We also have some articles on special interest sightseeing, like our blog post, “5 Maine Lighthouses You Can Visit (within about an hour of Freeport)”, or our article with lighthouse map, “Maine Lighthouses – An Accessible Treasure”. We also have a multi-part guide to visiting all of Maine’s regions, entitled “Visit Maine Like A Mainer.”
4-Day Maine Coast Stay
Here is a sample for a four-day, three-night stay, combining some Freeport shopping with visits to area lighthouses:
Day 1:
- Arrive at Brewster House Bed & Breakfast for check-in in the afternoon or early evening, request dinner reservations at one of our local restaurants
- Walk to L.L. Bean for some quick shopping
- Walk to restaurant for wonderful dining
- After dinner, walk through other shops on the way back to the B&B
Day 2:
- Delicious breakfast at Brewster House Bed & Breakfast, make dinner reservations if needed
- Drive to Pemaquid Point lighthouse and park
- On the way back to Freeport, stop in Bath for lunch
- In Bath, check out the 200-year-old village on the Kennebec, then drive south along the river, passing by the Bath Ironworks to see our latest destroyers being built, check out the extraordinary Maine Maritime Museum and continue on to beautiful Popham Beach and the Civil War era fort that guards the mouth of the river.
- Return to Freeport and park at the B&B, allowing time for a glass of wine on the porch before heading to dinner at another excellent Freeport restaurant
- Evening shopping in Freeport Village before returning to Brewster House
Day 3:
- Another good breakfast at Brewster House Bed & Breakfast
- Drive to Portland Head Lighthouse in Fort Williams Park, Cape Elizabeth, and enjoy a late lunch or early supper at The Lobster Shack at Two Lights or
- Or, if it’s adventure you’re after, join the LL Bean Outdoor Adventure School for a kayaking, paddleboard, skeet-shooting, fly fishing or other amazing adventure!
- Return to Portland and wander the shops and restaurants in the Old Port.
- Come back for a live concert on the LL Bean campus, before returning to the B&B
Day 4:
- Enjoy your last breakfast at Brewster House Bed & Breakfast for this visit
- Make last-minute plans for any activities before traveling home
- Make a reservation for your next visit to Brewster House Bed & Breakfast!
- Bid a fond farewell to your hosts!
3-Day Freeport, Maine Stay
Day 1
If there is any way to arrive early in the day, this will greatly help to make the most of such a short visit to Freeport. Once you’ve checked in at your cozy B&B, you can stroll into Freeport Village, enjoying the shopping at over 160 shops and a meal at one of the fine restaurants in the village. Of course there’s the L.L. Bean campus, where the factory store is open until 7 p.m. every day but Christmas, and the other L.L. Bean stores never close.
When you run out of steam, stroll back up Main Street, packages in hand, and collapse into a porch rocker with a glass of wine or craft beer at your Freeport B&B.
Day 2
Today there are choices to make. What should we try to do, and what shall we opt to leave until a return visit?
If the weather is nice, enjoy a beautiful walk along the shore at Wolfs Neck State Park, Winslow Park or a moderate hike for the view from the top of Bradbury Mountain State Park. You could follow that with either a cruise out to Admiral Peary’s home on Eagle Island aboard Seacoast Tours, or take a beautiful drive over Great and Orrs Island for a sail with our friends on their 70′ schooner, “Alert.” You’ll drive over the longest granite bridge in the world to get there, and there are fabulous restaurant choices on the ocean on Harpswell Neck or Bailey Island! All local favorite places to eat!
You could also take the lighthouse tour by boat out of the Maine Maritime Museum to see as many as 7 lighthouses, while you enjoy the Kennebec River, eagles, ospreys and wildlife! SO MANY CHOICES!!
Day 3
Sadly, this is the day to check out (after a wonderful B&B breakfast, of course!).
Since you’re likely headed south towards home, a nice distraction would be to enjoy Portland’s light houses on your way back. You can drive through the nearby community of Cape Elizabeth with its magnificent (mostly) old homes, to Fort Williams Park, where you can see Portland Head Lighthouse from the landward side, as well as exploring the park, its fort and other amenities.
From Fort Williams Park, continue down the road (to the south – away from Portland) to the road to Two Lights State Park. Here you’ll find “Two Lights” or the Cape Elizabeth lighthouse. Two Lights set about 1/4 mile apart, when aligned would give mariners a clear idea of their position. Next to the parking area (up on the hill) is a lobster shack with a wonderful view of the sea (and good food, too).
If there is still time for more, before returning to Freeport, you might travel farther south, stopping at the quaint little town of Kennebunkport, before heading farther south to “the Yorks” (York, York Beach…) and Cape Neddick Lighthouse (also known as “the Nubble” for the small rock island it is on).
See you again soon!
1-Day Trip to Freeport, Maine
People visiting Freeport for the first time often stay only one night, not realizing how much there is to do in the area. That makes it a bit of a challenge when they ask what they should see in the short amount of time they can spend.
So, what should someone see if they have only a day?
To begin, let’s set some priorities. Do you want to shop? Do you want to see the coast? Visit lighthouses? Farms? Bird sanctuaries? Hike? Sail? Kayak? OK, now we can begin.
For the shopper, Freeport offers the L.L. Bean flagship store (open 24×7!) along with its Bike, Boating and Ski store, Hunting and Fishing Store and, of course, the Outlet. The Outlet is the only one not open 24×7 – its hours are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day but Christmas. There are also over 160 other shops and restaurants, almost all within a few blocks of us, so it is a nice walk.
If you enjoy hiking or the coastal scenery, you have choices, as you will not have time for more than one or two places to visit. Wolfe Neck State Park and Winslow Park are both within the Freeport area. Both are on the shores of Casco Bay and offer wonderful views of the bay, and Wolfe Neck offers hiking trails through the woods and along the shore. Another choice is to visit either Popham Beach State Park or Reid State Park, both offering sandy beaches, magnificent coastal views and views of the offshore islands, as well as hiking trails. Both Popham Beach and Reid are within an easy drive of Freeport.
For hiking of a more inland variety, there is nearby Bradbury Mountain State Park. Not difficult to hike, but somewhat more hilly than the others, Bradbury Mountain is only a few miles from Freeport.
If getting out on the water is your preferred way to see the coast, you have lots of choices. From the wharf in South Freeport you can rent a kayak and take the self-propelled route. Or, take a tour of Casco Bay to Admiral Peary’s Eagle Island with Captain Peter Milhollund on a Seacoast Tour. Looking for something quieter? How about a two-hour cruise (or a sunset cruise) on an antique wooden schooner built in Maine? Portland Schooner Co. has two of them and offers several daily cruises. Harpswell Neck is home to the Alert Schooner with beautiful views of the Casco with excursions daily.
Were you thinking of whale watching and/or puffin watching, or even seeing lighthouses from the water side? There are whale watching cruises and lighthouse cruises from Boothbay Harbor, just a short drive from Freeport. If you want a puffin cruise, you can find one in New Harbor, just a bit farther north.
If lighthouses are something you want to see, we have lots – over 60 of them! Some, of course, you can only see by boat. Others may be too far away (Maine has a LOT of coastline, you know!). However, there are at least eight within an hour’s drive from Freeport (that doesn’t count the ones you can see on distant islands off the coast), and another 4 or 5 if you extend the distance to an hour and a half drive. Since lighthouses can be in remote areas, we also supply our guests with maps and directions or GPS coordinates of the places where they can be found.
If you’re looking for a bird sanctuary or a working historic farm, you’ll find those right here in Freeport. Mast Landing Bird Sanctuary is a serene Maine Audubon Society property, with trails to walk, places to picnic and, of course, bird watching. Not far away is Wolfe’s Neck Farm, where cows, pigs, sheep and chickens may be seen at this organic farm on the shores of Casco Bay.
If you can only stay for a day, you’ll have some tough choices to make. You may want to consider more than one day…
