Best Glamping near Machiasport, ME

Hadley's Point is a private campground just outside Acadia National Park. This campground prides itself on being family-friendly and welcoming to pets.

Children are allowed to bike throughout the campground until dusk. While we stayed, there was a campground-wide Fourth of July bike parade. The kids loved it. 

Pets are welcome but cannot be abandoned in the motorhome when you leave. Plan to take your pet with you everywhere.

Hadley's Point offers laundry facilities, showers, a heated pool, cornhole, and shuffleboard. While the pool is heated, it is not hot -- or even very warm. But this is Maine we are talking about, and I'm sure that the water was warmer than it would otherwise have been. 

The campground is primarily designed to accommodate RVs and motorhomes. The large fields and open lots for RVs provide ample parking and the campground offered electricity as well as other hookups. 

Cute cabins offer cozy sleeping (but no running water) for visitors without tents or RVs. 

We brought our tent and felt a little like second-class citizens at this RV-focused campground. The tent sites were tiny. Our large van, tent, and screened-in pavilion covered the entire site, leaving very little walking space. Our site also lacked trees for shade and hammocks. 

Worse yet, the campground has an infestation of Black-Legged Deer Ticks -- the ticks responsible for Lyme disease. We found two on our son during our stay. I hope they treat for these ticks soon because it poses a huge risk to their campers. 

There is a lot of potential for this campground but they need to spray the grounds for ticks and create more comfortable sites. They could be awesome if they shifted their focus from trying to fit as many people as possible to creating a comfortable camping experience for all. 

Pros:

- Heated pool

- Bathrooms cleaned regularly

- Laundry

- Good price

- Good location

- Playground

- Kid and pet friendly

- Island Explorer Bus stops at the campground

Cons:

- Cramped sites

- Ticks

- Crowded

This is a nice campground located close to Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park. The campground does not take reservations so you can pick whatever open site you want and if you want to extend your stay, you can. When you arrive, you get a map, find an empty site, get set-up and then go back to the office to register. Once you’re in the park if you want a different site that has a better view or FHU’s, the best thing to do is drive or walk around the section you are interested in and if you see someone packing up put a personal item (chair, table cloth, etc.). Then head to the office and let them know what site you are moving to. Weird system but it seems to work as this is how things have always been done. All different types of sites are available from FHU, electric/water, or privative sites. Each site has a picnic table and fire ring. There are some sections that are nicely wooded which is great for the shade in the summer and to add a little privacy. Other sites are right on the ocean with great views but these sites are pretty close together and hard to get since the campground is first come, first served. Roads in the park are paved but some corners can be a little tight for big-rigs, best to unhitch your tow car up front in case you have to back up. The camp hosts do a great job of keeping the campground clean and were always out and about cleaning sites, fire pits, and the bathrooms.

This campground is in a good location right off Route 3 and a short drive to Bar Harbor. There is the Island Explorer (free) shuttle that have various routes and stops on Mount Desert Island and Acadia NP. The shuttle stops at the campground so you can hitch a ride downtown or to the park and not have to worry about parking.  The shuttle has a bike rack so you can bring your bike and pets are allowed.  The campground is very clean with no litter and well-maintained. The bathrooms were very clean showers are 25 cents/5 minutes. There is a really nice large swimming pool perched right along the water, nice little nature trails/dog walking areas, laundry, game room, shuffleboard, playground, water access, arcade, and more. 

Just outside the campground (within walking distance) is Utter Heaven an ice cream shop and Mainely Meat a BBQ joint. Across the street is a Pirates Cove– a mini golf course on steroids. During the summer season this place is really busy but calms down when kids go back to school.

This campground is absolutely adorable. RV, tent , Treehouse camping to camping out in a Teepee! I surprised my husband with the Teepee- we were not disappointed! A huge Teepee with a very comfortable queen size bed- a couch, table, area animal rugs , coffee maker and a fan if needed. We were asked to bring our own bedding due to Covid regulations - which we did not mind at all. The very clean restrooms were located nearby , which was convient. The staff was so friendly and very accommodating. Sleeping in the TeePee was an incredible experience and we would definitely do it again - so fun! All we needed was a horse- haha! The owner also offers horseback riding lessons and trail rides.

our family of four (my Husband and I and our 2 boys) stayed in a camping cabin for 5 days at the end of June. The cabin contained a queen sized bed and a set of bunk beds. It also had a private bathroom with metered shower. 50 cents got you a hot, 7 minute shower, which was plenty of time! You need to supply your own linens and towels. Toilet paper, garbage bags and a broom/dustpan are supplied. There was a fire ring outside of the cabin and a picnic table. We purchased firewood at a stand close to the campground. We found the cabins to be spaced far enough apart that we had peace and quiet and privacy. If you had wanted to make friends with your neighbors, you could. We noticed lots of families with children staying in the cabins area. The campground itself had a heated swimming pool. Best of all, the campground was on the Island Explorer bus route, which is a series of busses that take you to different areas of Acadia National Park and into the surrounding towns. Once you arrive at the campground, you wouldn’t need to use your car again!

Let’s be real. Camping near ANY water, fresh or salt, includes high likelihood of bugs...warmer weather makes it worse, of COURSE. And perhaps predictably, any odor, fecal or otherwise, is amplified with heat...hence the effectiveness of scented candles, no?

I just spent the most splendid two nights at this gorgeous place, in site 103. We brought our kayaks too, and waved off launching not because of the steep path to the water, but simply due to the fascinatingly rapid tidal movements. We’d been camping for a week at a couple of lake places and had enjoyed enough kayaking to hold us over. And for the record: the government website clearly shows a diagram that describes all campsites designated as “walk-ins”, and most adults could be expected to be capable of using online topography and aerial photos to preview applicability of specific sites for shore access...ahem.

That permitted plenty of time for casual touring locally and innumerable amazing photography opportunities on trails and at the sea coast. Breathtaking is a word overused but I have zero hesitation to apply it here.

Locals are congenial and rightfully proud of their beautiful homeland, and happy to share information and recommendations.

We stayed at the very beginning of October-leaves near peak color, no crowd and no bugs. Never smelled any poop except when contributing personally.

Clams are so easy to harvest at low tide that the park sets a 1 Peck limit! Look it up-a peck is a sizable volume, haha, and refreshingly non-metric.

DID find showering first thing in the morning to be an exercise in personal fortitude! Air was frosty and the facility was open to ambient conditions so there was quite a difference in temperature between the air in the stall and the hot water from the nozzle. Oh sure, the curtain was showing signs of a long season yet still functioned to shield my fresh towel and clothing from direct spray, and the stall had a plywood door and latch for privacy regardless. Hot water lasted fine and bathing success achieved.

PLEASE consider general realities of outdoor environments and do not pass up any chance to stay here. It’s as nice as any place I’ve ever stayed and I’m a geezer with lots of comparators.

Surrounded by water on 3 sides, this state park has a lot to offer. Well off the beaten track on the tidal backwater of Cobscook Bay, this park has a wide variety of sites to suit everyone’s style of camping. From full water and electrical RV hook-up sites, to tent-only camping loops, you can find your own camping bliss in this amazing park. 

Each site comes with the standard picnic table and fire pit, but many have a shelter over the table as well. There are many pit-toilets scattered throughout, and the centralized bath house only offers inexpensive showers and sinks, no flush toilets however. 

Additionally, there is a huge playground for the kids, as well as designated picnic sites complete with fire pit and picnic shelters. The campground loops wind around small headlands into the bay, so there are literally dozens of waterfront sites, but they are of course the most popular. 

The bay is tidal, and has a HUGE tidal range, so opportunities for tide pooling, paddling, and other water sports just need a little planning ahead.   Be sure to check out the reversing falls, just a 20 minute drive from the park. There is a nice boat ramp and picnic area just north of the park on the main road. 

Calais is the nearest town, about 30 minutes away, and has all the you need while camping in the area.

We love this campground because of the location and amazing views! Sunset Point is a small, family-owned campground that sits beautifully perched on Johnson Bay just minutes from downtown Lubec. After a busy morning of hiking or paddling we loved hanging out at our campsite in the afternoon and watching the seals, bald eagles, seabirds, and the tides come and go. 

This is one campground where the tent sites are actually in the best location in the campground as all of them have great unobstructed water views. (The only downside is they are farther away from the bathroom.) Some tent sites (A– D) have a wooden shade structure with picnic table and fire pit, the others just have a fire pit and picnic table. RV sites are 50-amp/ water and vary in length. Some are right on the water and others are in rows behind them. Warning: RV sites are very close together and there is not much space between you and your neighbor. The best sites are 12, 12A, 12B, and 16 which have the best views and are the largest sites. There are no sewer hook-ups but there is a dump station, a tote (a.k.a.,“blue boy”) that you are welcome to borrow, or you can schedule a pump out for$10/tank. Most motorhomes (in sites 16-29) choose to pull-in forward so they have a water view out of their front window and run the utilities under their RV to hook-up. Warning: do not leave your awning out while you are away from your camper as the winds can really pick up in the afternoon and damage them. 

The restrooms were super clean (although a little dated) and there is a laundry with three sets of washers and dryers for$1.50 each. Wood ($3) and ice are for sale in the camp store where they also have t-shirts/hats/post cards and a few other miscellaneous items. Wi-Fi at our site (#16) was pretty poor but worked very well near the office/laundry. We had a strong Verizon signal so we didn’t rely on their Wi-Fi. The grounds are manicured with nicely mowed grass. The only problem was that some people put out patio mats or screen rooms that killed the grass so the next camper has a big dead spot. There is a primitive kayak/canoe launch (which is basically a mowed path down to the water) which we used almost daily. It was so convenient to leave our boats down along path so we didn’t have to bring them back to our site every day. Beware that the tidal range is around 20 feet so make sure you paddle around high tide or you will have to cross a mucky, seaweed covered, rocky clam flat to get back to shore. There are lots of great places to paddle and downtown is about a 15-minute paddle and there are plenty of seals at high tide and the mackerel fishing is great. The campground has free use of lobster pots, burners, and propane tanks if you want to cook your own lobster and there is a seafood place right down the street that sells live lobster. Or you can drive about 25 miles to the town of Cutler and buy them fresh off the dock. 

Lubec is a cute little town with a few shops, restaurants, historical museum, a brewery, grocery, and a scenic view of the Passamaquoddy Bay. There is plenty of hiking on nearby nature preserves. Bring your passport and cross over to Campobello Island which was the summer home of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and is now a museum open for tours. There is also lots of hiking and two lighthouses on Campobello. Nearby is Quoddy Head State Park which has some beautiful oceanfront hiking trails and a picturesque lighthouse.