Visitors to Bar Harbor, Maine, enjoy its scenic coastline, whale-watching excursions and quaint shopping district, as well as the chance to stay active by hiking and driving through Acadia National Park. If you plan to visit this community but don't want to stay in a hotel, you'll find several campgrounds from which to choose.
Accommodations
You can rent RV and tent sites, cabins and lodges at Bar Harbor campgrounds. They offer grassy and wooded sites with picnic tables and fire pits. Sites may have full hookups, which include electricity, water and sewer, electricity and water only, or no hookups. Camping spots offer 20-, 30- and 50-amp electrical hookups, and RV sites have a pull-through length of up to 60 feet. Some camp sites are next to the ocean or have ocean views. Some campgrounds even offer fully furnished travel trailers for rent that sleep up to four people.
Amenities
For your basic needs, bathrooms, showers and laundry facilities are available, as well as camp stores or snack bars. To meet your technology and entertainment needs, area campgrounds offer free wireless and dial-up Internet access, as well as cable television. The Bar Harbor KOA has an outdoor movie theater, and the Bar Harbor Campground has an arcade.
Basketball courts, shuffleboard, horseshoes and playgrounds at Bar Harbor's campgrounds offer outdoor fun. Organized activities include a kids' parade, hayrides and family and team contests. The Bar Harbor KOA has its own private beach where you can swim, fish and launch a boat, and the campground also rents kayaks and bicycles.
Hadley's Point Campground offers Sunday church services each week.
Policies
Campgrounds that allow dogs may require them to be on leashes at all times and forbid you from leaving them at the campground if you go off-site for the day. Campers must also clean up after their pets. Campgrounds may ban the washing of cars and RVs and charge you a fee if you want to have visitors. Acadia National Park asks that you not bring firewood from home so it can prevent the introduction of non-native species. Instead, the park directs you to purchase firewood from stores near its campgrounds.
Schedules
Campsites in Acadia National Park are open year-round, but privately owned campgrounds operate on a seasonal schedule. They open in mid-to-late May and close in mid-October.
Costs
In the off-season, you can camp for free in Acadia National Park. During the rest of the year and at other locations, tent campers can expect to pay $10 to $65, as of September 2010, with oceanfront sites garnering the highest rate. Those with RVs see rates ranging from $20 to $81. Campers at the national park must purchase park entrance passes for their vehicles. Lodges can rent for $150 per night, and travel trailers can cost $151 per night or $750 per week.
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