Bar Harbor, Ogunquit shine in TripAdvisor list of 50 summer hot spots
Photo / Renee Cordes
Bar Harbor on Mount Desert Island is a popular cruise destination and vacation spot, with notable sunsets and lots of outdoor activities available nearby in Acadia National Park.
Out of five New England destinations that made TripAdvisor’s list of 50 summer hot spots, Bar Harbor and Ogunquit outshine them all.
The travel planning and booking site ranked U.S. destinations for domestic travelers this summer based on the greatest increase in seasonal hotel booking interest, including average one-week vacation costs for hotels and airfare.
Results were based on a survey of 1,381 U.S. travelers taken this May.
Bar Harbor, Maine’s busiest passenger cruise port and perhaps best known as being the gateway to Acadia National Park, came it at No. 4 on the list, behind Wildwood Crest, N.J.; Ocean City, N.J.; and Lake George, N.Y. (No. 1, 2 and 3, respectively). Ogunquit is No. 7 on the list.
TripAdvisor calculated the average weeklong expense per person to travel to Bar Harbor at $2,229, based on a $237 average nightly hotel rate and $570 average domestic round trip airfare. TripAdvisor also found in a recent survey of 1,300 U.S. travelers that 88% are planning a vacation this summer, up 7% over last year.
For Ogunquit, whose Abenaki name means “beautiful place by the sea,” it calculated a $233 average nightly hotel rate, a $351 average domestic round trip airfare and a $1,982 average weeklong expense per person.
In its write-up of Bar Harbor, TripAdvisor highlights mansions and majestic hotels, and outdoor activities including bird- and whale-watching.
“I guess the secret is out,” Martha Searchfield, executive director of the Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce, told Mainebiz in response to the latest TripAdvisor rankings. “Once you visit Bar Harbor you fall in love and start dreaming of your next visit on your way home.”
TripAdvisor also lists the least expensive summer week to visit each place compared to the summer peak, and recommends going the week of May 29-June 4 for both.
Among the other New England places on TripAdvisor’s list, North Conway, N.H., came in at No. 17 and Newport, R.I. at No. 21, while Boston fared near the bottom at No. 45.
Find TripAdvisor’s full list here.
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