Maine has over 30,000 miles of public roads. Most of them are forgettable stretches of asphalt connecting one gas station to the next. But a handful of drives are genuinely extraordinary, the kind where you pull over every few minutes because the view changed again and you cannot help it. These are the seven best.
They range from a 27-mile national park loop you can finish in an afternoon to a full-day expedition through the remotest stretch of the US eastern seaboard. Some are well known. A few are not. All of them justify the gas.
1. Acadia Park Loop Road
Distance: 27 miles | Time: 2-4 hours with stops | Best season: Late September through mid-October
The Park Loop Road on Mount Desert Island is the most famous scenic drive in Maine and one of the most popular in the eastern United States. It earns it. The road traces the eastern shore of the island, climbing granite ridges and dropping to ocean level repeatedly.
Start at the Hulls Cove Visitor Center and drive clockwise (the one-way section forces this anyway). The first major stop is Sand Beach, a pocket beach wedged between granite cliffs, one of the few sand beaches in Acadia. Walk down, touch the water (it is cold), and keep moving. Thunder Hole is a quarter mile south. At mid-tide with incoming swells, the ocean funnels into a narrow rock channel and detonates with a percussive boom. At slack tide it does nothing. Time it right.
Otter Cliff, farther south, is a 110-foot granite wall dropping straight into the Atlantic. It is the highest coastal headland north of Rio de Janeiro. The pullout is small and fills fast before 10 AM in summer.
End the loop with the spur road up Cadillac Mountain. At 1,530 feet, it is the highest point on the US Atlantic coast. The summit is accessible by car via a winding 3.5-mile road. From October through early March, this is the first place in the United States to see sunrise. Reservations are required for vehicle access from late May through October.
Go in the late afternoon. Most visitors hit the loop road by 9 AM and are gone by 3 PM. The last two hours before sunset are the least crowded, and the light on the granite is dramatically better. Cadillac Mountain at sunset is less famous than sunrise but equally stunning and far less packed.
2. Route 1: Camden to Rockland
Distance: 10 miles | Time: 1-3 hours with stops | Best season: June through October
This short stretch of Route 1 packs more per mile than almost any coastal road in New England. Leaving Camden, the road hugs Penobscot Bay with water views to the east and the Camden Hills rising behind you.
Start with the auto road up Mount Battie in Camden Hills State Park. The summit view, looking straight down on Camden Harbor with its fleet of windjammer schooners, is the single best overlook on the Maine coast. A stone tower at the top gives 360-degree views from the ocean to the interior mountains.
Continue south through Rockport, stopping at Marine Park for a harbor walk, and into Rockland. The Rockland Breakwater is a nearly mile-long granite jetty extending into the bay with a lighthouse at the end. The walk out is uneven but manageable. Bring binoculars for the harbor seals that haul out on the rocks near the lighthouse.
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3. Rangeley Lakes Scenic Byway (Route 17)
Distance: 35 miles (Rumford to Oquossoc) | Time: 1.5-3 hours | Best season: Late September to mid-October
Route 17 between Rumford and Oquossoc is the best foliage drive in Maine. That is not a subjective call. The Height of Land overlook, about 20 miles north of Rumford, sits at 2,400 feet with an unobstructed view west across Mooselookmeguntic Lake and the Rangeley Lakes chain. In late September, the hardwood forests below you turn orange, red, and gold in every direction to the horizon. There is a parking area, an Appalachian Trail crossing, and a short accessible path to the overlook.
North of Height of Land, the road descends to Rangeley Lake through some of the most intact boreal forest in the northeastern United States. Moose sightings are common at dawn and dusk along this stretch, particularly near bogs and stream crossings. Drive carefully.
4. Schoodic Scenic Byway
Distance: 29 miles (loop from Route 1) | Time: 2-3 hours | Best season: May through October
Schoodic is the forgotten piece of Acadia. While 3.5 million people visit Mount Desert Island each year, Schoodic Peninsula sees a fraction of that traffic. The one-way loop road winds along the coast to Schoodic Point, a flat granite shelf where the open Atlantic meets the rock with explosive force during storms.
The road continues past Blueberry Hill, which is exactly what it sounds like, a granite hilltop covered in wild blueberries, ripe in August. A short spur leads to Schoodic Head Trail, the highest point on the peninsula at 440 feet, with views of Mount Desert Island across Frenchman Bay.
The byway also passes through Winter Harbor, a working fishing village with a general store, a brewery, and not much else. That is the appeal.
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Schoodic pairs well with the Acadia Park Loop for a two-day itinerary. Drive the Park Loop on day one and Schoodic on day two. You will see both halves of Acadia with a fraction of the crowds on day two.
5. Bold Coast Scenic Byway (Route 191)
Distance: 40 miles (Machias to Lubec) | Time: 2-4 hours with stops | Best season: June through September
Route 191 from East Machias to Lubec is the loneliest scenic drive on the Maine coast. The road cuts through spruce forest and blueberry barrens with almost no development. You will drive miles without seeing another car. That is the whole point.
The Cutler Coast is the centerpiece. A trailhead off Route 191 leads to the Bold Coast Trail, a 4.2-mile out-and-back (or 10-mile loop) along 150-foot sea cliffs overlooking the Bay of Fundy. These are the most dramatic sea cliffs in Maine and among the highest on the US east coast.
The road ends in Lubec, the easternmost town in the continental United States. West Quoddy Head Lighthouse at Quoddy Head State Park is the candy-striped icon marking the easternmost point in the country. The coastal trail from the lighthouse leads along a bog boardwalk through a rare coastal plateau bog ecosystem found nowhere else in the United States outside of Acadia.
6. Grafton Notch Loop
Distance: 50 miles (loop from Bethel) | Time: 3-4 hours | Best season: Late September to mid-October
From Bethel, take Route 26 north through Grafton Notch State Park, a glacially carved mountain pass in the Mahoosuc Range. The drive climbs through dense forest with several short-hike pullouts along the way.
Screw Auger Falls is a 23-foot waterfall dropping through a narrow granite gorge right next to the parking area, a two-minute walk from your car. Mother Walker Falls, a quarter mile up the road, cascades through a 100-foot-long rock flume. Table Rock is a more committed stop: a 2.4-mile round-trip hike to a massive granite slab jutting out from the mountainside with views up and down the notch. Old Speck, at 4,170 feet, is the third-highest peak in Maine. The summit trail starts from the same area, but that is a full-day hike, not a scenic drive stop.
Continue over the notch and loop back through Upton and Andover on Route 5 for a full circuit through the western mountains. In foliage season, this loop rivals anything in Vermont with a fraction of the traffic.
7. Moosehead Lake Region
Distance: 60 miles (loop from Greenville) | Time: 3-5 hours | Best season: June through October
Moosehead Lake is the largest lake in the northeastern United States, 40 miles long, over 300 feet deep, and surrounded by mountains that have not changed much since Thoreau paddled through in the 1850s. Greenville, at the southern tip, is the only real town. From there, the drive north along the east shore passes Lily Bay State Park and continues on increasingly rough roads toward Kokadjo and the Golden Road.
The essential detour is Mount Kineo, a 1,789-foot cliff of rhyolite rising directly from the lake. You cannot drive to Kineo. You take a boat shuttle from Rockwood on the west shore. The Indian Trail up the cliff face is 1 mile to the summit with views across the lake in every direction. Native Americans traveled hundreds of miles to quarry Kineo flint for tools and weapons. It is one of the most striking geological features in New England.
The Moosehead region also has the highest density of moose in the eastern United States. Dawn and dusk drives along Routes 6 and 15 between Greenville and Rockwood produce regular sightings, especially in late May and June when moose come to roadsides for mineral-rich puddles.
Practical Tips for All Seven Drives
Fuel up before you leave: Gas stations are sparse on the Bold Coast, in Grafton Notch, and north of Greenville. Fill your tank whenever you see a station.
Cell service is unreliable: Routes 17, 191, and the Moosehead region have significant dead zones. Download offline maps before you go.
Moose are a real hazard: On routes 17, 26, and the Moosehead loop, moose crossings are common at dawn and dusk. A collision with a moose is almost always fatal to the occupants of the car. Slow down when visibility is limited.
Foliage timing varies by region: Interior and northern drives (Rangeley, Grafton Notch, Moosehead) peak in late September. Coastal drives (Park Loop, Bold Coast) peak in mid-October. Check the Maine Foliage Report at maine.gov for weekly updates.
What is the most scenic drive in Maine?
The Acadia Park Loop Road is the most consistently scenic, 27 miles of ocean views, granite cliffs, and mountain summits. For foliage specifically, Route 17 through Rangeley and the Height of Land overlook is unmatched. For solitude and dramatic coastline, the Bold Coast Scenic Byway (Route 191) is the clear winner.
What is the best time of year for scenic drives in Maine?
Late September through mid-October for foliage. June for wildflowers and long days with thin crowds. Coastal drives are best from June through October. Interior drives like Grafton Notch and Rangeley peak in color about two weeks before the coast.
How many days do I need to do all seven drives?
Plan 7 to 10 days to do all seven comfortably. You could rush through in 5 by skipping hikes and spending minimal time at stops, but that defeats the purpose. The drives are spread across the state, Grafton Notch is in the western mountains, Moosehead is in the north, and the Bold Coast is as far east as you can go in the US.
Are these drives suitable for RVs?
The Acadia Park Loop Road, Route 1 Camden to Rockland, and the Rangeley Byway are all fine for RVs. The Schoodic loop has tight turns that large motorhomes (35 feet and up) may find uncomfortable. Grafton Notch is steep and winding. The Moosehead region roads north of Greenville are rough gravel in places. The Bold Coast byway is fine but Lubec has very limited RV services.