City: Coastal Maine, ME

Category: Accommodations

Telephone: (207) 443-2101

Description: Hermit Island is a Maine classic, one of those places where you have to work to get a site, because so many people begin planning their trip for the next year before they’ve even gone home. Right on Small Point Harbor in Phippsburg, the campground is an oceanfront resort of sorts and it offers some of the best oceanfront camping in the state. It’s been there for decades. A total of 275 sites occupy the 255-acre island; they’re spaced for privacy and set up to accommodate tents, small pop-up trailers, and pickup campers but not RVs. Many are just steps from the ocean, others are in spruce or birch groves, and some face the camping area’s harbor. All are a pretty easy walk to white-sand swimming beaches. Amenities here include a camp grocery (yes, fresh lobster), boat rentals and launching sites, pay phones, drinking water, and warm showers. The campground is quite the village in midsummer, with teens doing their mating dance, families having reunions, and anglers spinning their reels, but it is big enough that you can get away from it all if you want. The most obvious appeal of Hermit Island is for beach lovers—the island’s own or Popham, just a few miles down the road—but kayakers, sailors, and hikers enjoy stays here, too. Look into reservations sooner than later.