Top Things to Do in Portland, Maine: Eat, Shop, Explore


Date Published: Oct 22nd, 2024 | Last Updated: April 22nd, 2025
Author: Abby | Category: Travel, USA
Date of travel: Aug 5th, 2025

Portland is the largest city in Maine, full of cool shops and endless lobster rolls. Spend an afternoon here walking through the old streets, sample the abundant seafood, and take a tour around town.

Fun fact: Although Portland is the largest city in Maine, the capitol is actually Augusta!

Contents:

  1. How long do I need in Portland, Maine?
  2. Where do I park?
  3. What to do in Portland: Shop, Eat, and Explore!
    1. 1) Shop
      1. Commercial Street
      2. Exchange Street
    2. 2) Eat
      1. Portland Lobster Co.
      2. Luke’s Lobster
      3. Highroller Lobster Co.
      4. Duckfat
      5. The Holy Donut 🙅🏻‍♀️🙅🏻‍♀️🙅🏻‍♀️
    3. 3) Explore
  4. Some final thoughts
  5. Need more travel recommendations for Maine? Check out these other places!

We originally did this trip in August 2024 on our way up from New York to Rockland for the lobster festival (you can read about the lobster festival here). We stopped by Portland on our way home and spent the afternoon here walking through the streets and perusing through the variety shops ranging from cool hipster vibes to fancy boutiques. There’s a LOT of restaurants here, not just seafood. Sadly, due to our short time here and limited stomach capacity, we were only able to hit up a few places, but the next time we come back I’ll definitely be crossing more off my list!

Below is a map of downtown Portland divided into 4 regions: the arts district, government district, old port district, and waterfront district. The majority of the shops and restaurants are in the old port district (in red).

https://www.portlandmaine.com (image edited)

How long do I need in Portland, Maine?

You really only need a few hours to explore downtown Portland. Even though it’s Maine’s largest city, it’s not actually that big. It’ll take you about 20-30 minutes to walk up and down the main street of Old Port (Commercial Street) and Exchange Street, then add in a couple extra hours for shopping and eating. There are a couple of museums and points of interest you can hit up as well to fill out the day and some microbreweries to check out in the evening. We didn’t have time to do these, but I’ll include it below.

There are also harbour cruises and island-hopping ferries you can take as well to explore more outside of Portland. Therefore, if you want to just do the city itself, an afternoon will be enough (or stay longer so you can fit in more meals in a day 😜) but you can easily stretch it out to 3-4 days if you want to take it slow. Portland is a nice place to be.

Also, Cape Elizabeth is 15 minutes south of Portland and is home to Maine’s oldest and most iconic lighthouse: Portland Head Light. I’d recommend spending a couple hours here as well to check it out, do the cliff walk, and also have a look at Bug Light (the cutest smallest lighthouse I’ve ever seen). There’s also more seafood options here in case you haven’t gotten your fill of lobster rolls yet.

Where do I park?

Your best bet is to park in a city-operated parking garage in Portland. The rates are reasonable and some of them are very central and within short walking-distance to the centre of downtown Portland.

Here is a list of city-operated parking garages with the parking rates: https://www.portlandmaine.gov/296/Parking. I’ve made a map of the most central city-run parking garages below along with the most popular eateries and walking streets to give you an idea of the best location to be.

We parked in the Elm Street garage, which was $28 max per day and $4 per hour. It was easy to get to and pretty central, only a short walk to Exchange street which leads right to the harbour. We found this rate pretty reasonable (especially coming from NYC), but there are cheaper lots further away that have $15 all day parking (check the website).

Some people also say there’s free unrestricted parking on Somerset Street by the Whole Foods but we didn’t investigate this because it was too far for us to want to walk (it was also a really hot day).

I’d avoid parking in private lots since it can get crazy expensive (some up to $40-50 per day). You can also do street parking which is about $2.50-$3.00/hour, but it fills up quick and most streets have 2 hour restrictions.

Map of downtown Portland highlighting the closest parking garages and the most popular eateries. The highlighted yellow streets are the most popular for shopping.

What to do in Portland: Shop, Eat, and Explore!

We only had an afternoon here and from my research on Portland, we’ve hit up the most popular places. We do plan to come back again in the near future and explore some more, so I’ll be updating this post when we do – keep watching this space!

Some sights around downtown Portland

1) Shop

Commercial Street

Walk along Commercial Street and you’ll find many cute boutique and souvenir/gift shops lined up one after another. This street is right by the harbour and is one of the busiest touristy streets for shopping. It’s highlighted in the map above.

Exchange Street

Exchange Street is another street full of shops. This street is more tucked away compared to Commercial Street but I found the shops here to be a lot more interesting with a cool hipster vibe. There’s restaurants along this street as well with some nice coffee shops. I found this street to have more character compared to the more tourist-y Commercial Street. This street is also highlighted in the map above.

2) Eat

When in Maine…eat Lobster Rolls! There is no doubt an abundance of seafood in Maine and we had nothing but seafood on our brains so that’s what we focused on, but there were tons of other non-seafood restaurants that looked amazing as we walked by. In my research, the consensus for the top 3 places for lobster rolls were: Luke’s Lobster, Highroller, and Portland Lobster Company.

Portland Lobster Co.

Address: 180 Commercial St, Portland, ME 04101

Portland Seafood Co is a small shop on the harbour with limited seating inside the restaurant, but there’s a huge open back patio by the water where you can easily grab a seat. We went right when they opened and there were already a few people there. They have a decent sized menu and the prices were fair. They’re well known for their lobster rolls, but Toby really wanted to try the Lobster BLT since we had never seen it before – it was REALLY good and they were generous with the lobster meat. I had a classic steamed lobster. Unfortunately I had a bad time with gastro from an earlier donut shop (more on that later) so I couldn’t fully enjoy the extent of the meal, but from the bites I had, it was delicious. Toby was more than happy to help me finish my lobster.

Luke’s Lobster

Address: 60 Portland Pier, Portland, ME 04101

Everyone was going to Luke’s or talking about Luke’s. It’s probably the most popular lobster roll spot in Portland and it’s also situated right on the water. We didn’t end up coming here because we’ve had Luke’s in NYC (it is indeed damn good) and wanted to try something new. If you’ve never had Luke’s before, I’d highly recommend coming here.

Highroller Lobster Co.

Address: 104 Exchange St, Portland, ME 04101

Highroller Lobster Co. had really cool vibes and it was super busy. We needed to get on the road and we were still full from Portland Lobster Co. so we decided to grab takeout instead of sitting down in the restaurant. The takeout menu was much smaller, but we were mainly here to try out their lobster roll anyway so we didn’t mind (although there were some amazing looking dishes on the full menu – I’ve included photos of both the dine-in and the takeaway menu). We ordered two 2oz lobster rolls that was $17 each. Super pricy and it was also SUPER TINY 💔. The bread was good and it was a decent lobster roll, but for the long time we had to wait and the small portion, it wasn’t THAT good. Next time maybe we’ll go for dine-in and get more variety.

Duckfat

Address: 43 Middle St, Portland, ME 04101

Not seafood, but I thought I’d include it due to the sheer popularity of this place and how every single travel blog mentions it. This place was even featured on an episode of ‘Somebody Feed Phil’. Duckfat is known for their Belgian-style french fries that are cooked in, you guessed it, duck fat! Their poutine is the go-to most popular item. Unfortunately we did not get to try this place because when we arrived, the line was super long and it would’ve been at least an hour wait. We were still full from all the lobster rolls anyway and we also still had a 7 hour drive ahead of us, so we didn’t wait. They don’t take reservations, it’s walk-in only, but you can pre-order and have it as takeaway – something we didn’t realize until we got there.

They do have a second location that only does takeaway called Duckfat Frites Shack (43 Washington Ave, Portland, ME 04101) that may have faster service. It’s another 10 min walk that we didn’t take because by then we would’ve been too far from our car. Womp womp.

Duckfat
The Holy Donut 🙅🏻‍♀️🙅🏻‍♀️🙅🏻‍♀️

Address: 177 Commercial St, Portland, ME 04101 (there are 3 locations in Portland, but this is the most central)

I don’t get it. I honestly don’t.

The Holy Donut is a donut shop that specializes in potato-based doughnuts. Their google reviews are off the charts. Every single travel blog says to come here and they say to come here first thing in the morning before they run out and have these doughnuts for breakfast. So we did. They open at 7am and we arrived just after 9am and there was a line of about 10 people in front of us, but the line went quick. We ordered 3 donuts (at $4.50 – $5 each): the blueberry glaze (most highly recommended), the blueberry lemon, and maple bacon. There was nowhere to sit so we ate it outside.

I was so excited to try these. After having a bite of each one… I was disappointed. I don’t get the hype. The potato-based doughnut made it really dense like a heavy cake and I felt like there was too much cake to the topping ratio so you get a small amount of flavour, then the rest of the time you have a mouthful of dry dense cake. Toby liked it, but he likes dense cake.

The aftermath was what made me curse this place. We hadn’t eaten anything apart from these donuts that morning (and I only ate a total of 2/3 of a donut to save room for lunch) but I started to have the worst acid reflux I’ve ever had (and I’m not a person that gets reflux issues!). Maybe it’s the empty stomach or the dense carbs in the donut, but after 40 mins of walking, I was sweating up a storm and vomited up acidic fluid multiple times (so glad I was able to find a restroom in time). Not appetizing, I know, but this messed up my stomach for the rest of the day which was quite upsetting because I was ramped up for more lobster meals in Portland. Never again shall I come here.

But, as much as I dislike this place, there are many more that love this place so I’ve included it in this post so you can make the judgement yourself. If you do go, I’d recommend not being on an empty stomach and bring some Tums or Pepto just in case. We struggled to find a pharmacy within walking distance.

3) Explore

We pretty much just ate and walked around town looking into the shops during our afternoon in Portland. Due to the donut incident, my stomach bothered me for the rest of the day so we didn’t do much else, but here’s a list of things I found that seemed cool for our trip next time:

Some final thoughts

  • I don’t get the hype with Holy Donuts.
  • Portland is a cute town with tons of boutiques and cool shops.
  • You only need a day to explore the city, but if you want to add on island-hopping, boat cruises, and museums, you can easily spend at least 2-3 days here.
  • Try all the lobster rolls!

If you’ve been to Portland before, I’d love to hear about your favourite places or other places you’d recommend!

Discover Acadia National Park: Your Guide to Mount Desert Island


Acadia National Park is the “Crown Jewel” of the North Atlantic Coast providing breathtaking coastal views, mountainous hikes, scenic drives, beaches, and a town with no shortage of restaurants. This national park is a must-do in Maine!

Hiking Acadia’s Beehive Trail: A Complete Overview


The Beehive Trail in Acadia National Park is one of the most popular hiking trails known for its stunning panoramic views and challenging vertical climbs. This guide has all the information you need to tackle this trail.

Exploring Cape Elizabeth: Iconic Lighthouses and Lobster Rolls


Cape Elizabeth, Maine, is a serene coastal town featuring iconic lighthouses, including the famous Portland Head Light and the nearby smaller Bug Light. Visitors can explore both lighthouses and enjoy renowned lobster rolls at local spots like Bite Into Maine and the Lobster Shack at Two Lights, all in half a day.

Top Things to Do in Portland, Maine: Eat, Shop, Explore


Portland, Maine, is a charming coastal city known for its vibrant shops and seafood, particularly lobster rolls. Visitors can enjoy its historic streets, numerous dining options, and attractions, including the iconic Portland Head Light. A few hours is sufficient for a quick visit, but extending to a few days allows for deeper exploration.

Mount Battie and Megunticook: Your Camden Hiking Guide


Camden Hills State Park sits just outside the small coastal town of Camden, Maine. This park has a number of hiking trails with the most popular ones being Mount Battie and Mount Megunticook. Both of these trails offer panoramic views of the ocean coast and sweeping colourful fall foliage trees below. If you’re driving through the…

Abby2 Comments

Our Time Working in Central Victoria: Kilmore, Wallan, Woodend (the start of our working journey through the pandemic)


It was the end of August 2020, smack deep in the pandemic. The state of Victoria had the highest number of COVID cases and everyone was stressed and in lockdown. 8 months prior when there were only whispers of an emerging COVID virus overseas, Toby and I both gave in our notices with big plans ahead, not expecting everything soon to be derailed. We had planned to move out of our apartment in Balwyn in April 2020, live 1 month on Toby’s parents’ farm to prepare for our wedding, then be wed on the farm on Saturday, May 9th, 2020. After the wedding we were going to locum in the UK and travel Europe.

In March of 2020, we were working the final months of our contract. The news got scarier and scarier to watch, with COVID cases climbing higher and higher. Everyone felt a sense of unease and paranoia. Our work started with face shields and masks with social distancing then turned into curb-side/over-the-phone consulting. There was a shortage of masks and hand sanitizer and I was so glad we still plenty of our Costco bulk toilet paper left from simpler times. When they closed international borders, it was clear that our wedding would not go ahead as planned and our overseas plans were in danger. How the near future would play out was uncertain and no one knew how long the pandemic would last. We decided to continue with our plan of leaving our jobs anyway and move on to the farm to wait out the pandemic since neither of us have had a proper break since starting work as new grad veterinarians so this would be a nice extended break. We sold all of our furniture and held a couple Camberwell stalls to get rid of unwanted items, then moved the rest to the farm. We were hopeful the virus would be contained within a few months so we only postponed our wedding to November of 2020.

When we first implemented face shields in March 2020

Moving to the farm was a breath of fresh air. We had 50 acres of land to roam and open-air with cattle, chickens, and the three family dogs. Toby put together a little TV room for us so we can have our own little space and watch our evening Masterchef on TV while his dad watched the evening news. His parents did the weekly grocery shop at Dandenong Market while Toby and I cooked daily with inspiration from Masterchef. Our day-to-day was waking up, cooking, doing the dishes, then going about our own activities until the evening where sometimes I’d be baking something or Toby would be trying out a soufflé recipe (he was really into egg recipes at point to use up the abundance of eggs from the chickens) and we’d eat it together until 7-8pm when Masterchef/the evening news would come on. Rinse and repeat.

After 4 months of this, the end of the pandemic was nowhere in sight and the lack of income and working purpose was gnawing at us. One day I received a random phone call from a corporate company that asked me if I was looking for a job. During the pandemic everyone was home, paying more attention to their animals or people were rescuing animals from shelters and as a result the need for veterinarians were at an all time high. I had never actually worked for this company before, but I did apply for one of their clinics almost a year prior but I never accepted the job – they must’ve kept my information in their file and in desperate times, calling every lead they possibly had. The call came at a good time, when we were getting a little tired of the monotony and yearning for a greater purpose again. We didn’t want to commit to another full time contract job since we still had plans to leave the country when the pandemic blew over (whenever that would be), so we accepted a temporary locum job for 2 months. Within 48 hours we were packed and ready to start a new adventure. Toby stayed at the Kilmore clinic full time and I travelled between Kilmore, Wallan and Woodend.

Map of our travels and work locations
Within 48 hours of the phone call, we were packed and ready to go
Toby was pretty good at packing my little car
Kilmore is only about an hour north from the city and its surrounded by beautiful farm lands
The small town of Kilmore – our first views driving in
They had a furnished room at the back of the clinic all ready for us. There was even a really nice bathroom! This was a lot more modern than we were expecting in this small town.

The communal break room had a full kitchen for us to use. As you can see, the bulk of our things were my cooking tools and we were also loaded up with farm fresh veggies from Toby’s mom before we left <3. Toby is trying to reorganize and figure out how everything is going to fit.

We arrived at the Kilmore clinic while the clinic was closed and the practice manager showed us to our accommodation at the back of the clinic. We were expecting the worst but it was actually a very nicely renovated room with a roomy bathroom. We unpacked and settled into our new home relatively quickly.

A few days later it was Toby’s birthday. He picked out a mini cake at the local bakery.
We also tried out the local pizza, Toby’s favourite food.
I was FINALLY able to get a haircut since being in lockdown
Someone donated adult diapers to the clinic so we were using then instead of urine pads for surgeries 😂
Looks silly but it definitely worked well

After a month the landlord decided that he suddenly needed to replace the flooring of the back of the clinic so they moved us to the trailer park across the street. Looked dodgy, but it was actually quite nice! We got two small bedrooms and a full kitchen. I continued to work between the 3 clinics and Toby crossed the street everyday and continued on at Kilmore.

We had a great time over the next couple months with interesting cases and fantastic coworkers. We were only meant to stay 2 months, but decided to extend our contract another 2 months. Here’s a collection of our day-to-day and some crazy things we’ve seen along the way.

Out and about to local farmers markets on the weekends: They’ve all been small community markets but after so many months of lockdown, it was so nice to be back out in the sun again, supporting the locals.

Tallarook Farmer’s Market
Tallarook Farmer’s Market
Romsey Farmer’s Market
Romsey Farmer’s Market
Lancefield Farmer’s Market

We had some pretty good food during out stay here:

Papa Jim’s quickly became our local favourite. They had a unique salted crust. Sadly they closed down in Aug 2023. </3
We tried to get through everything on the menu before we left. The BBQ and Meat Lovers was our favourite.
Bourkies Bakehouse in Woodend was famously known for their vanilla slice
Bourkies baked goods (Vanilla slice not pictured)
Torng Bai Thai Restaurant, Wallan – AMAZING Thai red curry in this small country town! It was my go-to weekend treat ❤
Checked out Holgate Brewhouse in Woodend
Rose Garden Cafe, Kilmore
Rose Garden Cafe, Kilmore – peaceful setting with great food
The restaurant at Macedon Ranges Hotel & Spa (currently closed) – great views, average food

During our time here we took a few road trips to nearby towns:

Daylesford, VIC


Travel date: October 4th, 2020 Daylesford is known as a spa town in regional Victoria. We made a day trip here after working for 6 days straight for some relaxation. The bathhouses and spas on offer were quite pricey and we didn’t quite feel like having a spa day and bringing a change of clothes so…

Kilmore, VIC and Mount Piper


During our time in Kilmore, we did a couple of day hikes around the area. Mount Piper Situated in Broadford, Mount Piper was only about a 10 min drive from where we were staying Kilmore. There’s no entry fee and you can drive up right to the start. There are two hiking options: either the summit…

Malmsbury & Blackhill Nature Reserve, VIC


Travel Dates: October 2020 Malmsbury and Edgecombe are small towns in Central Victoria. They’re about a 12 minute drive away from each other. It’s the perfect outing to start with an early morning farmer’s market run then finish off with a hike through the Blackhill Nature Reserve in Edgecombe. Malmsbury, VIC Malmsbury Farmer’s Market This was…

Bendigo, VIC


Travel Date: November 5th, 2020 After living in a small country town for a couple months, I was craving a nice ramen or any sort of decent Japanese food, so the next biggest town near us was Bendigo. There were 2 Japanese restaurants in town and sadly the ramen at both places were both disappointing </3.…

We left at the end of December 2020. We had such a great time and met so many amazing people and would have loved to stay longer, however we told ourselves that we wanted to keep travelling Australia and made the difficult decision to say goodbye. 💔 Kilmore will always have a special place in our heart as our first locum experience and it solidified our decision to continue travelling around Australia to have more new experiences and meet more people as we wait out the rest of the pandemic.

Taco, the clinic cat

Since our departure, the company struggled to find a vet to fill the vacant position at Kilmore and last we heard they sold the practice to an independent buyer.

AbbyLeave a comment