A number of popular national parks have started limiting how many tickets they allot per day in order to manage crowds. You should be able to buy a pass 60 days prior to your visit and I would highly recommend that since it's peak leaf season.
I don't have any specific dining recommendations other than to have lobster and blueberry pie. Watching the sunrise on Cadillac Mountain is very cool and I'm not a morning person.
not let us in if they sold too many day passes?
I would check just to make sure. The other thing at Acadia is that they are issuing timed entry passes to drive up to Cadillac Mountain. If they still have that in place next June when we're going, we'll just hike up instead.
Manchester, NH is a bigger airport but about 4 hours+ driving to Acadia.
Plenty to do there...
That's a great time of year, and may be actually crowded. That's probably peak foliage weekend, so consider the week before and after as well. Temps probably high 40's- upper 60's
Lots of cool towns in that area. Definitely go on a boat cruise of some type...day or night, schooners, lobster boats, fishing, whale watching, puffin/seals watching...any kind of boat ride is great. We did a moonlight wine cruise on a 3 sail schooner and it was awesome.
Lots of great hiking
Great food and drinks
Great family activities
to Bar Harbor. There are some pretty light-houses along the way.
We spent a day in Kennebunkport. You can see the Bush compound from a distance. It is on a peninsula that goes a ways into the ocean. The secret service controls access, so you can’t get too close . The large vacation homes near by presumably are owned by very rich people, presumably Donors to the Bush campaigns.. The rest of the town is a touristy town with a decent port and quaint shops.
Bar Harbor is a touristy town with quaint shops, also. It is like most touristy towns. We stayed at an old hotel along the ocean. We took a whale watching tour on a day with rough seas. Only whales we saw were a couple fin whales, which from a distance looked like sea serpents. They are the second largest whales and were enormous
3 full days in Acadia should be ok. There are some nice hikes. Some were easy for older people like us. There is a fairly flat hike around Jordan Pond, which we did in the rain. Afterwards we ate a popover at the restaurant near Jordan Pond. They were delicious.
If you are adventuresome you can see sunrise from the top of Cadillac Mountain. We opted for sunset instead. We drove to the top of the mountain where there is somewhat limited parking, so get there early.
end of the season. Weather is going to be cool at night, but pleasant during the day. We have flown I to both Bangor and Portland depending on the price. The drive is much quicker from Bangor obviously. However, Portland is fun. Three days should be enough to do the famous hikes and see Bar Harbor.
Also you need to look at hotels now. Most are already booked for the weekend of October 2nd. I can’t imagine there is much more availability for the weekend you are looking to go.
I hardly know her.
That weekend is usually the last gasp before winter. I was there then 4-5 years ago, was a week past peak but still great. 3 days is good.
As for resturants our two must do’s are:
Jordan’s for breakfast: A local diner just off Main that specializes in Maine blueberry anything. If it’s early and not to busy you can order your muffin grilled (cut vertically, slathered with butter and then cooked on the griddle.)
Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound: Just before the bridge onto Mt. Dessert Island this is our go to “lobster in the ruff” place, as it’s right by the beach, the lobsters are boiled in seawater.
October will be past blueberry season but presumably they use some frozen blues for other times of the season?
I assume they’re frozen for the backed goods.