Bar Harbor Campground Review

by Kathi, Site Owner
(Boise, ID)

Personally, the girls and I feel that Bar Harbor Campground offers the best camping on Mt. Desert Island. We absolutely love Bar Harbor Campground, and give it our highest recommendation!

This campground is a Downeaster family-owned campground with a great location, being only about 3 miles from the main entrance to Acadia National Park in Hulls Cove. For us, the location was definitely one of the initial attractions, but after staying there on our first Acadia vacation, we never wanted to stay anywhere else... and we never have!

What We Love About It

First off, it's got a gorgeous setting. If you like private, wooded campsites with lots of "buffer space" between as we do, they have tons. If you like spacious pull-through RV sites with an ocean view, they have that too!

But I think our favorite feature of Bar Harbor Campground is that they make you choose your own campsite. In my experience, there aren't very many campgrounds that give you that kind of freedom and control. Before you pay, you drive through the campground and pick the exact spot you want... as long as it isn't already occupied.

The bathrooms are generally well-maintained (except maybe when the park is full to capacity and kids are running wild), and though basic, they do offer flush toilets and hot showers and some mirrors above the sinks.

It's also right across the street from Pirates Cove Adventure Golf course (2 miniature golf courses that are super fun) and both a casual restaurant with a walk up ice cream window and a campstore are in front of the campground. You can walk to all these places from a path inside by the campsites (parents will need to escort children across busy Route 3 to the golf course, though).

Things That Aren't Quite as Nice

There's always a downside to things, and this campground isn't perfect, though none of the things I'm about to mention have been off-putting enough to make us look for a different campground in 6 trips to Acadia.

Still, I mention them here, just to be open and transparent.

One of the drawbacks is that they don't accept reservations, so you're taking a chance every time you go up there without any. However, in 6 trips, we were never disappointed. Even the last time, when we went in August—which is prime vacation time—we got a great site... even though it wasn't in our usual preferred loop.

Another drawback is that they only accept cash as payment... no checks (except under duress) and no credit/debit cards... unless things have changed. Our first time out that was a shock, and before ATMs were ever present everywhere you went. So, they did take pity on us and accept a check. But they weren't happy about it. So, bring cash!

One last thing... about the customer service... the owners, an older couple, are pretty typical DownEasters. That means that, although they are very courteous, they're not particularly warm. So don't go there looking for touchy feeley, because you won't find it, although I think the "kids" are slowly taking over and they seem a bit friendlier.

But you will get great service and a great campground, which to us were what was most important. If you want to stay at a beautiful Bar Harbor campground close to Acadia National Park, with all the required amenities, you won't do better than this place!