This a brand new visitor center for Acadia National Park so I was interested to come and see it…read more The parking lot is huge hence why they built it I believe. They needed another Acadia Visitor Center. It gets so busy. So they needed more space. Great plan! Highly recommend coming . We came late and got our stamps and looked around. Bought some gifts and the park rangers were very polite and accommodating. Large, clean. So glad I came. You must come when visiting the National Park. Restrooms very clean, can fill your water bottle too. Very happy to come and see it! Great end to our wonderful trip to Bar Harbor.

This is one of the visitor centers in Acadia. It's a hub for the Island Explorer shuttles, where…read moreyou can park and ride to pretty much anywhere in the park,once you purchase a vehicle pass for $35 (valid for 7 days). There's a whole system for the bus which has numbered shuttles that take you all around the park,it's pretty legit. And best of all, it's FREE! Shuttle #4 is the most popular. Huge parking lot, bigger than the Hulls Cove one. Plus you can stamp your NP passport here and buy merchandise. I came late so I didn't get to see the other side but it looked educational.

We had such a great time on our tour with Pete from Scenic Acadia Tours! He was super friendly and…read moreknew so much info about Acadia and the local villages on the island. We saw some amazing along the Park Loop Road & learned interesting stuff about Maine's trees & Acadia's history. Pete made everything really easy to understand & fun. He took us to places we wouldn't have found on our own. The full day tour was just the right length -- we never felt rushed. If you're visiting the Bar Harbor area, this is a must-do. Definitely the best part of our New England trip (and we got a cool map)!

Reserving this campground is tricky. Exactly 60 days in advance of your desired trip, you must be…read moreon recreation.gov at 6am (if you're in CA) and have in mind a handful of spots that you'd like to park your tent. In fact, it's a good idea to check online which spots might potentially be available a few days before you actually book. If you make a mistake while reserving, may the good Lord have mercy on you because corrections are more difficult than the reservation itself. Camping in Blackwoods is pleasant, clean, spacious, has respectful guests, and plenty of trees to tie up a canopy to protect from the sudden rain showers. With much to like, there's quite a bit of inconvenience. Having no showers on the premises is my biggest gripe. After hiking for most of the day, there's no getting around needing a shower. If you drive (that's right, drive) down the road a little ways outside the campground, there's a place that sells showers for $3 in quarters (that's 12 quarters) for 4 minutes. Apparently, you can obtain 12 quarters with a credit card, but reviewers warned that sometimes the machine is out of order so BYOQ. While Blackwoods asks that you only bring local wood for campfires (within a 50 mile radius), our party found the local firewood (which can be purchased at the shower place or across the street from the shower place) too wet from the frequent showers. Thus, making a campfire was challenging and frustrating even for our resident Eagle Scout. Undeniably, the restrooms are clean, but I found myself without toilet paper in some of the stalls. Luckily, a friend was able to hand me some TP. Speaking of paper, there are no hand towels or soap in the bathroom; however, I did see one outlet in the bathroom that some were using to charge their phones. Another inconvenience is that there is no dishwash station. In fact, not only do you wash your dishes at your camping site by walking to the spigot to get water (make your own hot water), but you have to walk to a different and farther station to dump your dishwater out so as to not clog the pipes with food. When it comes to dishwashing, there's a lot of walking back and forth. Get your 2 buckets. Get some water for washing and another for rinsing. Walk back to camp site. Heat up the water. Wash your dishes. Rinse your dishes. Walk to wash water disposal. Walk back to camp site. For entertainment, the amphitheater had nightly presentations. On one occasion, we attended one on animals in the park, but at the first sound of thunder, the ranger called it and we all had to go back to our camp sites. Surprisingly, our campground and Acadia NP in general was bereft of animals. Living in the suburbs of CA, one can see more wildlife than in Acadia NP. Before arriving at the NP, I had full intentions of using the free shuttles, but the shuttle schedules and transfers could cost you hours of time so we opted to drive our own car and brave the limited parking. Camping successfully at Blackwoods requires grit and determination. If you got it, go for it.

Overall: stayed on the B loop and love the campsite selections. Restrooms were quite clean, roads…read morewere well paved so it was fairly quiet at night/morning. The entry was super streamlined and the cost of staying is incredibly reasonably priced!

Easy, cheap, and convenient way to your your way through bar harbor village and the national park…read moreof Acadia. We picked up our first bus at the Village Green and road it up to the visitor center where we switched buses to Cadillac Mt, Sand Beach, Thunder Cove. The bus drivers were friendly and eager to assist. The maps provided were helpful as well. The timing of the buses though we were told we're never really on time, we found some to be on time, and others not so much. But we can't complain. Best of all it's free! But don't forget to tip to help keep it free.

So great! A free bus around the entire island. Hard to beat. So glad we chose to use this…read moreinstead of paying for a private tour.

super close to acadia, showers work great and are hot :) would definitely recommend staying thereread more

Drove in to take a look but fee was $6 per person from those out of town. We were looking for a…read morehiking trail which we were told they had one about an hour hike. It looks to be a campground and boating facility. We took a look around but decided not to stay.

This was such a blessing to find! If you are not from the area and do not realize, you now need a…read morereservation and time slot to travel by car to the top of Cadillac mountain. After thinking we were out of luck I found a private shuttle "Cadillac Mountain Summit Shuttle" which only cost a small fee of $10/per person each way to bring you up to the top any time of day, and back down if needed. With two locations for pick up this van holds up to 14 people. In my opinion well worth it! Also I may note she has grown up in the area and knows the place like the back of her hand, she was able to give us such great recommendations and made us feel right at home. I will be using this shuttle everytime I visit the area! 10/10 experience

UPDATE: The CMSS did apologize and had a conversation with the driver and offered me a free ride…read morewhich will be next year. _______________________________________________________________________ While the Cadillac Mountain sunrise views were spectacular, the experience was deeply tarnished by the shocking hostility and lack of professionalism from our driver, Francis. On the return trip on 09/30 around 7:00 am, the driver pulled into a parking lot and got out of the shuttle without making any announcement to the passengers. Assuming we were making a standard stop, I stepped out as well. Instead of politely explaining the situation, Francis aggressively shouted "Stay there!" at me in front of the entire shuttle. It was incredibly rude, degrading, and caused other passengers to laugh at my expense. It turns out he was just letting some hikers out, but because he completely failed to communicate, I was publicly humiliated for a simple misunderstanding. Paying customers deserve to be treated with basic human dignity, not yelled at like animals. I highly recommend management train their staff on basic customer service and communication. Savita K Booking #360548830

What a fun time! Maybe you dont see vast views, but what you do see is remarkable…read more I saw a whole volunteer group of people that love trains and history pouring thier hearts into this. The trains were impeccable. So clean. And so well taken care of. The paint, the seats everything. Take the time to enjoy the past, and enjoy a little history! I wanted a spike, and Charlie took me right over to a bucket and gave me some! He was si nice and his wife is on the train taking care of everything. Buy a snack from her, its how they can add revenue. All around great experience. Oh! Uou can bring your dog or cat! As long as they are leashed! Love this!

A nice experience but left a desire for more sight seeing than what was on this tour…read more I loved the original rail cars and how the seats flipped or combined for the direction of motion we were traveling in. Water and snacks were sold or you could bring your own. Windows opened and the October breeze was a great temperature before the cold weather. Friendly rail neighbors were on porches or street waving as we went by.

Magnificent sunset views. Love the private beach for reading and swimming. Yard has lots of room…read morefor badminton, croquet, and the deck for an outdoor BBQ. A beautiful "haven" for our grandchildren and family to play and relax. Every window shows the beauty of Union Bay, Blue Hill Mountain, and surrounding woods. We didn't want to leave. Host Sally was very helpful.