The Claremont
CITY GUIDES | NORTHEAST
The Best Hotels in Maine for Coastal Escapes, Mountain Weekends, and Everything Between
By Maria Rodriguez | March 8, 2026
AUTHOR BIO: With a day job that requires constant travel, Maria Rodriguez is likely a regular at your favorite restaurant. She’s reviewed restaurants since 2007 in magazines from Madrid to Cabo.
There are worse assignments than driving across Maine for work, though I am having trouble naming them. This is a state where a trip can mean a morning in Portland, an afternoon somewhere on the Midcoast, and a night in the mountains, with the whole thing stitched together by lobster shacks, winding roads, and the kind of scenery that makes even a hotel parking lot feel cinematic if the light hits it right.
I visit Maine often enough now that checking into a good hotel here has become one of the more absurd luxuries of my job, a small professional perk disguised as research.
That is also why a list of the best hotels in Maine needs more range than the usual polished coastal suspects. The best stays in Maine are spread across the state, from Portland to the southern shore, from Camden and Mount Desert Island to lake country and ski country, and each one says something different about how to do Maine well. These are the Maine hotels I happily build my trip around.
Asticou Hotel, Northeast Harbor
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
The Asticou is one of those grand old Maine hotels that could have coasted forever on its view and its pedigree, but instead it reopened in 2025 after a major renovation with 82 accommodations that now include harborside cottages and harbor-view spa suites. The place still gives you the old-money Mount Desert Island mood, but now it also has a pool, Dahlia’s for all-day dining, Moss Bar for drinks, and enough polish that returning from Acadia can feel less like recovery and more like an upgrade. This is the stay for people who want the national park nearby but do not need to spend the night pretending rustic hardship is part of their personality.
Best for: Acadia with comfort and a little social standing
Blair Hill Inn, Greenville
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Blair Hill Inn sits above Moosehead Lake with just 10 rooms and an understated luxury that never feels fussy. It is the only Relais & Châteaux hotel and restaurant in Maine, and it backs that up with a farm-to-table restaurant, a complimentary full breakfast, and 21 hillside acres that make coastal Maine suddenly feel very special. This is where I go for lake views, a serious dinner, and the satisfaction of being far from everybody else’s lobster-roll itinerary.
Best for: Moosehead Lake luxury without the fuss
The Claremont Hotel, Southwest Harbor
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The Claremont understands one of Mount Desert Island’s most useful truths, which is that Southwest Harbor is where to stay when Bar Harbor starts feeling overrun by New York license plates. The hotel spreads its rooms across the historic main inn, cottages, cabins, and houses, then gives guests enough to do on-site with Little Fern, Harry’s Bar, Batson River Fish Camp on the dock, a heated pool, cabanas, spa, croquet, and boat charters on Somes Sound. It feels like the version of an Acadia trip for people who enjoy scenery but also enjoy not standing in line behind six families buying fudge.
Best for: Mount Desert Island without the Bar Harbor mess
Cliff House Maine, Cape Neddick
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Cliff House does not bother with modesty, which is the correct instinct when your whole property is hanging over the Atlantic on the southern Maine cliffs. The rooms lean into the view with private balconies, while the rest of the place piles on the reasons to stay put with a spa, year-round pools, Tiller, and Nubb’s Lobster Shack, where the setting is doing at least half the seduction. This is the Maine resort for a weekend built around staring at the ocean, ordering another drink, and calling that a wellness plan.
Best for: Big-ocean drama and full-resort indulgence
Hidden Pond, Kennebunkport
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Hidden Pond sells the appeal of disappearing into the woods, even though you are doing it with two outdoor pools, a three-room treetop spa, and a well-regarded restaurant called Earth. The resort spreads across 60 acres of birch groves and balsam fir a few minutes from Goose Rocks Beach, and the whole place is calibrated for people who want Maine to feel natural but never inconvenient. It is the kind of polished woodland escape that works especially well for anyone who likes the idea of roughing it right up until check-in.
Best for: Woodsy luxury with dinner and a spa already handled
Inn by the Sea, Cape Elizabeth
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Inn by the Sea has the decency to put the ocean right there, with a boardwalk through the dunes to Crescent Beach, while also understanding that not everyone comes to Maine to suffer nobly in the elements. The place pairs that beachfront setting with a spa, Sea Glass for seasonal dining, family programming, pet-friendly stays where dogs are welcome, and a long-running foster-dog partnership that has led to well over 150 adoptions. Plenty of hotels say they have heart, but this one built a real operating system for it.
Best for: Beachfront Maine, especially with a dog in tow
Lockwood Hotel, Waterville
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Lockwood earns its place on a statewide hotel list by doing something harder than coastal charm, which is making inland Maine feel like a destination instead of a logistical necessity. The downtown Waterville property has 53 rooms and suites, Front & Main downstairs, and enough style in the rooms and public spaces that a stay here feels deliberate rather than compromised. This is the hotel for central Maine when the goal is not lighthouse cosplay but a smart base with an actual point of view.
Best for: A polished inland base
The Longfellow Hotel, Portland
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
The Longfellow arrived in Portland as the city’s first independently owned new hotel in nearly 20 years. The 48-room property leans into calm with Astraea spa, private infrared saunas, yoga, Twinflower Café, and Five of Clubs Bar, all wrapped in the kind of design that suggests somebody finally realized Portland could use a hotel that was not just charming, but composed. It is the right pick for a Portland weekend when the plan involves eating extremely well and then a relaxing massage.
Best for: Portland with a spa and good taste
The Norumbega, Camden
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
The Norumbega has a built-in advantage over most hotels by being an 1880s stone mansion that looks like it could be home to a romance novelist. Inside, the 11-room hotel keeps things civilized with king beds, en-suite baths, gracious seating areas, and breakfast serious enough to remind you Camden still knows how to do this kind of stay properly. This is the Midcoast hotel for people who want romance and history, but only in the most charming of spaces.
Best for: Camden romance with real architectural swagger
Quisisana Resort, Lovell
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Open only for the summer on Lake Kezar, Quisisana has 40 cottages and seven lodge rooms, with rates that include meals and nightly musical entertainment. Cottages come with porches, air conditioning, and no televisions or telephones, which feels deeply relaxing in our ever-connected times. By the second day, the lake, the boats, and the odd little rhythm of the place tend to win over any need for screens.
Best for: A disconnected summer weeken on the lake
Samoset Resort, Rockport
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Samoset splays out over 230 lovely oceanfront acres. The property comes with an 18-hole championship golf course, a zero-entry pool, a spa, multiple dining options, and the kind of broad-shouldered resort energy that works well for families, golfers, and anybody who likes their vacations with room to roam.
Best for: Midcoast resort living with golf and family appeal
Sugarloaf Mountain Hotel, Carrabassett Valley
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Sugarloaf Mountain Hotel knows why people are here and wisely does not waste anybody’s time pretending the answer is a meditation journey. The hotel is within walking distance of the chairlifts and adds the practical stuff that actually matters, including a 30-person hot tub, breakfast and dinner at 45 North, winter valet parking, a free winter shuttle, and a fitness center. In a state full of properties selling serenity, this one is selling access, which is often the more useful luxury.
Best for: Ski weekends and mountain access
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