Travel Details

This is a post about New England highways, so Anne's leaving me in charge.

Maybe you're wondering how to get to Belfast. Keep one thing in mind: August is vacation season in Maine, and Maine is, as they say, vacationland. There will be traffic on Friday going up and Sunday coming down. To some degree, this is unavoidable, but some tips:

There are two basic ways to get to Belfast from the south: up the coast, or inland from Augusta.

• Google Maps says that the coastal route is only about 10 minutes than the inland route. It is lying. You want the other route coming up. Going down on Sunday, the coastal route can be very pretty, and takes you through a number of nice towns. Going up, the inland route will be faster, and will make Belfast seem more like the county seat it is. That route up looks like this:


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Highway signage in Maine will occasionally try to keep steer you to I-95 instead of staying on I-295 through Portland. It is also, quite probably, lying—midcoasters speculate that it does this to stick you with an extra toll, or to keep tourists from creating traffic in Portland. You're not a tourist, so don't worry about it.