Best Lighthouses in Maine

How We Picked

Maine's roughly 65 standing lighthouses vary widely in access, condition, and what surrounds them. The picks on this list were chosen for a combination of public access (most are free or low cost), visual quality, and what they offer beyond the tower itself: a dramatic walk, a working museum, a boat trip, or a stretch of coast that makes the lighthouse part of a larger day rather than a quick roadside stop. Together they cover the full length of the Maine coast, from York in the south to Lubec five hours northeast. If you're routing a multi-day lighthouse circuit, the Maine Travel Guide has regional planning resources, and our Hotels and Inns directory can help you find places to stay as you work your way up the coast.

A note on access: most active lighthouses in Maine are maintained by the US Coast Guard and the grounds around them, not the tower interiors, are what visitors can explore. A handful have museums in the keeper's houses. Boat-access lighthouses require a tour operator and add time and expense. We've flagged those distinctions under each pick below.

Portland Head Light

Portland Head Light in Fort Williams Park, Cape Elizabeth, is the oldest lighthouse in Maine, first lit in 1791 after being commissioned by George Washington in 1787. It's also the most photographed, and for good reason: the white tower rises from a granite ledge above open Atlantic water, and the surrounding park is free to enter year-round. The keeper's house is now the Museum at Portland Head Light, open seasonally from late May through mid-November, with adult admission typically in the $3 to $5 range.

From downtown Portland, Fort Williams Park is about 15 minutes south by car, or roughly 10 minutes from Portland International Jetport (PWM). The best light for photography falls in the late afternoon, when the sun angles in from the southwest and the rocks glow. Summer weekends fill the parking lot early; arriving before 9 a.m. gives you the grounds with minimal crowds. The park's ocean trail follows the headland and drops to a rocky beach below the lighthouse, making this a solid half-day stop rather than a three-minute drive-by.

Cape Neddick Nubble Light

The Nubble Light in York sits on a small island a few dozen yards offshore, close enough to photograph clearly from the mainland but separated by open water. The viewing spot is Sohier Park on Cape Neddick Road, which has free parking, a small gift shop, and public restrooms. The island belongs to the town of York and is not accessible to visitors, but the composition from the park's rocky point, with the red keeper's house and white tower against the ocean, is one of the cleanest lighthouse images in New England.

From Portland, the Nubble is about 50 minutes south on I-95, just north of the New Hampshire border. It sits in The Maine Beaches corridor, so it pairs naturally with a day at York Beach or a stop further north in Ogunquit or Wells. Parking at Sohier Park fills by 9 or 10 a.m. on July and August weekends. The Cliff House Maine, a clifftop resort at 591 Shore Rd in Cape Neddick, is about two miles up the road and makes a comfortable overnight base for this part of the southern coast. Each winter, the town illuminates the Nubble Light with holiday lights from late November through January, and evening visits draw steady crowds on weekdays when parking is easier.

Pemaquid Point Light

Pemaquid Point Light, near Bristol on the tip of the Pemaquid Peninsula, stands above one of the most dramatic stretches of exposed ledge on the Maine coast. The granite in front of the tower has been folded and wave-carved into channels and channels that photographers spend hours working. The Fishermen's Museum operates in the keeper's house, and there's a small admission fee for the grounds and museum, typically in the $3 to $5 per adult range as of recent seasons. Hardy Boat Cruises, operating from 129 ME-32 in New Harbor, runs seasonal puffin and island trips out of this same stretch of coast, and passing close to several offshore ledge lights is part of the experience on those cruises.

Getting to Pemaquid means taking Route 130 south from Damariscotta, about 90 minutes from Portland and roughly two hours from Bangor International (BGR). The drive down the peninsula earns its time: small lobster harbors, salt ponds, and working boat docks line the route. Pemaquid sits near the center of what makes Maine's best coastal towns worth the drive, close to Damariscotta, Newcastle, and Waldoboro. Plan 45 minutes minimum on the rocks; the ledge is rough but manageable at low tide when the formations are most exposed.

Rockland Breakwater Light

At the outer end of a 7/8-mile granite breakwater jutting into Rockland Harbor sits one of the more physically demanding lighthouse visits in Maine. You walk to this one: nearly a mile across hand-laid granite blocks, with Penobscot Bay on both sides and the Camden Hills rising to the north. The breakwater starts at the end of Samoset Road, near the town's Jameson Point park area, and access is free. The Friends of Rockland Harbor Lights open the lighthouse itself on summer weekends, typically late June through Labor Day, when volunteers lead short tours of the interior.

The granite blocks are uneven and can be slippery when wet, so bring shoes with real grip rather than sandals. Rockland is about two hours from Portland via I-295 and US-1. The Samoset Resort, at 220 Warrenton St in Rockport just above the harbor, sits along this stretch of Penobscot Bay with direct water views and is one of the better coastal hotel options in the MidCoast. From the end of the breakwater on a clear day, you can see Owl's Head lighthouse across the harbor and the outlines of Vinalhaven and North Haven islands in the distance.

Marshall Point Light

Marshall Point Light stands at the tip of the St. George Peninsula in Port Clyde, reached by a short wooden walkway that spans about 50 feet of open water above the rocks. The keeper's house, maintained by the St. George Historical Society, operates as a free museum in summer months, with keeper logs and artifacts from the 1800s. The lighthouse appeared briefly in the 1994 film Forrest Gump, a detail the museum notes without making the whole visit about it.

Port Clyde is about 2.5 hours from Portland and sits at the bottom of the St. George Peninsula, which branches south off Route 1 near Thomaston. It's also the departure point for the seasonal ferry to Monhegan Island, so if you're making that trip, Marshall Point is a natural stop before and after the boat. The drive down Route 131 to Port Clyde passes through the village of Tenants Harbor, a working lobster harbor that sees few tourists and looks much as it has for the better part of a century.

Bass Harbor Head Light

Bass Harbor Head Light occupies a granite ledge on the southwest corner of Mount Desert Island, where the cliff drops straight to the water. It's inside Acadia National Park, so entry requires a park pass (currently $35 per vehicle for a 7-day Acadia pass). The lighthouse remains active and is not open to visitors, but the viewing area is a short walk from the small parking lot on Lighthouse Road, and stone steps lead down to the rocks below the light.

The classic photograph of Bass Harbor Head Light is taken from those rocks below the tower, and it requires low tide to reach the best angle. Check a tide chart before you go; at high tide the rocks beneath the lighthouse are submerged and slippery. Bass Harbor is on the quieter southwest side of Mount Desert Island, about 20 minutes from Bar Harbor by car. If you're combining a lighthouse visit with time in the park, our guide to the best hikes in Acadia National Park covers the trails across the island. The Bar Harbor Whale Watch Co, running tours from 1 West St in Bar Harbor, offers seasonal boat trips that pass several island light structures and give a different perspective on the MDI coast from the water.

Bass Harbor pairs well with a drive through the quieter western side of MDI, including the towns of Southwest Harbor and Bernard, where lobster boats still work the harbor and the tourist density drops significantly from the Bar Harbor side of the island.

West Quoddy Head Light

West Quoddy Head Light in Lubec is the easternmost lighthouse in the United States and one of a small number in the country with a candy-stripe paint pattern: alternating horizontal bands of red and white circling the tower. The lighthouse sits within West Quoddy Head State Park, which charges a day-use fee of roughly $6 to $8 per adult for out-of-state visitors. The park has a visitors center with exhibits on the area's maritime history, trails along the granite headland, and views on clear days toward Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick, a few miles across the water.

Lubec is remote even by Maine standards: about 4.5 to 5 hours northeast of Portland via US-1 and Route 189, or roughly 2.5 hours from Bangor (BGR). The town itself is worth a look, with a working waterfront and the Roosevelt Campobello International Park just across the bridge into Canada. West Quoddy Head is the first point in the contiguous United States to receive the morning sun, which means that on clear summer mornings in June and July, the light coming off the water and catching the tower is unlike anything else on the Maine coast. Fog is common, though, especially in June, so early July through September gives you the best odds of clear conditions.

Burnt Island Light

Burnt Island Light in Boothbay Harbor is accessible only by water, which turns the visit into an excursion rather than a roadside stop. The Maine Department of Marine Resources runs a summer living history program on the island from late June through August, with interpreters in period dress representing life on the island in the 1950s when the keeper still lived there. The program includes tours of the lighthouse, the keeper's house, and the grounds. Cap'n Fish's Cruises, at 42 Commercial St in Boothbay Harbor, runs lighthouse and island tours that include Burnt Island among their seasonal routes. Tickets for these boat tours typically run $30 to $45 per adult as an estimate.

Boothbay Harbor is about 60 miles northeast of Portland via I-295 and Route 27, roughly an hour and 15 minutes in light traffic. It's a productive base for this section of the MidCoast: Cap'n Fish's also runs puffin trips to Seal Island and Eastern Egg Rock from late May through early August, so you can combine lighthouse access and seabird viewing in the same day. The town has ample lodging options, and several restaurants along the harbor serve lobster rolls and chowder within walking distance of the departure dock.

Planning a Maine Lighthouse Route

For a single day out of Portland, Portland Head Light and the Nubble Light in York make the most efficient pairing: both are free to view, drivable in under an hour from the city, and offer very different coastal scenes. For a two-day MidCoast circuit, Pemaquid Point, the Rockland Breakwater, and Marshall Point form a natural loop along Route 1 and its peninsulas. Acadia visitors should not skip Bass Harbor Head Light; the detour from the park's main loop adds one of the best lighthouse compositions on Mount Desert Island with minimal extra time.

The full Maine lighthouse circuit from York to Lubec covers roughly 300 miles of coastline and takes three to five days depending on how many boat-access lighthouses you add in. Boat tours to places like Burnt Island run from late June through early September, so plan those segments for summer if possible. The shoulder seasons, May through early June and late September through October, work well for the drive-to lighthouses: the parking situations ease considerably compared to peak July and August, and the light for photography is often better in the lower sun of fall. Check our guide to Maine's best coastal towns for lodging anchors along the route.