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Experience Acadia: Private 3-hr tour with local guide.
Select Date and Travelers
Free cancellation
Up to 24 hours in advance. Learn More
3 Hours
Mobile ticket
Pickup offered
Offered in: English
Overview
I believe, a local guide should provide an experience which brings you closer to Acadia than you would feel had you explored on your own. Acadia is brimming with a quiet, insistent magic. They named it for a paradise. They saved it at their own cost, so we could feel the effect of the light and hear the leaves singing. I will give more than a checklist of places or repeated stories. I'll share my home. Show you the Music of it.
I have been a tour guide in this area for years. I love the people who trained me and still recommend their tours. Recently, the time came to build something of my own to feel proud of here. I wanted even more flexibility to design perfect tours around the things that move me most. I expect the delight I take in this area will be contagious.
-My tours are all private to your group. The vans are comfortable and clean.
-You will have complete freedom as we explore, to adjust which stops we make, and how long we enjoy each location.
What's Included
- I only share the kind of snacks I would offer to my best friends.
- Private transportation
- Cadillac Mountain entrance pass
- Bottled water
- Air-conditioned vehicle
- All Fees and Taxes
- National Park Passes
- Stress over missing anything amazing.
Meeting And Pickup
Meeting point
Select a meeting point
Meet at the corner of the park, near the loading zone for the Island Explorer Busses. Across from Reel Pizza and the Bar Harbor Fire Department.
End Point
This activity ends back at the meeting point.
Pickup points
Select a pickup point
Pickup details
-Expect your guide to call you 10 - 15 minutes prior to your tour start time to confirm your exact location and arrange a smooth pickup. -We will arrive in a white Chrysler minivan, clearly marked with, Acadia Driving Tours signage. -If you arrive in Bar Harbor via cruise ship, and land early, feel free to explore the town until your guide calls to direct you to an easy landmark to meet and begin our tour. -Please ensure the phone number you enter at booking will ring to someone in your tour group, not an office or home number.
What To Expect
Bar Harbor
We will briefly tour Bar Harbor, making sure to see some of the "cottages" left from the Gilded Age summer residents who made such a lasting impact on this island. Much of old Millionaire's Row burned when fire swept the island in 1947, but the fire stopped before destroying the town. Many of today's most picturesque inns and hotels, once served as vacation homes for high society families from further down the coast.
• Admission Ticket Free
Park Loop Road
Acadia National Park is really just a few minutes' drive from the center of Bar Harbor. Let me show you some of the reasons they once called this area, Eden.
• Admission Ticket Free
Eagle Lake Acadia National Park
There are many long, deep lakes across Mount Desert Island. Eagle Lake, which we will see as we head toward Cadillac Mountain, is one of the most picturesque.
5 Minutes • Admission Ticket Included
Cadillac Mountain
The highest point on the island. The first place a new dawn touches the United States for much of the year. Cadillac Mountain provides sweeping views of nearly the entire outline of MDI. We can see Bar Harbor and the cruise ships in Frenchman Bay from one side, and a beautiful view of the open ocean and many of the small islands that dot the coastline between here and Portland. After taking some time to explore the summit, I'll point out a few of the landmarks we are about to investigate from closer up as we continue our journey around the Park Loop roads.
45 Minutes • Admission Ticket Included
Wild Gardens of Acadia
One of the oldest sections of the park, the first area to change color the past few years in autumn, and a beautiful place to begin a hike up Dorr Mountain, or to take a leisurely stroll along the lovely Jessup Path boardwalk. We won't have time to see everything here -not if we want to fully enjoy the rocky coastline around the next bend- but I will pick a few of the best parts and be sure to tell you about things you should come back for later.
20 Minutes • Admission Ticket Included
Sand Beach
I will point out the trailhead for the famous (and harrowing) Precipice and Beehive trails. Then, show you one of the only sandy beaches for miles. From here, groups eager to get a few steps in, can walk along the gorgeous Ocean Path, stepping out whenever you like onto the great slabs of granite which slope down into the restless waves. If you choose to walk, I will let you enjoy some time by the ocean without me, while I find a place to pull over further down the road near Thunder Hole, then meet you along the path to point out some of my favorite places.
• Admission Ticket Free
Ocean Path
Grand, sweeping views of the ocean, and the chance to walk along one of Acadia's most beautiful coastal trails. You will have the option to walk part of the Ocean Path, or to drive and stop a few times for photos at the best overlooks. This is often one of the busier parts of Acadia National Park, but I know the hidden pathways where we can see the best views and enjoy the ocean without tripping over tourists.
30 Minutes • Admission Ticket Included
Thunder Hole
A unique rock formation where the waves can crash with a thunderous boom when the conditions are right. Even at times when the thunder is lacking, this area, lined with harbor roses, asters, and other small, lovely things which peek out from among the harsh granite, is such a breathtaking example of all that is best about Maine's dramatic coastline.
10 Minutes • Admission Ticket Included
Otter Cliff
The Ocean Path runs from Sand Beach, past Thunder Hole, and all the way to Otter Cliffs and beyond. The entire way boasts some of the most amazing coastline, and lovely sections of pine forest with incredible moss and lichen. Otter Cliff is one of my favorite places to return to in the evenings. Especially to watch a moon rise from the ocean. We will pass the castle-like section of roadway, enjoy the view that so often fools travelers into thinking they've seen a whale, and hear how it surprised the very first visitors who crossed the Atlantic to explore this island.
• Admission Ticket Free
Little Hunters Beach
Winter storms have damaged the path leading down to the beach. I will still do my best to show what I can of this cove where the rocks add their own music to each crashing wave.
• Admission Ticket Free
Jordan Pond
27 miles of park roads barely begin to reveal all the magic of Acadia. Jordan Pond is one of the most magical places along our route. Sometimes, our highlights tours spend all our time enjoying the mountain and ocean views, so we have little time to do more than glimpse the promise of the quiet beauty of this famous area. The crowds know Jordan Pond is a place they should see. I will tease you with a glimpse of it, but I'll also share my secrets for when you can return and find the calm path around this pristine lake nearly empty. Many of the best loved hiking trails or carriage paths can be accessed from here too. Not to mention the tasty puff of history the Jordan Pond House provides with their fresh popovers.
• Admission Ticket Free
Acadia National Park
Depending upon the weather conditions, and partially on how quickly you want to move between locations, I will adjust our route to showcase the areas that will be most beautiful that day, and which I believe your group will find most impactful. There are many areas this list does not mention, which I love to showcase whenever I can. A tour with a local guide should be an experience you wouldn't find by exploring alone. I get to live here. My advice before you visit is this. Enjoy fully whatever you are able to see while you visit. Take the longer tour and spend more time here if possible. If not, think less of seeing everything (checking stops from a list) and more about fully seeing the highlights and experiencing this place in all the unique light and magic of waves and wind that moved a generation to form the only national park to be made up entirely of gifted land individuals deemed too special to keep to themselves. Acadia is a place set aside for you to feel what so moved them.
• Admission Ticket Free
Additional Info
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Folding wheelchairs or mobility equipment that fits in a minivan, are welcome.
- How much you walk, or how often you leave the van, are up to you. Acadia's roads were purpose built to showcase the views without having to leave your car.
- Children are welcome. You must bring your own car seats. I enjoy sharing tours with children; you know their limits best: they will change your tour experience.
Operated by Acadia Driving Tours
Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
- For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time
- Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.
- If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
- This experience requires good weather. If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund.
- Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.
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