Acadia: 4 Days of Granite Headlands, Popovers and Quiet-Side Sunsets

Hulls Cove is the park's main contact station and the hub for the Island Explorer buses in season. Come here first to pay your entrance fee (or confirm your online pass), pick up a trail map, and ask about the day's tide and fog. From here the 27-mile Park Loop Road runs south along the coast. The center is open roughly early May through October, typically 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; in winter, visitor services move to the Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce office at 2 Cottage Street.

Start where the sand runs out. Granite steps at the far end of Sand Beach lead up onto the Great Head headland, and a right turn at the top puts you on an open ledge with the beach and the Beehive spread out behind you. The trail rides the rim of the headland with ocean on one side and spruce on the other, passing the stone ruins of a 1915 tea house on the high point (145 ft above sea level). At a cedar post you choose: bear left for a 1.3-mile loop, or go straight for the full 1.9-mile circuit that swings back toward the water. Footing is rocky with a few short scrambles and steep drop-offs, so wear real shoes. Between May 15 and September 15 dogs may only cross Sand Beach long enough to reach the trailhead. Sand Beach parking is congested in summer from about 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., so consider the free, seasonal Island Explorer (Routes 3, 4 and 10 stop at Sand Beach).

Tea and popovers have been served on the lawn here since 1893, and the ritual is as close to a required Acadia stop as it gets: a warm, airy popover split open and spread with butter and jam while you look down the lawn to Jordan Pond and the rounded Bubbles beyond. The restaurant also serves lobster stew and popover ice-cream sundaes, and there is a Popover and Prosecco bar for the wait. Only some tables can be reserved (the restaurant keeps most for walk-ins and quotes about a 40-minute wait in peak season), so eat a little off-peak or accept the line. Parking is very limited, especially 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The restaurant is seasonal (typically mid-May to late October; see the current-conditions notes in the tips), so have a picnic ready if you come in the shoulder months.

Burn off the popovers on the 3.3-mile loop around the pond. Start with the eastern half, which is even crushed-stone underfoot, and turn around there if you have had enough; the western half is significantly rougher, with boardwalks, rocks and footbridges. Listen for loons, watch for beaver sign, and scan the cliffs above the water for nesting peregrine falcons. The pond is a public water supply, so swimming and wading are prohibited. The view up the pond toward the Bubbles is the classic Acadia postcard. Head back to Bar Harbor by about 18:00 to freshen up before dinner.

Jordan Pond House runs a Carriage Road Carry Out service alongside its restaurant, so you can pick up something quick and eat it on the lawn or the pond's edge without waiting for a table. If you skipped popovers on Day 1 (or you simply want another round), this is the time. The restaurant is seasonal (typically mid-May to late October); outside that, bring a picnic.

Two rounded mountains that look like a pair of soft loaves from Jordan Pond House, and one of the best effort-to-view ratios in the park. From the Bubbles Divide parking lot the trail climbs steps to a junction, then splits: North Bubble is a steep scramble across open, slick-when-wet granite ledges with views of Jordan Pond, Pemetic and Sargent Mountains, and the Cranberry Isles, and a spur to South Bubble ends at Bubble Rock, a glacial erratic balanced on the edge. Together they make a 1.5-mile round trip. The neighboring Bubbles Nubble Loop is a good choice for peak fall color. There is a free Island Explorer stop for the Bubbles (mid-June to October), useful when the small lot fills.

The best short hike on the quiet side of Mount Desert Island. From a small lot on Fernald Point Road the trail climbs log and gravel steps, then exposed ledges, to a small summit with views over Somes Sound to the east and the open ocean to the south, before dropping along the ridge to Valley Cove, a quiet rocky beach, and returning on a foot-traffic-only road. The loop is about 1.5 miles (things-to-do page; one place page says 1.4). Parking is small, so an early start helps, and there is no Island Explorer service to this trailhead. It makes a good warm-up before the west-side tide pools.

A flat, 1.4-mile round-trip walk on an old gravel fire road through spruce and jack pine to a rocky shoreline with views of the Duck Islands and Great Cranberry Island. It is family-friendly and, timed to a falling tide, a good spot to look into the pools for small marine life. Never turn your back on the water, watch wet rocks, and be gentle with the creatures. Check tide times before you go: the pools are best explored as the tide goes out, so if low tide falls before noon, do Wonderland and Ship Harbor in the morning and swap the hike later. There is no toilet at the trailhead; the closest is at Ship Harbor.

A 1.3-mile figure-eight loop near Seawall that combines shoreline, spruce woods and a quiet cove. Its first loop is ADA-compliant, and the second is mostly flat with log steps and plank sections. Birders have logged loons, eiders, great blue herons, black guillemots, ospreys and eagles here. At low tide the cove and mudflats open up (if low tide is before noon, swap this stop with Wonderland or move it earlier). The directions say to bear right at the first junction, then follow blue blazes across the rocks and turn right again to complete the loop. It is a good low-effort afternoon walk before the sunset run to Bass Harbor.

Loop Road beyond Frazer Point becomes one-way and follows the peninsula's rocky shore. The main event is Schoodic Point at the southern tip of the loop: an expansive granite shoreline where ocean swells crash in. It is a popular place to experience crashing waves and watch seabirds, and the bare granite shoreline invites wandering. Stay well back from the water and away from wet rocks. The Island Explorer stops here, and the Schoodic Loop and Point Road is open year-round.

The last stop before the loop road turns one-way. A big open lawn with picnic tables, fire rings and grills stretches to the water, where a small dock is popular with people fishing (it can be unstable in larger waves). There are restrooms and plenty of parking. Bring lunch from Bar Harbor, because there is no food service here.

A brick-and-slate building on the former Navy base with exhibits about the old base and park information. It is open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in season (roughly May to late October); it is closed in the off season.