How to Have the Perfect Fall Getaway in Kennebunkport, Maine
I really wanted to go on a fall foliage trip this year, but I had nothing planned and October was just around the corner. We had 3 nights open on the calendar, so we started planning away flying into Boston and driving 3 hours each day to a new location, moving hotels each night, just to end back up in Boston a couple days later. Instead we heard about a town called Kennebunkport in Maine, just a 1.5 hour drive from Boston that sounded like the perfect fall getaway. Supposedly it’s an incredibly hot cruise ship destination with over 2,500 cruise visitors daily. We did a little bit of research and: Good Food- check. Fall Foliage- check. Lots of Fall Activities- check. So we decided to take a 3 day trip to Kennebunkport, Maine from October 9th-12th. I’m here to share all of the highs and lows of this trip to tell you why Kennebunkport needs to be added to your travel bucket list.
DAY 1: Honestly not much to share here since we flew in this day super late. We landed in Boston at about 10:30 PM, picked up our Enterprise Rental Car and drove 1.5 hours to Kennebunkport. When we drove into the town, it was really eerie being so dark and empty, but in a cool, small-town kind of way! We checked into The Lodge on the Cove at about 12:30 AM, so we went straight to bed.
DAY 2: This is where our official trip started. We tried using the bikes that The Lodge on the Cove had that were complimentary to guests, but with my lack of skill on a bike and the amount of hills in Kennebunkport… it didn’t work out. We headed into the town square (Dock Square) that was only a 5 minutes from the Lodge. We started the morning at Mornings in Paris Cafe to have some pastries and coffee. I tried one of their fall specials (I think it was a Pumpkin Spiced Latte) and a chocolate croissant, nothing extraordinary, but definitely a great start to the morning! In Dock Square, I think we went in a total of 30 stores- that might only be a slight exaggeration- but we went into a lot of stores! This town was BUSY! Like I said, 0 people around town at midnight, but 2,500+ cruise tourists in town daily! But Dock Square is definitely work the trip to Kennebunkport in itself. Some of the highlights for stores were Copper Candle, Fresh Pressed Books, and Scalawags Pet Boutique, I could’ve spent $1,000+ shopping in the square alone.
We tried to go to The Boat House for lunch, but with all of the tourists, it was a 30-40 minute wait, so we opted to wait to try it until dinner. Ryan (my husband) really wanted to ride bikes around town, so we tried it one more time. This time, we rented them from Costal Maine Kayak and Bike so I could get an e-bike. Let me just say re-learning to ride a bike at age 23 in front of thousands of people in the middle of a busy town is TRULY HUMBLING. Some tears were definitely shed. After we made it out of the town and to the road, it got a lot better though. We got to see a ton of fall foliage throughout this ride. We biked to The Chowder House off of a recommendation from a local that said they have the best chowder in town and for a great price since it’s not in the square- and she did not lead us astray! We got the clam chowder- duh- and the fried clams and they were both a HIT! Definitely worth the bike ride. The best part was that Chowder House is on the beach! So you can stroll along the beach or sit with a view of the water, it was a beautiful view! We were going to take our bikes to George Bush’s Estate as that’s also one of Kennebunkport’s claims to fame. We ended up having to head back to the bike rental shop because it started POURING down rain, so yes, we biked in the rain and I only fell twice haha.
After the bike fiasco, we went back to the Lodge at the Cove to dry off and put on some new clothes for dinner time. We headed back out to the square and it was a night and day difference from 3pm to 6pm of how many people are out since most all of the cruise ship visitor had to be back on the ship already. We went back to The Boat House and got seated immediately! We started with a cocktail, some shrimp cocktail and oysters. The cocktail was VERY strong, and the shrimp cocktail and oysters were DELICIOUS. Ryan and I had never tried oysters before and we were pleasantly surprised! We didn’t get their lobster special, we wanted to save that for night two, but we tried their Baked Haddock Casserole, and it wasn’t my favorite thing. Next time I want to try their Short Rib Ramen. We loved those oysters so much, we ordered another round, and I think Ryan sadly got a bad oyster or something, because his stomach did not feel great the rest of the night. But that’s what you get for eating so much raw seafood! We ended our lovely evening by going back to The Lodge for complimentary s'mores! The Lodge offers free s’mores kits and a fire each night so you can roast your own marshmallows to make some delicious campfire s’mores.
DAY 3: Today’s mission was to see some great fall foliage. We woke up and had some breakfast at The Lodge, they offer complimentary continental breakfast every morning to guests. They also had suggestions at their front desk of where to see the best fall foliage around town. Based on their recommendations, we drove to Mount Agamenticus that was only about 30 minutes away to see some foliage and walk some trails. It was only $2 to park, and that was the only fee. Although the leaves hadn’t fully turned yet, I think we were about 1 week early, it was still so beautiful and you could definitely see some incredible fall colors. The hiking trails were also beautiful and easy. After we hiked for about an hour and a half, we went to go apple picking. The Lodge recommended Spiller Farms and Chase Farms that were on the way back to Kennebunkport in Wells. We started with Chase Farms, and unfortunately, their apple picking was closed on weekdays. But we did get to go into their little market that’s open every day to get some freshly picked apples and apple cider donuts. We took our chances going to Spiller Farms as well, and unfortunately, the outcome was the same that they’re closed for picking on weekdays. We got some delicious apples anyways so it was a win.
We were determined to have a lobster this day, so we went back to The Chowder House to have their boiled lobster special (and some more clam chowder). I can say it was absolutely scrumptious. I may or may not have watched a YouTube video on the way there to make sure I knew how to eat a Lobster, but I looked like a pro doing it. Here’s the video for reference if there’s any other Lobster eating rookies out there: How to Eat a Lobster: How To Eat a Lobster Like a Pro
There was an ornament I wanted to buy in Dock Square that I didn’t buy the day before, so we headed back there to pick it up before the store closed. While waiting for the cashier to come back from break, we stumbled upon the CUTEST experience: Sea Love Candles. This was a candle making experience, and it you know anything about me, I am candle OBSESSED! We got to choose our own candle jar, choose our scents from 1000+ combinations, and get to make the candle start to finish.This experience was incredibly affordable too, I believe our total was about $85 after tax for making 2 candles (and I even upgraded mine to a larger size! The experience took about 1 hour and I was able to make a Christmas themed candle and Ryan made a Fall themed candle! It was such a fun experience and a great souvenir. I want a Sea Love Candles in Dallas!
We had to wait about 2 hours for the candles to set before we could pick them up, so we went to Baston River Brewing & Distilling in the square while we waited! This was such a fun brewery, they had shuffle board, darts, huge scrabble and tons more to do. Ryan and I played each other in shuffleboard and if I remember correctly, I won the tiebreaker round there. After we went to pick up our candles, we grabbed dinner in the square at Alisson’s Restaurant. I would highly recommend this spot, I had a blueberry mojito that was delicious and Ryan loved their beer. If I have 1 tip for this restaurant, I’d say share a plate, these portions are HUGE. I got the Cajun Chicken Pasta and Ryan got The Ultimate Nachos. We sat there eating and enjoying our time for 2 hours and neither of us could finish our plates. It was very good though! We, again, ended our night with s’mores at The Lodge on the Cove and headed to bed before our early trip home the next morning.
DAY 4: We had to leave The Lodge at 5AM to get to the Boston airport for our 8:30 flight. If I have 1 tip for you, don’t book your flights in Boston near rush hour, it took us almost 2 hours and 15 minutes to get to the airport during rush hour instead of our estimated 1 hour and 30 minute trip. Then we returned our car and headed home to Texas!
This short fall trip is definitely one of our favorite trips we’ve been on. It had the perfect mix of adventure to foodie, to chill, it was perfect. Here’s the link if you’re interested in booking The Lodge on The Cove: Book Here!
I highly recommend you adding Kennebunkport, Maine to your travel list! It also is an incredibly hot summer spot! And if you need anymore of a reason, here’s a video from our time in Maine: The Hart’s Trip to Maine
You can check out more of our travel adventures in the Travel category of my blog!