The tour guide/owner is great. He likes to tell the story/history of Portland…read more You get to see three light houses and hear about all 54 working light houses in the area. You will be taken through old town and get the history of Britain destroying about 800 homes. There are several famous people from the area too. This was about a four hour tour which included information on local restaurants. I recommend this tour. You see a lot and have a good laugh with others on the tour. Our driver was great. He could take a joke as well as give them.

What a great tour! So knowledgeable, great narrative. Would highly recommend this group! Jeff was…read moreamazing!!

The Tate House is a mid-eighteenth century home that was build for Captain George Tate who served…read moreas the Senior Mast Agent for the British Royal Navy. From what I remember, he helped oversee the shipments of pine trees from Maine to England. This impressive pre-Revolutionary home sits on a knoll overlooking the banks of the Fore River and boasts of a beautifully manicured yard (I would absolutely love to have a garden party here... something with fancy hats and bubbly, y'know?). I love everything about this museum, really I do...I think it has captured a frozen moment in Portland's timeline. I just think they need some new folks working here who are passionate about the right things. What I mean is, docents really can make or break an experience; when they're engaging and enthusiastic about the information they're sharing, it's infectious. When they're genuinely excited to breathe life into history, they make generations to come also excited. Unfortunately, from what I've experienced, the docents here (and the people inside the Gift Shop) are the complete opposite of that. Here's just one example (and there are many to choose from): I was once standing in the museum in a way in which a particular docent didn't like. So much so, she stopped the tour to make my friends and I reposition ourselves (multiple times) until she was happy, but then yelled at us because our arms were taking up too much space... not kidding. My suggestion is, if you can, come here during one of their events - there's a lot of different people working a lot of different areas, so one bad egg won't ruin your experience. For me, their Colonial Christmas event is absolutely spectacular (especially if there's a light dusting of snow on the ground). They really do capture the essence of the colonial times perfectly from the decorations to the period costumes to the music to the interactive games and to the delicious spread of treats in the Means House available afterwards!

I'm an old house enthusiast and this was a great house to tour…read more The guide was just ok, not great...but it's a great house to go see a typical colonial style home without trekking to Williamsburg. Put the kids in the car, take them here, and teach them about good old fashioned 'Murkan history.

The lighthouse bike tour offered by Summer Feet was the top activity on my Portland bucket list,…read moreand it did not disappoint! Our tour guide, Lauren, was a life long Maine resident, and such a fun, upbeat, guide for our day. The ride was relatively easy, and we had plenty of time to explore at each lighthouse. The Portland Head Light is stunningly beautiful, and we had plenty of time to enjoy the views, take photos, etc. The lunch stop at Bite into Maine was fabulous! Our guide took our orders ahead of time so everything was ready when we arrived. Nothing beats a lobster roll and a blueberry soda! This should be a must-do activity on your Portland visit!

Incredible tour! Elise did a great job with our group, and we saw all the sights of Portland. Added…read morebonus was the best lobster roll- ever. Thanks Summer Feet for coordinating with @abiteofmaine for such an amazing lunch!

We had a great time on this walking tour. Our guide Dugan brought Portland to life with interesting…read morefacts and stories. All questions were welcomed and answered. The tour starts on time, so don't be tardy to this highly recommended excellent tour.

Our group of five had a great tour with Pete on a crisp sunny day. Learned history and saw sites…read morefrom Monument Square to the waterfront area; the Eastern Prom, Portland Observatory and more. The guide was very knowledgeable and his sense of humor meshed well with our crew. It was pleasant 3+ mile walk that capitalized on some terrific views. The exercise helped whet our appetite for lunch at one of many restaurants Pete recommended.

I'm a little bit of a history geek, what can I say? I was the kid that relished the opportunity to…read moretalk to my grandparents about their lives growing up, what our community used to be like and look like, what their parents experienced. Finding old photos of towns and cities that I'm familiar with now are unbelievably fascinating, and preserving that which was is something near and dear to my heart. Which is why I'm a little in love with the The Greater Portland Landmarks, the safeguards of Portland's history via buildings, neighborhoods, and outdoor spaces. Through education and advocacy these great stewards of urban conservancy have helped to maintain some amazing spots throughout the city of Resurgam, while thoughtfully bridging the gap from the character of the city that was to the character that the city's beginning to have. I've had the opportunity to explore some of their catalog of public offerings, including Portland Observatory tours (https://www.yelp.com/biz/portland-observatory-portland), Custom House tours (https://www.yelp.com/biz/united-states-custom-house-portland), and a tour of the Homes of Portland's Golden Age (where we walked around the Spring Street Historic District [which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in '71] and viewed an array of impressive architectural styles throughout the past couple centuries. That's just some of their ongoing events; they also host a lot of other awesome shindigs (like an annual decade-specific themed gala at a large mansion in Portland). The folks who work at GPL are dedicated, passionate, and well-versed in all things Portland. I care deeply about the past, present, and future of this great city, and I feel rest assured that there are others that do so as well!

Take their tours, donate, support this worthy and well-run cause…read more... In August, I was visiting Portland to eat and relax and look at the water. When my companion suggested (ah-hem, insisted) that we take the Greater Portland Landmarks walking architectural tour, I agreed but had no idea what I was getting into. Like, what? The headquarters or main building is on Spring Street behind the MFA, where I'd been several times already. It's a straight ten-minute walk from the Old Port area, so pretty easy to access. When we got there, we were greeted warmly by the staff and invited inside to wait for the tourists to gather. They allow (and encourage? insist upon?) on-line reservations, which we had. We pad electronically with credit cards using their portable chip reader. It was good to see historic preservation embracing technology. Ten bucks each, totally worth it. Our group of about ten tourists was led by two men, both school teachers, who tag-teamed the direction of the group and the speaking. They were warm and funny and kind and helpful and full of information. When one of them knew that the other was the expert, he'd say, And now XXXX is going to talk about the roofline of Federalist style buildings. Or some such. And the information is transferrable. I was recently in downtown Philadelphia where I was able to identify architectural styles that I learned about in Portland. The walk isn't that long distance-wise because they essentially keep close to the neighborhood around their building but it is strenuous and takes a while because they cover so much, including the Victoria House (from the outside). They encouraged questions and engagements and were helpful and attentive to those with limitations (slow walkers, the deaf, etc). At one point, we Zillowed the price of a house that was on the tour, which connected past and present. The guides even got us an inside tour of the private Cumberland Club. I would do it again. I would do their other tours (including of the Observatory on Munjoy Hill). If I lived in Portland....

My mum and I absolutely love red cloak tours!! The stories are very interesting and spooky. The…read moretour guide is really kind, and happily answers any questions. I went to the bath and wisscasset tours and found out so much about houses and places I may have overlooked if not for this new knowledge. Call me crazy, but I think I may have saw a ghost in the top window of a house in wisscasset, when nobody was home.

My family and I took this tour the other night. There were 12 people on the tour. Our guide…read morecombined stories about the history of the city as well as a number of different ghost stories. She was articulate and told some very good stories both as to the city and its origins and the different buildings that are haunted. At the end of the tour I kept looking in Opera House hoping to see the ghost that apparently still hangs out there. We all enjoyed the tour and would highly recommend it if you are visiting the town.

I stopped in here to learn more about Portland and was not disappointed! Helen was really sweet and…read morehelpful. The center has a ton of pamphlets and clean restrooms.

What a fun tour! Loved the vehicle and the information provided. Provide the kids a candy at the…read moreend too!

Good tour on the history of the area, nice & friendly guides as well. The old fire engine is a…read moreunique touch but outside of that, we were bored and under whelmed. Our goal was to see a pretty lighthouse, and this took us nowhere close near one.