2 Best Hotels in Acadia National Park and Mount Desert Island, Maine

A must for nature lovers, this lodging sits on a 200-acre preserve dotted with woods, streams, salt marshes, and ponds, with spacious guest rooms in two historic buildings overlooking a private white sand beach (rare for these parts); it's also home to Oceanside Meadows Innstitute for the Arts and Sciences, which holds lectures, musical performances, art exhibits, and other events in the restored barn. Furnished with antiques, country pieces, and family treasures, breakfast is served in the sea captain’s home. Common spaces include the large, sunny living room there and a guest kitchen in the 1820s home, where a first floor room has a king bed and private deck. Both buildings face the beach, which is flanked by granite ledges. A library, stocked with the classics and nature books, is in a small 1700s structure.

Pretty period-style wallpaper and antiques add to the back-in-time, relaxed vibe at this lodging in an old home across from Prospect Harbor that offers six comfortable guest rooms, some with private entrances. All of the rooms have water views; modern baths are good-size for a bed-and-breakfast. A scrumptious full breakfast is served in the dining room adjoining the cozy parlor, which looks out on the harbor.