Planning a trip to Camden, ME

ARRIVING

By car, Camden is right on U.S. Route 1. Coming from the south, you can shave a few minutes off the trip here by turning left onto state Route 90 about 6 miles past Waldoboro, bypassing the downtown streets of the city of Rockland.

Concord Coach (tel. 800/639-3317) runs bus service (one or two trips daily) from Boston and Portland; buses stop at the Maritime Farms grocery store on Route 1 in Rockport, a little more than a mile’s walk from either downtown Camden or Rockport harbor. 

SPECIAL EVENTS

Humanities types will enjoy Camden’s annual Harbor Arts and Books Fairs (tel. 800/223-5459 or 207/236-4404), two weekends of local artworks displayed against the stunningly scenic backdrop of the Camden Hills’ changing colors, along with a giant, tented used book sale. One happens in July, the other early in October. In between, over Labor Day weekend, the Camden Windjammer Festival sees the region’s tall-ship fleet parade through the harbor, along with food, music, and games like the annual lobster crate race, with kids (and the occasional brave adult) bounding across bobbing wooden crates in the harbor.