The Maine coast harbors many secrets – filled with raw natural beauty, rustic settlements and lobster pounds serving the day’s catch fresh.

Harpswell, just North of Portland is quintessential coastal Maine.

Join us as we explore this magnificent seaside town, exploring shops, hiking trails and ending with glorious lobster rolls and dessert.

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Harpswell is a town of just over 5,000 about an hour’s drive from Portland, Just South of Brunswick. The town contains over 200 islands, but the largest are Sebascodegan Island, Orr Island and Bailey Island each connected to the mainland by bridges.

Harpwell is a great option if you want to see the rustic side of Maine, without having to travel too far up the coast. It makes a great trip from Portland, or you can have your own quiet retreat at one of the many inns, bread and breakfasts and seaside inns you can stay at.

Land’s End

Our first stop had us drive all the way through Orr Island to the very end of Bailey Island to the fittingly named Land’s End.

Here you’ll find Bailey Island Beach, a small park and some rocky cliffs you can watch the waves crash against.

Here you’ll find Land’s End Gift Store, a massive 2 story emporium selling maine themed gifts and products from apparel and christmas ornaments, to mugs, art and decorative signs.

Giant’s Stairs

After buying a stained glass dragonfly for our kitchen, we headed off to our first of 3 hikes – Giant’s Stairs. 

Just a 5 minute drive from the gift shop we arrived at the McIntosh Lot Preserve and Giant Stairs Trailhead. There was plenty of parking the farther down the road we got.

It was a very short walk from the trailhead to the cliffs where we were stunned by the raw beauty of the coast and the crashing waves.

Interestingly, the rocky formation is actually igneous basalt rock caused by a magma intrusion hundreds of millions of years ago.

The tide was going out and tide pools were starting to form. It was fun exploring the rock formations and taking in the sights.

We continued along the cliffside trail, stopping to take it all in every so often.

We made it a loop by walking along the road and stopped by Betty’s Seaside Creations on the way back where we bought some homemade jelly.

Devil’s Backbone

On our way back we stopped by Mackeral Cove which featured a park with an amazing overlook of the cove and dozens of lobster boats in harbor.

From there we stopped by Fishnet Cafe which is more of a diner, but we were able to get some ice coffee to go to fuel our next hike.

After an 11 minute drive, back to Orr Island, we stopped by Devil’s Back which features 2.5 miles of hiking trails along the serene coast. We didn’t do the full 2.5 miles, but we did do the trail to Seal Cove.

Overall the trail was straight forward, but was pretty rugged in parts having to navigate roots or rocks.

As advertised, we did see a single seal off in the distance. If you’re trying to spot them, keep a look out for their snout just sticking out of the water.

Cliff Trail

We got back to the car and drove 5 Minutes to the Cliff Trailhead on Sebascodegan Island which features a spacious parking lot.

This is a great area for any skill level. There’s an ADA accessible trail following Strawberry Creek with plenty of water views and features a story you can follow along as you walk. Perfect for kids, but we enjoyed the story too.

Ultimately, we did the 2 mile loop trail, which took us into a more rugged trail with some pretty water features along the way as well as a fairy village. While we didn’t see any fairies, we could tell this community was out of our price range.

Soon it came time to hike the 150 feet to the top of the cliffs the trail is named after. At the top we were greeted with stunning views of the Long Reach.

The trail followed the coast for half a mile, before heading inland to complete our loop at the parking lot.

Erica’s Seafood

By this time we were starting to get hungry and thankfully I had a lobster pound already picked out. We drove 9 miles to Erica’s, one of the best in Harpswell with a great harbor view and live lobsters on display.

It was a little rainy so we practically had the place to ourselves. Seems tourists are allergic to weather or something. Also, good to note that this place is cash only, but they do have an ATM on premise.

We ordered a Lobster roll, a lobster melt and onion rings. The lobster roll was decadent stuffed deep with a generous portion of meat. The lobster melt was delicious and the onion rings were lightly battered and crispy.

Pammy’s Ice Cream

Afterwards, we had to stop for dessert. We passed by this cute ice cream shack on our way to Erica’s and knew we had to stop.

Pammy’s had an awesome selection of ice cream, but I went with the blueberry pie a la mode. The pie was soul warming and flavorful with a perfect flaky crust. The perfect way to end our day trip to Harpswell.

Harpswell is a little off the beaten path, still offering the best of the rustic Maine coast while still being incredibly accessible from Portland and if you’re doing the Route 1 road trip up the coast.

If you’re looking for a quiet escape, Harpswell is the perfect getaway to forget about life for a while.