Park Loop Road
A 43 km loop road around the eastern part of Mount Desert Island in Acadia National Park. It links beaches, Thunder Hole, Jordan Pond and Cadillac Mountain, the place on the U.S. East Coast where you can see the earliest sunrise.
The Park Loop Road is the main road of Acadia National Park. It circles the eastern part of Mount Desert Island in Maine for about 27 miles (43 km). Most of it is a one-way two-lane road, and you can make temporary stops in the right lane. Starting from the Hulls Cove Visitor Center near Bar Harbor and driving clockwise, you'll pass Sieur de Monts and the Wild Gardens of Acadia, the Sand Beach (the park's only sandy beach), Ocean Path, Thunder Hole (where waves roar at high tide), Otter Cliffs, Jordan Pond (where you can have afternoon tea and popovers at the Jordan Pond House), and Bubble Rock. Then a spur road leads up to Cadillac Mountain (466 m). In autumn and winter, it is one of the first places on the U.S. East Coast to see the sunrise. Driving without stopping takes about 1 hour, but a full day is recommended. You can also combine the trip with biking on the carriage roads. You need a national park entrance pass. From late May to late October, you need a timed vehicle reservation on recreation.gov to drive the Cadillac Summit Road, and sunrise slots are especially competitive. Parking is hard to find in summer, so you can take the free Island Explorer shuttle. Most sections of the road are closed in winter.