A New England Autumn Road Trip to Bethel, Maine

Autumn in New England is lovely! The vibrant colored trees make everything look gorgeous & the temperatures are mild and comfortable – making it a great time to soak up the outdoors & get time in nature before winter hits and the temperatures drop. What better time for a New England road trip?

When I moved to Connecticut two years ago, I created a list of places I wanted to travel to in New England, including Vermont, Rhode Island, Boston, Nantucket and Maine. I’ve visited the former four, and decided that October would be a nice time to venture out on a road trip up to Maine.

Sitting pretty as the most northeastern state in America, Maine is known for its natural beauty. For this trip, I envisioned hiking, soaking up small town country life, and getting some relaxation in – and that’s exactly what we did!

Our Route

I settled on staying in the little mountain village of Bethel, Maine. From my house in western Connecticut, Bethel is about a 6 hour drive. With my impatient 1-year old baby girl with us, we planned our New England road trip around her one nap, and built in a stop every few hours.

It’s a little tricky traveling during a pandemic, especially with restaurants, parks, and businesses having modified hours and new guidelines, but as with the rest of the trip, I was careful to do my research & find outdoorsy things to see.

Worcester

On the way up, we stopped in Worcester, MA at the Tower Hill Botanical Garden to walk around and check out the gardens for a bit. We had to make reservations ahead of time, and the botanical garden was a quiet, pretty little stop.

Portland

Next, we popped into Portland, ME for pizza and rice balls at Lazzari, a casual Italian eatery. Other Portland restaurants on my radar included:

• Green Elephant,  a vegetarian Asian bistro that I really wanted to try! The timing just didn’t work out.
• Figgy’s, which offers comfort food items like biscuits, ice cream sandwiches and soup
• Leeward for fresh pastas and cocktails
• Nura Hummus and Falafel Bar, a hummus shop in Monument Square
• Gross Confection Bar for delicious looking desserts
• Hot Suppa Southern Kitchen & Bar, where we tried to sit outside for brunch of the way home, but they had an hour wait on a Tuesday at 11 am!

Fun tidbit: Did you know that there are over 30 cities and towns named Portland across America? This trip completed me checking off visits to the two Portlands on my travel list (the other being Portland, OR).

Cape Elizabeth

On our way home, we visited the Portland area again to see the coastal town of Cape Elizabeth. It’s home to Fort Williams Park, which is a great area to see the circa-1700s Portland Head Light lighthouse, stroll around enjoying the sights of Casco Bay, and grab a bite to eat at Bite into Maine food truck. The eatery’s menu items include lobster rolls, grilled cheese, caprese sandwich and ice cream sandwiches.

All Things Bethel, Maine

The mountain village of Bethel is what I picture when I think of New England country. It’s quaint, quiet, and has a population of less than 3,000 people. It’s the perfect kind of destination for a country getaway from anywhere in New England, as well as from New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

The Bethel Inn

The town is home to a number of cute B&B type places, and we stayed at the largest gig in town, The Bethel Inn. The resort has a golf course, tavern and cross country skiing trails in wintertime.

We used timeshare points for our stay, and wound up with a wonderful condo that had a full kitchen, living room, dining room, large balcony, two bathrooms and a bedroom. Having a lot of amenities and room is especially nice now that we travel with a little one! I liked being able to feed her breakfast every morning at our place.

Hiking

One of our Maine vacation goals was to go for a few fun hikes. After all, what better way to take advantage of beautiful fall foliage than to get mountain views?

Hiking – or really, doing anything – with a 1-year old takes a bit of planning. I always try to time it up so that she isn’t getting ready for a nap (in other words, cranky) nor hungry. We don’t go for super long hikes, and I bring a few distractions like crackers and a toy if she starts to get antsy.

The first hike we did was Mount Will – a 3 mile trail with a 1,000 foot elevation gain. It’s a great trail if you like to get your heart pumping and see pretty views of the town and valley from high up, but only want to hike for a few hours.

The second hike we tried was an adventure in Grafton Notch State Park. This park has some serious hiking trails, including 12 challenging miles along the Appalachian Trail and a rocky trail that features a cave called Table Rock. We decided to try the Eyebrow Trail and Appalachian Trail Loop, which is no easy walk in the park with a 22-pound baby strapped to my husband’s back.

The 1,000-foot elevation gain trail include rope repelling and using ladder steps to cruise across a wet boulder. We completed both of these parts, but once we got to the next part – which appeared to be some rock climbing – we decided that perhaps this trail wasn’t the best idea with a baby. It was like, “Hmmm, maybe we shouldn’t risk falling and breaking our tiny human today??” 

I was bummed because I feel like perhaps we had already completed the hardest parts of the trail and were almost at the top, but at the end of the day we still had fun.

Other Bethel area trails on my radar included:

• Buck Ledge & Lapham Ledge Trails – a 3.4 mile, 646-foot elevation gain loop
• Dunn Falls – a 2 mile, 430-foot out & back trail with waterfalls
• Bethel Long Mountain Trail – a 4.7 mile, 900-foot out & back trail

Food

As with most places that are kind of out there, Bethel isn’t exactly a foodie destination, but here are the eateries I dined at.

• DiCocoa’s Bakery & Cafe. This was easily my favorite eatery in Bethel. Offering everything from almond milk golden milk lattes and bagel sandwiches to croissants and biscotti, DiCocoa’s is a great breakfast or lunch spot. There’s ample seating outside to enjoy your goodies.
• Cho Sun Sushi Bar & Restaurant. This Korean eatery offers some ethnic flair in the small town of Bethel, and I enjoyed an udon tofu stir-fry there. They have a large patio and the staff was very accommodating.
• Modern Barn – a casual eatery and neighborhood bar set in, you guessed it, a modern looking barn. Menu items include burgers, salads and potato skins.
• The Millbrook Tavern. Located at The Bethel Inn, The Millbrook Tavern offers tavern-esque foods like nachos, pizza and soup. My toddler inhaled their mushroom + butternut squash ravioli.

Other eateries on my radar included:

• Le Mu Eats – An Asian food truck whose menu items include a veggie-packed harvest bowl, fried Brussel sprouts and fried rice.
• Sunday River Brewing Company – A large brewery in town that offers pub eats like flatbreads, burgers, salads, and surprisingly, donuts. We tried to have lunch here but it was packed with a wait.
• The Bethel Sugar Shack for dessert

Other Fun Things to Do

In addition to hiking and eating, there’s other fun to be had in autumn in Bethel. Here are some ideas:

Enjoy the Bethel Pathway. This 2.2-mile walking trail includes a playground, bridge with pretty river views, and a ton of trail art. We strolled the trail and stopped to push our baby on the swing set one morning after grabbing breakfast at DiCocoa’s.

Visit Gibson’s Apple Orchard. Go apple picking, then pick up some cider and maple syrup at the tiny store at the Gibson Apple Orchard. We ventured out here one day without any cash on hand, and while it’s an all-cash establishment, the owner Ira asked me if I wanted to take my goodies and just send him a check. This is the kind of thing that I think of as small town cuteness at its finest!

Visit New Hampshire. Bethel is close to the NH border, so if you’re looking to go hiking or adventuring elsewhere, why not hop the state border? We almost ventured over to NH since neither my husband or I had visited the state before, but with the mountainous terrain, it does take a good hour or so to get anywhere in NH, so we opted to stay local with our young kiddo to save our car energy for our road trip home.

Do the Bethel Village History Walk. If you’re a history buff, you might enjoy a self-guided historic tour of Bethel, which takes you to landmarks around town.

Stop by the Swain Family Farm. Nab some local produce at this Bethel farm stand.

Overall, my family and I had a great New England road trip and loved getting to see Maine for the first time. It’s a beautiful, quaint and relaxing area for a getaway!

Tell me… Have you ever been to Maine?