Acadia national park

I'm trying to figure out the best way to experience Acadia national park. Should I purchase an excursion and if so which one is the best for exploring. Or should we explore on our own and what's the best way to travel there from the cruise ship? Thank you!

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Acadia is best explored at your own pace. See if you can rent a car and then drive around the ring road at your leisure, stopping when and where you want. An added benefit is that you can rent bikes in town; the bike store will supply a bike rack and you can drive to Acadia and bike the carriage trails.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

There really aren't any rental cars in Bar Harbor. You'd have to take an expensive taxi to the airport, get the car, and then return it and an expensive taxi back.

Most people do Oli's or the Explorer.

I'm trying to figure out the best way to experience Acadia national park. Should I purchase an excursion and if so which one is the best for exploring. Or should we explore on our own and what's the best way to travel there from the cruise ship? Thank you!

If you are interested in "exploring", can you do that in the 3-4 15-20 minute stops most excursions make in the park? If you can, a non-cruise ship excursion would be the way to go. 2 companies that offer such a tour would be Olie's Trolley or Acadia National Park Tours.

There are no car rental agencies in Bar Harbor. The closest agencies are at the Hancock County/Bar Harbor Airport which is about 12.5 miles from the tender dock.

If you want to do your exploring on your own, then the free public bus, Island Explorer, would be the way to go. The IE could drop you where a park road intersects a Carriage Road, and you could explore using a CR. Just familiarize yourself with the IE schedule and a CR map.

SBtS

I highly second using Acadia National Park Tour's...book this yourself online...opt for the 9:00am tour and easily tender from your ship over to the town of Bar Harbor. We just did this last October...amazing day.

I would purchase an excursion either through the cruise line or you can find other options via http://www.tripadvisor.com

Keith

I highly second using Acadia National Park Tour's...book this yourself online...opt for the 9:00am tour and easily tender from your ship over to the town of Bar Harbor. We just did this last October...amazing day.

We arrive on a Sunday and according to the website for Acadia National Park Tours, they've only got 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM tours now. The 10:00 one is the only option, given that we depart at 3:00 PM. My question is this - given that our port day is on a Sunday, would shops be open prior to 10:00 AM? We arrive at 7:00 AM and I'm thinking that maybe we could walk around town and shop a little before the 10:00 AM tour begins. There wouldn't be much time left at all at the end of the tour.

We arrive on a Sunday and according to the website for Acadia National Park Tours, they've only got 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM tours now. The 10:00 one is the only option, given that we depart at 3:00 PM. My question is this - given that our port day is on a Sunday, would shops be open prior to 10:00 AM? We arrive at 7:00 AM and I'm thinking that maybe we could walk around town and shop a little before the 10:00 AM tour begins. There wouldn't be much time left at all at the end of the tour.

The schedule also states that there may be more times when cruise ships are in...I'm hoping for an earlier one too!

Just looked up this tour and for Sunday, June 24th the time was 11AM for the 4 hour tour. Returning to town at 3pm still gives some time to explore before until 6pm departure?