Park Loop Road (Acadia)

Acadia National Park's 27-mile loop around the east side of Mount Desert Island, mostly one-way, stitching together Atlantic-pounded granite shore, spruce forest, Jordan Pond and the spur to Cadillac Mountain.

This is the signature drive of the Maine coast and a genuinely scenic one rather than a technical one. The eastern half runs one-way and clockwise, hugging the rocky shoreline past Sand Beach, Thunder Hole and Otter Cliffs where the Atlantic breaks right beside the lane, before turning inland past Jordan Pond. A side road climbs to the summit of Cadillac Mountain, the highest point on the US Eastern Seaboard and a famous sunrise spot. The driving is gentle, with easy curves and roadside parking, but the scenery does the work. It is extremely popular, so the road is busy in season and the Cadillac summit road now requires a timed reservation. Note the loop is closed in winter apart from a short Ocean Drive section, reopening in mid-April. Mind heavy seasonal congestion and cars stopping on the shoulder for photos, pedestrians crossing to the shoreline at Thunder Hole and Sand Beach, and the timed-entry reservation required for the Cadillac summit spur.