1. Dockside Guest Quarters
City: York Harbor, ME
Category: Accommodations
Telephone: (207) 363-2868 or (888) 860-74
Address: Harris Island
Description: This complex—a main house and a series of condo cottages—sits on seven seaside acres on York Harbor and began as a marina back in 1953. So many visiting skippers would ask about a room that the owners, the Lusty family, decided to renovate the derelict 1895 house on the property. With its wraparound porch, sweeping lawn, and chairs on the shore, the main house is now a white clapboard classic. The Lookout, Crow’s Nest, Quarterdeck, and Captain’s Quarters cottages are clustered along the shore, making good use of sliding glass doors and banks of windows. You can choose from a variety of floor plans—suites with kitchenettes, studios, and individual rooms are available—but everything comes with a private deck, water view, and air-conditioning. Also on the property is the Dockside Restaurant, a well-liked eatery where you can fill up on seafood.
2. Stage Neck Inn
City: York Harbor, ME
Category: Accommodations
Telephone: (207) 363-3850 or (800) 340-11
Address: 8 Stage Neck Rd.
Description: If wraparound panoramas of the open Atlantic, an indoor pool, your own private beach, and exceptional dining are the sorts of things you’re looking for during your Maine stay, the Stage Neck Inn is for you. A sprawling resort complex, the 58-room inn is a self-contained vacation, with two good restaurants, a fitness center, a full-service spa, an outdoor pool, a Jacuzzi, tennis courts—just about everything you need for a getaway. Harbor Beach, which has no public parking and is all but inaccessible to the public, is right next door, and the famous York Cliff Path is, too. York Harbor’s tiny downtown is a stroll away.
3. Sunrise Motel
City: York Harbor, ME
Category: Accommodations
Telephone: (207) 363-4542 or (800) 242-07
Address: Long Beach Ave.
Description: When you stay at a place like this boxy, three-story motor inn, you’re not looking for the high-end fineries, just a spot to lay your head between visits to the beach, which is right across the street. And if you go in with that in mind, the place is fine. It has nice balconies overlooking the crashing surf and simple rooms with bright carpeting equipped with air-conditioning, microwaves, and clean, private baths. You probably won’t even remember the inn, but you will remember the week you spent at the beach.
4. York Harbor Inn
City: York Harbor, ME
Category: Accommodations
Telephone: (800) 343-3869
Address: Route 1A
Description: The new hotels and inns that have been popping up along the coast in recent years could learn a thing or two from this old place. Everything is done with taste and attention to detail, from the 300-year-old common area to the 54 guest rooms to the dining room. The inn feels old—and when your lobby dates back to the 17th century, that helps—and its rooms are outfitted with antiques and reproductions to give you that New England country inn vibe. But all the conveniences modern travelers want are mixed right in, from private baths and Jacuzzis to phones, Internet access, and air-conditioning, to ensure that you’re comfortable. The inn is divided into several distinct sections—the Main Inn, the Yorkshire Building, Harbor Hill, and Harbor Cliffs Bed and Breakfast, and the new 1730 Harbor Crest Inn—offering varying degrees of luxury. Many of the rooms have decks with views out to the harbor; some have fireplaces. The main dining room is generally excellent and has received high marks from the likes of Food & Wine magazine, serving a lot of local seafood, creatively prepared. There’s a pub here, the Ship’s Cellar Pub, with drinks and less expensive fare as well. The inn is right across from a neat park, and the Harbor Beach is a skip away, too. The inn has periodic Internet specials to fill vacancies at the last minute, and they can include some great deals.
5. Harbor Beach
City: York Harbor, ME
Category: Parks & Recreation
Telephone: (207) 363-4422
Description: Harbor Beach is truly a stunner, but good luck finding parking. There isn’t any at the parking area nearby (it’s all reserved), so your best bet is to try to leave your car up on the street in one of the spots across from the York Harbor Inn and right next to Hartley Mason Park. They go very quickly, however, on a fine August day. The beach is a little cul-de-sac with gentle surf backed up to rocks and the Stage Neck Inn’s massive resort. You can set up your towel, enjoy the swells and the pebbly sands, and then go climb along the cool Cliff Path, if you want. Portapotties are here, and lifeguards will look after you from the end of June through Labor Day.
6. Cliff Walk
City: York Harbor, ME
Category: Parks & Recreation
Description: The equal of Ogunquit’s famous Marginal Way or Bar Harbor’s well-known Shore Path, the Cliff Walk is an extraordinary footpath that walks the fine line between the distinctive old summer homes of York Harbor and the crashing surf. It’s never become as widely talked about as other paths because it has frequently been closed to the public. The walkway, you see, goes right through the backyards of some of the nicest homes in York, ducking under banks of bay windows, passing flower beds, and skirting rows of shrubs, and on occasions in the past, public use has been curtailed due to complaints over vandalism or property rights. But the Cliff Walk is once again open, and it’s something to see. You can make the jaunt in less than an hour round-trip, beginning at Harbor Beach and walking to the pebble shore at which the path ends. The panoramas of open sea and smashing surf are as good as you’ll see anywhere, and you can scramble along the rocks, peer into tidal pools, and have a very up-close look at some fine homes. About 50 feet above the serrated shoreline in some places and broadside to the open sea, the path threads through bird-filled bushes and little groves of trees, and much of the going is paved or gravel. It’s open from 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. No dogs allowed, and don’t even think about dropping that candy wrapper—there’s a $1,000 fine for littering.
7. York Harbor Inn
City: York Harbor, ME
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (800) 343-3869
Address: Route 1A
Description: One of the best inns in the Yorks serves one of the finest meals around as well. Food & Wine magazine gave the dining room here the nod, and locals have always liked its creative uses of local seafood. Lobster lovers will want to try the Yorkshire Lobster Supreme (lobster stuffed with scallops and shrimp with thermidor-style sauce), the lobster-stuffed breast of chicken, or the ravioli and lobsters. Others might like the roast rack of lamb, the filet mignon, or the vegetable melange. Service is generally very good. Open nightly for dinner from 5:30 to 10 p.m. and from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for Sunday brunch. Reservations are always wise.
8. York Art Association Gallery
City: York Harbor, ME
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (207) 363-4049
Address: Route 1A
Description: A nice space to see the work of area talents. Open Thursday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. from May to October.
9. Sayward-Wheeler House
City: York Harbor, ME
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (207) 384-2454
Address: 9 Barrell Lane Extension
Description: Another property maintained by the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, this 1718 gem has its original furnishings—and a nice view of the York River. It was once the home of a Loyalist who served in the Massachusetts legislature, and it was opened to tours as far back as the 1860s to show how people used to live in the colonial era. Open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the first Saturday of the month from June 1 through October 15. Tours are offered on the hour between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.