Whether it's the joy of finding the best locally crafted beer or handmade gift, the soul-restoring calm of watching the sun rise over the Atlantic, or the thrill of summiting a mountain peak, Maine delivers on the promise of authenticity and originality. Maine - forged by nature. 

THE GREAT OUTDOORS

Hiring a Registered Maine Guide can help you make the most of your outdoor experiences. An expert can help you see a moose, climb a granite face or raft down a river full of rapids. Maine's unique guides are specially trained and registered with the state and offer leadership, help and advice in hunting, fishing, sea kayaking and other outdoor skills. Many Registered Maine Guides have decades of experience and work with Maine's historic sporting camps and wilderness lodges, places you can go to experience Maine's remote beauty while pursuing your outdoor passions.

Sports lovers are in for a treat as professional soccer came to Portland in 2025. The Portland Hearts of Pine is part of the USL League One and fans can watch them in action at their home field, Fitzpatrick Stadium.  

Maine Inland Fisheries & Wildlife unveiled the new ME Outdoors mobile app. From purchasing licenses and permits to discovering new places to hunt, fish, and explore, the new app makes navigating Maine's woods and waters easy. Available now on the Apple App Store and Google Play. Search “ME Outdoors” to get started.

Ready to take a walk… and play some tunes? New installations along two riverside trails in Maine are the perfect locale for just that. The nonprofit Bath at Play installed a large xylophone and four-page music book for the Riverwalk Rhythm in Bath's Bridge Park along the Kennebec River in 2024. The xylophone, also called a cavatina, is made by Percussion Play and is designed to withstand the elements year-round. In October 2024, Brewer opened "Cool Tones on the Riverwalk," an interactive music park nestled along the scenic Brewer Riverwalk with six stand-alone instruments to play with provided mallets or just with your hands. The music park includes tubular bells, a xylophone and babel drums, and more instruments are expected to be added in the future. 

The Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) has unveiled a Gravel Adventure Field Guide. The handy guide offers cyclists new routes in a pristine section of Maine east of the Moosehead Lake region. Copies are available at many bike shops in New England and at AMC.

DoryWoman Rowing offers lessons and guided tours in a traditional-style wooden dory in Belfast Bay with an experienced Maine Guide and open water rower. They will extend their services in the winter months with a new sauna.

The Skowhegan River Park (also known as Run of River) will redevelop an industrial downtown river corridor into an accessible outdoor recreation asset with an expanded trail network and enhanced whitewater activities. The river park will improve river access and free recreation opportunities, and bolster the regional economy by attracting visitors, businesses, and new residents.

The Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument is known for its hiking, paddling and all-around epic outdoor recreation. And now, The International Dark-Sky Association, the world's recognized authority on combatting light pollution, has designated the monument as an International Dark Sky Sanctuary. Only 13 exist throughout the entire world. And in the United States, there's only one east of the Mississippi.

CULTURAL GEMS

Tekαkαpimək Contact Station, slated to open to the public in 2025, sits atop Lookout Mountain and was created to welcome the global public to Katahdin Woods National Monument. Tekαkαpimək is Penobscot for as far as one can see - pronounced de gah-gah bee mook. The architecture, landscape and cultural exhibits are the result of an extensive process with representatives of the Houlton Band of Maliseet, Mi'kmaq Nation, Passamaquoddy Tribe, and Penobscot Nation.

Maine has a new national monument – one of only 13 of 430 national park sites designated to honor women. Located in the scenic town of Newcastle adjacent to the Damariscotta River, the Frances Perkins Homestead National Monument honors Frances Perkins' (1880-1965) trailblazing advocacy for social justice and labor rights. The first woman to hold a Cabinet position in the U.S. as Secretary of Labor under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, she was the driving force behind many of the benefits and safeguards American workers count on today. Visitors can explore the historic barn and trails where Perkins rejuvenated and sought inspiration throughout her 12 years as U.S. Secretary of Labor.

Nine museums, 80,000 pieces of artwork, and a scenic drive through Maine: The Maine Art Museum Trail brings visitors on a journey to many of the state's best collections of art. Artists have endeavored to capture Maine's beauty for centuries and the trail guides you to artist colonies like Monhegan Island and Ogunquit, as well as esteemed colleges and beloved cities to experience these nine leading art museums, many open year-round.

Bay Chamber Concerts moved into the former High Mountain Hall, an iconic historic building located in downtown Camden. Expanded and renamed the Bixler Music Center the new facility now includes the 150-seat Hammer Concert Hall. Bay Chamber Concerts is an internationally known chamber music center and the Screen Door Festival.

Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, in partnership with Indigo Arts Alliance, commissioned two new major works by Indigenous artists Shane Perley-Dutcher from the Neqotkuk Wolasqiyik (Tobique First Nation) and Anna Tsouhlarakis, an enrolled citizen of the Navajo Nation and Muscogee Creek, to create permanent public art pieces that amplifies Indigenous wisdom, artistry, and presence.

Johnson Hall Opera House, Maine's oldest opera house completed a multi-million dollar renovation with state-of-the-art sound. Located in downtown Gardiner, a National Main Street community, the opera house is open year-round. 

GASTRONOMY HIGHLIGHTS

There is no shortage of opportunities to sample and enjoy the harvest of land and sea throughout the state. From visits to local farms, lobster boat tours, agricultural fairs and award-winning fine dining, Maine's food industry offers culinary discoveries year-round. Already famous for its lobster, Maine has earned a well-deserved reputation as a culinary destination in creative settings. In addition to lobster and other fresh seafood, Maine is also a leading producer of blueberries, potatoes, apples, and maple syrup – foods that are featured prominently in many traditional and modern Maine recipes.

Kitchen, a mainstay in Portland, as a café and mini-mart known for their innovative, functional, healthy food and drinks menu has opened the first of a new brand of convenience stores called LB. Mini-Mart. This is the first location for LB. Mini-Mart, with other locations throughout the Portland area to be announced later this year.

Well & Good Brewing has opened its doors in Yarmouth, serving Chuckaboo oatmeal stout, Dewdropper gose, and Saucebox Hazy IPA. The log cabin-style building also has a children's area in its cozy interior.

Bar Kosho in Bridgton has opened, serving inventive Asian fusion in a restaurant and bar on North High Street, a collaboration between The Little Mountain Store and Street Eats chef Jeremy Donovan.

Yolked Farm to Table is on the Roosevelt Trail in Windham, run by Maine natives Jesse and Mindy Bouchard, with a fine dining menu that includes rosemary chicken pie, beef osso bucco, and a rack of lamb.

Buttermilk Kitchen at Marriner's is the latest breakfast and lunch spot to open in Camden. Suzanne Vizethann, chef-owner of Buttermilk Kitchen in Atlanta, treats customers to southern-inspired dishes like fried chicken biscuits, chicken and grits, and biscuits and Maine sausage gravy, as well as Maine favorites including lobster rolls and chowder.

Portland Food News:

• Bissell Brothers has opened a second restaurant on Thompson's Point. Called The Garden, the new 58-seat greenery-filled restaurant operates adjacent to their current space.
• Lucky Cheetah opened in Portland. Expect a Cantonese dim sum-style menu, a lengthy champagne list, and Asian cocktails.
• Leisure Time Cocktail Company has just opened on Thompson's Point, with a 50-seat bar and a menu featuring sausages and pierogis. It's a great spot for concert goers!
• Thames Landing serves “modern New England fare” at a waterfront setting with menu items like a Lobster Roll, a Wagyu Petit Filet, and Seared Salmon.
• A new brunch spot has opened in Portland's West End. Ocotillo is inspired by its sister spot, Terlingua, and features indoor and outdoor dining spaces, a beautiful full-bar and custom-built booths.
• Wine Wise is adding more of their popular Wine Sails to their schedule. Enjoy sailing in Casco Bay while tasting some of the finest wines in the world. The additional sails mean more Wine Sails, Wine & Oysters Sails, and Chef Series Wine & Food Sails.

For the latest on Portland restaurant openings, check out Portland Food Map.

What to watch for in 2025 (excerpts from the Portland Press Herald):

• Josh Sobel, owner of the Philly-style sandwich shop Ramona's on Washington Avenue, is offering Portland another taste of his hometown with Benny's on Congress Street.
• Cuties, located in Portland, will offer coffee beverages and pastries in the morning and happy hour specials in the afternoon before transitioning in the evening to a casual wine and cocktail bar. The ownership team is working with friends and local purveyors to develop some proprietary beer, wine and coffee blends that will be available only at Cuties.
• Buzz has been building about Douro since last winter when the Prentice Hospitality Group first announced plans to open a sister restaurant to acclaimed fine-dining venues Twelve and Evo Kitchen + Bar. Located near Twelve at 110 Thames St., Douro will have a bright, Mediterranean-style interior aesthetic featuring blue- and white-tiled tables, high ceilings and a centerpiece bar.
• The Luke's Lobster ownership team announced plans to reopen the long-vacant Dry Dock Restaurant and Tavern on Commercial Street. The revived seafood restaurant is expected to open by early summer and will be a separate concept, not branded by Luke's.
• Elda isn't a new restaurant, but a relaunch of the fine-dining, prix-fixe restaurant that had been located in Biddeford from 2017 until last winter. It was announced last February that Elda would be moving to Portland. The goal is to reopen this summer on Portland Street.
• This all-day, brunch-focused café opened in Brunswick in January. Named for the late-morning snack enjoyed by hobbits, Elevenses is themed after J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series and will offer classic brunch dishes along with British staples and a full English breakfast.
• Co-owners Angela Lee and Alex LeBlanc are renovating the former Union Bagel space on Cumberland Avenue into a counter-service, salad-centric eatery. The core of Luncheonette's menu will feature salads with a morning menu of breakfast favorites.
• Paulo's is coming to Brunswick's Fort Andross Mill complex and will pay homage to New Jersey and the Italian-American eateries owners Jeremy and Marina Kratzer frequented before coming to Maine. Paolo's is replacing the wood-fired pizzeria Nomad, and the Skowhegan-built oven will continue to be “the focal point of the dining room, and the heartbeat of the restaurant,” according to the owners.
• Midcoast restaurateurs Chelsea and Tony Bickford have taken over the former Scarlet Begonias space in Brunswick, where they aim to open a Sicilian restaurant this winter. Pomelia's menu features four variations of Sicilian focaccia-style pizza and a selection of salads and southern Italian pastas.
• Khristine and Zac Leeman opened the upscale bistro Linden + Front in Bath in February 2024. They also own Sundrenched, a seasonal eatery on Harpswell's Bailey Island. The couple decided this fall to open a third venue at a prime location in Brunswick. The Leemans expect to launch Ram & Bull, a “modern tavern,” later this winter and will feature a variety of casual fare. 

NEW LODGING

The Asticou Hotel in Northeast Harbor reopens following a year-long $28 million renovation. The new look and feel preserves the original structure and paying homage to its historic roots. The hotel's 82 rooms include 50 renovated guestrooms and suites inside the original inn, and the addition of 15 harborside cottages and 17 harbor-view spa suites with terraces. The property will offer dining options, a heated pool with a poolside bar and grille, a spa, fitness center and more.

The Skowhegan by Kasa opened spring of 2025 in the Kennebec Valley town of Skowhegan as part of an overall redevelopment of the old Spinning Mill, a textile mill and manufacturing site along the Kennebec River. Kasa is known for its tech-enabled hospitality.

The Brunswick Hotel is reopening after a multi-million-dollar hotel and restaurant renovation. The renovation is a complete redesign of the hotel's interior, guest rooms, public spaces, and the signature Noble Kitchen & Bar.

The Nevada is the completely renovated 70-year-old landmark on Long Sands Beach in York. The building style remains as a classic motel with a sleek new look, larger large rooms, some with private terraces, and an onsite restaurant called Lulu's.

In early 2025, The Viewpoint Hotel in York unveiled The Spa House, featuring massages, facials, foot soaks, and more, inspired by the natural therapy of Maine's coast and using organically grown products. The Spa House comes on the heels of the fall 2024 opening of The Baths, offering a Canadian cedar sauna, hot tub, outdoor shower, and outdoor fireplace for all hotel guests. A cold plunge will be added soon.

After a $10 million renovation, the Dunes on the Waterfront in Ogunquit opened their new cottages. The property consists of 24 cottages overlooking Ogunquit Beach.  

The Pathmaker Hotel is Bar Harbor's newest boutique hotel and is located just two blocks from the sand bar to Bar Island and downtown. An onsite restaurant is also planned.

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