The Acadia All-American Road runs about 40 miles from Trenton to Bar Harbor, Maine, crossing onto Mount Desert Island and looping through Acadia National Park.
The route follows Route 3 onto the island before joining Park Loop Road, a 27-mile scenic road built in the 1920s with funding from John D. Rockefeller Jr. Rockefeller also financed the park’s network of carriage roads, still used today for walking, biking, and horse-drawn tours.
Park Loop Road runs mostly one-way and passes rocky shoreline, forest, and freshwater ponds within a fairly short distance. Driving it without stopping takes about an hour, but most of what makes the road worth doing sits just off the pavement at marked pullouts.
Summer brings the heaviest crowds, while fall adds foliage color to the granite and spruce landscape that defines the park.
Route Details: Acadia All-American Road
Trenton to Bar Harbor (10 miles)
Route 3 crosses onto Mount Desert Island from the mainland town of Trenton, passing through wooded terrain before reaching Bar Harbor. The town serves as the gateway to the park and has most of the area’s lodging, restaurants, and the free Island Explorer shuttle stop, a bus system that reduces the need to drive during peak season.
Bar Harbor to Sand Beach (8 miles)
Entering the park from Bar Harbor, Park Loop Road passes the Hulls Cove Visitor Center before reaching Sieur de Monts, home to the Wild Gardens of Acadia, a small collection of plantings organized by the park’s natural habitats. Sand Beach, one of the few sandy beaches on this stretch of Maine coast, sits at the start of the ocean-side section of the loop, with cold water even in summer.
Sand Beach to Otter Cliffs (5 miles)
This short stretch holds some of the park’s most recognized stops. Thunder Hole, a narrow inlet where incoming waves compress and release with a loud crack under the right tide conditions, draws crowds especially around mid-tide. Otter Cliffs, granite headlands rising directly from the ocean, offer some of the highest coastal cliff views on the U.S. Atlantic seaboard.
Otter Cliffs to Jordan Pond (7 miles)
The road turns inland here, leaving the coast for forest and freshwater terrain. Jordan Pond, known for its clear water and view of the twin peaks called the Bubbles, has a historic restaurant, Jordan Pond House, known for serving popovers on its lawn since the 1890s. Several carriage road trailheads branch off near here for those who want to add a walk or bike ride.
Cadillac Mountain (spur road, round trip about 7 miles)
A spur road climbs to the summit of Cadillac Mountain, at 1,530 feet the highest point on the U.S. Atlantic coast. From October through early spring, it’s the first place in the continental United States to see the sunrise. A timed vehicle reservation is required to drive up during the park’s busier months, and the summit can be windy and cold even when the base of the mountain feels warm.
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