playing outside. I was so thankful I brought Skout’s Honor shampoo with us. We also put Skout’s honor’s flea and tick spray to good use before and after our outdoor adventures. Click here to shop the products we used while traveling to keep Rory clean and safe from pests!  

Portland, Maine

We spent a few days in Portland Maine on the way up to Bar Harbor. Portland is an awesome town to visit. It has a lot of historic background, delicious food to taste, and cool art.

Things to do in Portland: 

Standard Baking Co.

The standard Baking Co. has the most delicious food and is pastry focused. I recommend getting there early. We got there within the first hour of opening and there was already a long line out the door. We got a sample of delicious pastries and then walked across the street to have breakfast looking out at the harbor. It was lovely. 10/10 would recommend.

Quarry Run Dog Park

This was a fun and quick stop at a quarry about 5-10 minutes outside the main city of Portland. This is a great place for your pup to run around and explore. There is a fenced in area where pets can explore off leash. There is also another area where you can walk around the quarry with your dog on leash. There are a lot of trails if you’re looking for a fun and easy walk.

Take a tour with Portland Discovery

We were very impressed with both the friendliness and knowledge of the individuals giving our tour. We learned so much that we never would have known from walking around the city on our own. We signed up for the Portland City and Lighthouse Tour. Most, if not all, the tours with this company are dog friendly. They even had treats for Rory. The tour we signed up for was a little over an hour and a half narrated trolley tour of historic Portland and a 30 minute stop at Portland Head Light house. 10/10 would recommend this to someone who has never been to the city!

Portland Lobster Company

We enjoyed sitting waterfront and dinning on lobster. Maine is known for its lobster so this was a must stop for us. Rory also enjoyed eating some lobster while sitting under our table in the shade. We discovered on this trip that she is a huge fan of lobster. This restaurant also has frequent live music and bands! Check out their website to see what they’re ordering. There was a little bit of a wait for a table, but it moved quickly. Take out is also an option so you could always grab some food and head to the promenade for a picnic!

Eastern Promenade, Portland

We had such a fun time walking around the eastern promenade. I felt like I was transported back in time and  was living out my Bridgerton dreams. There are beautiful and historic houses to look at as you stroll. The Eastern Promenade is dog friendly. There is even an off leash area next to fort Allen Park and East End Beach. During the summer season dogs are allowed off leash before 9am and after 5pm. After Labor Day until Memorial Day dogs are allowed off leash during park hours. We found this to be a common occurrence in Maine where pets were allowed off leash before 9am on beaches during the summer months.

Maine Squeeze

We got wellness shots and Acai bowls before heading to bar harbor to make sure we were staying healthy. Everything we got was great. It’s easy to forget to get your nutrients in when traveling so I highly recommend getting a juice or wellness shot to keep you feeling your best while you explore!

Bar Harbor/Acadia:

There are a ton of restaurants, shopping, and things to do in the Bar Harbor area. We went in August which was peak season and it was packed. We enjoyed our stay in Terramor because it was away from the busyness of Bar Harbor. We enjoyed eating outside but found that many restaurants had no availability or were closed by 9pm. Some days we were in Acadia hiking until around 8pm so there were a few times where we found it hard to get food for dinner after hiking all day. There definitely was food, it just took some searching to find a place that had seating or was open for take-out. We ended up ordering in and taking food back to our hotel on more than one occasion. I would recommend making reservations or leaving earlier for dinner. We were more focused spending as much time as we could site seeing and being in Acadia then looking for places to eat.

Terramor, Bar Harbor

Glamping in style. Terramor is such a cool place to stay. The outdoor showers are out of this world. They’re dog friendly. They even have a small fenced in area designated as a dog park that Rory loved running around off leash in.

I’d recommend is brining your dog’s crate inside the tents to sleep in. The tents do close at the bottom with buttons but if a dog wanted to get out badly enough, which Rory didn’t, I could picture a scenario where they could. They have weekly events like morning yoga and pizza night. It’s a quick 15 min drive to Acadia Park for a day of exploring. When done with your activities for the day you can come back to the resort to sit around the fire and eat s’mores. The lavish blankets and signature scents are out of this world.

Acadia National Park

There is so much to explore here. So many different trails for different experience levels. I would recommend getting the app “All Trials” for your phone. It gives you information about the trails and gives you something to follow if you get lost, and it’s easier than you think to get lost. On a lot of the trails, you’re following stacked stones called Bates Cairn to stay on the trials  which can be far in between. So, it’s helpful to have a plan B if you go the wrong way.

If hiking with your pup, make sure you’re not doing a hike that has ladders. The parking spot fill up quickly during peak season, so the earlier you can get to the park the better. You also need a parking pass that you can purchase online.

When at higher elevation, watch out for porcupines. We saw one when we were hiking and we were very thankful that Rory was both on a leash and that we saw the animal first. Although extremely cute, make sure your pup keeps their distance from porcupines or your dog could be seriously injured.

Jordans Pond House at Acadia National Park

Jordans Pond house has been around since 1893 when Nellie McIntire started serving her famous popovers and tea out of the restaurant. Ever since then, Jordans has been serving popovers and tea. You can eat inside or outside. We preferred outside while looking at the stunning views of Acadia National Park. If you don’t like bees, I would eat inside as they love the jams that come with your popovers and are your dining companion while you eat. The food and the ambiance of this restaurant is immaculate. The atmosphere gives it a feeling of a spectacular garden party. And if you eat outside, dogs are welcome. The restaurant even provides fresh water for your pup. We found the waitstaff to be very friendly. This is a great place to stop for lunch in-between hikes or to view the scenery.

Miscellaneous Recommendations:

• Get a whoopie pie somewhere along the way. Whoopie pies are the dessert of Maine. We got one at a gas station while driving and one for dessert at a restaurant and both were amazing!

• Get blueberry things. Anything blueberry you can get, get it. Maine grows blueberries and they’re fresh and delicious. I had blueberry ice cream; it was amazing.

• Drive around the state. Bar harbor gets crowded in the summer. Marty and I enjoyed taking some time to explore the outskirts of the major cities to get a better feel of the beautiful state.