Hotels near US Route 1 and Camden Hills, Midcoast Maine

This is the only one of the five where the colour sits against saltwater, and that is the whole argument for the drive. US Route 1 along the Midcoast runs through Rockland, Rockport, Camden and Lincolnville with the hardwood coming right down to working harbours and the islands of Penobscot Bay behind. The centrepiece is Camden Hills State Park and the auto road up Mount Battie, which climbs 800 feet to a stone tower looking straight down over Camden harbour. Coastal Maine peaks later than inland, usually mid to late October.

Camden Hills State Park charges a day-use fee at the gate and the Mount Battie auto road is seasonal, typically running from spring until late October before closing for winter. Beyond the summit, the park has around 30 miles of trails including the Maiden Cliff loop above Megunticook Lake. Rockland, 8 miles south on Route 1, has the Farnsworth Art Museum and its Wyeth collection, which is the indoor fallback when the coastal weather turns.

Two real downsides. At three and a half hours each way this needs an overnight, and Route 1 through the coastal towns is notoriously slow in season, with single-lane bottlenecks through Wiscasset and Camden that add an hour in bad traffic. And the coastal colour is genuinely less intense than the inland routes, because the maritime climate softens the temperature swings that produce the strongest reds. You come here for the combination of water and colour, not for the colour alone.

Pro Tip: Drive the Mount Battie road in the last hour before sunset rather than at midday. The tower looks east over the bay, so late light puts the harbour and the islands in warm colour with the hills behind you lit, and the summit car park has usually emptied by then.