Portland - Peak Island worth a visit?

[lissie]

We've never been to Portland, and we will be there on a Sunday 7-4. Not really into shopping but like scenery, museums, landscapes,  local food particularly lobster, not terribly fit but can manage up to about 5km a day. 

 

Looking on Google maps I noticed a ferry service out to Peak Island - seems to be plenty of departures - would this be a good use of our time? 

 

ETA - this will the last Sunday in July 

Edited March 8, 2023 by lissie

[chengkp75]

Peaks is a quaint island, within eyesight of Portland.  It has some nice beaches, and some tourist shops.  For more scenery and landscapes, you could try the "Mail Boat Run" of the Casco Bay Ferry (same line as the Peaks' ferry).  This is about 1.5 hours, and tours, and stops at 5 islands, passes a few more.  This is the boat that delivers supplies to the island residents (they shop for groceries on the mainland, and the groceries are delivered to the ferry for drop off at each island), mail, and in the afternoon acts as the school bus for the kids in middle and high school.  They give a talk about the islands, island life, and great views out Casco Bay (from Cliff Island, the next land you'll see is Ireland.

 

A walk on the Eastern Prom Trail, about 2 miles, starting almost at the cruise terminal gate, gives great views down Casco Bay towards the "Calendar Islands" (so named because there are supposed to be 365 islands).

 

Portland Museum of Art is a mile walk away from the ship, and has a collection of Wyatt paintings.  (Most things to see in Portland are a mile or less from the terminal).

[lissie]

Thank you this helps a lot! Yes the mail run looks nice to - lovely that we don't have to book anything in advance -we can see how we feel and how the weather is on the day! 

[Rubyfisch]

On 3/8/2023 at 6:42 PM, lissie said:

Thank you this helps a lot! Yes the mail run looks nice to - lovely that we don't have to book anything in advance -we can see how we feel and how the weather is on the day! 

We go away to Portland for the weekend and love the Mailboat run - there are a couple of others as well that run slightly different routes (all from the same ferry terminal).

 

We had a lovely afternoon walking around Peaks one day, so that is also an option.

 

There is also a lovely walking path along the water on the main land.

 

The art museum is a nice, smaller museum. It's a bit of a walk from the port, but definitely not impossible.

 

The food scene is excellent. There is a lovely little cafe in the Maker's Gallery where you can get house made grilled blueberry muffins with honey butter steps from the dock. 

 

If you have other questions, let me know.

[Rubyfisch]

Here is a picture of Peaks Island from right by the cruise ship terminal from earlier today:

 

 

Also, there are some pictures from the Promenade you can walk along from the dock:

 

 

 

 

And this is the view from the upper path:

 

[Northern Aurora]

Just a quick comment — we have been to Portland several times and have done the mail ferry run twice.  Both times we throughly enjoyed the experience.

[Nashna]

Thank you all.  We are looking forward to the mail run in October.  We are in Portland from 7:00 am until 7:00 pm, so we should be able to do the mail run and explore quite a bit of Portland.