The Ultimate Guide to a Manhattan Chinatown Food Crawl – bring cash!


Date Published: Sept 2nd, 2025 | Last Updated: Sept 11th, 2025
Author: Abby | Category: Travel, USA

Manhattan Chinatown is full of amazing authentic Asian food but in a neighbourhood full of Chinese signage and shop keepers that barely speak English, it can be daunting to find the best food spots amongst the literal hundreds of restaurants in this neighbourhood. This food guide highlights some of my favourite places to eat in Chinatown including local must-have items! Many of these places are known for only 1 or 2 items on their menu, so we often like to jump from restaurant to restaurant, ordering only a couple things at each place to sample our way through Chinatown. Come hungry as you journey through this food crawl with me!

Contents:

  1. Before you head to Chinatown, here are a few tips to follow to ensure a good time
  2. Where is Manhattan Chinatown?
  3. My favourite Manhattan Chinatown eateries:
Manhattan Chinatown

Before you head to Chinatown, here are a few tips to follow to ensure a good time:

  1. Always bring cash. Many of these hole-in-the-wall joints only take cash and most won’t have ATMs on site. Even if they do take card, often there’ll be a discount if you pay in cash!
  2. Don’t hold up the line. Chinatown operates like many hustle and bustle places in Asia. It’s often about speed and high turnover in many of these OG places. Try and figure out what you want before you get in line (the lines can move very quickly!) or take a photo of the menu and step to the side to take your time deciding what you want to avoid holding up the line.
  3. Don’t expect good service. Time and time again so many fantastic authentic Chinese food joints get poor ratings due to poor service. In Asia, many of these authentic hole-in-the-wall eateries and old school joints are about serving up food quick and cheap and turning over as many tables as they can, street-style. Don’t expect table service, don’t expect niceties, just go in and expect good food and the rest is a bonus. Don’t take it personally, it’s just a way of life that has been ingrained in our cultures. If you prefer a good sit down service, then I’d recommend finding a larger fancy Chinese restaurant – but I have none in the recommendations below, this post is all about quick, cheap, delicious food.
  4. Be prepared to stand or take away. Not exclusive to Chinatown, many food shops in NYC are standing room only or takeaway only, so be prepared to do either. Keep this in mind especially if you’re coming from a day of walking or exploring the city and you’re looking for a place to sit for lunch.
Manhattan Chinatown after a snowstorm

Where is Manhattan Chinatown?

There are a few Chinatowns around NYC (ie Flushing and Bay Ridge), but there’s only one in Manhattan. A quick Google search will show you the outline of this neighbourhood that borders Little Italy. I’ve highlighted the neighbourhood in the maps below.

If you’re feeling like exploring the city and working up an appetite before lunch, my favourite morning route that we take visiting guests is to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge from DUMBO in Brooklyn, walk around the Financial District/Wall Street area, then head up towards Chinatown for lunch. Afterwards you could walk through Little Italy then up to SOHO. You can also consider doing a day of exploring the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island then have dinner in Chinatown afterwards.

Zoomed out map of Chinatown in Manhattan
Zoomed in map of Chinatown, Manhattan
Manhattan Chinatown after a snowstorm

Although Chinatown spans a relatively large area, many of the popular eateries are concentrated around Grand Street, Bayard Street, and Bowery. I’ve mapped out the eateries in this post below to give you an idea of where these places are located (I’m a visual learner – I like maps to orient myself when planning 😊).

My favourite Manhattan Chinatown eateries:

Without further ado, here’s a list of my favourite Chinatown eateries in Manhattan. Let me know in the comments if I’ve missed something you think should be included here!

Matcha Cafe Maiko (the best matcha soft serve we’ve ever had)

Address: 132 Bowery, New York, NY 10013 (multiple locations)
Hours: 12pm-10pm, daily
Website: https://www.matchacafe-maiko.com/eng/
Average spend per person: $5-$15
What to order: matcha and hojicha soft serve

When we first moved to New York, we stayed at an AirBnb for a few weeks until we were able to find an apartment. Matcha Cafe Maiko just happened to be right below our AirBnb. They have some of the best matcha and hojicha soft serves we’ve ever had! Matcha Cafe Maiko uses high quality matcha that allows the strong flavours to come through in all of their desserts. Highly recommend! (Although not a “Chinatown eatery”, this place is so good that I just had to include it in this post!)

Hojicha soft serve
Matcha & Hojicha swirled soft serve

Sanmiwago (a Taiwanese spot with great dumplings)

Address: 90 Bowery, New York, NY 10013
Hours: 9am-2am, daily
Website: https://sanmiwagomeals.com/menu
Average spend per person: $10-$20
What to order: signature pork and chives pan-fried dumplings

We found this place randomly because we were super hungry and it was around the corner from our AirBnb at the time. They advertise themselves as Taiwanese food which was what attracted me to them in the first place, but there are items on the menu that can be from other areas of Asia. It was a small shop and food came out quickly, I honestly can’t even remember everything we ordered, but I remembered that their signature pan-friend pork and chive dumplings were really good!

Xi’an Famous Foods (great spot for cumin lamb and noodles)

Address: 45 Bayard St, New York, NY 10013 (multiple locations)
Hours: 11am-9pm, daily
Website: http://xianfoods.com/
Average spend per person: $10-$20
What to order: spicy cumin lamb noodles, cumin lamb burger

Xi’an Famous Foods serves up delicious food with unique flavours from the Xi’an province of China (read: spicy & lots of cumin). They originally started off in a tiny hole in the wall shop and grew such a large following that they now have 16 locations across the city! A large part of their success can be attributed to a visit from Anthony Bourdain in an episode of No Reservations. Xi’an Famous Foods is known for their spicy cumin lamb noodles and the spicy cumin lamb burger. Both dishes are similar in flavour (one has the cumin lamb served over noodles and the other has the lamb stuffed inside a bun). The noodles are fresh and hand-pulled with the perfect texture so I prefer it over the burger. There’s also a side table with self-serve sauces – I would HIGHLY recommend slapping on their chilli oil and then buy a couple jars to take home. It has a great smokey flavour without being too spicy.

I first came here about 10 years ago and I’m happy to report that although their meat portions in the burger have gotten much smaller, the flavour of the food is just as delicious.

Lamb burger
Spicy cumin lamb noodles

ChiCha San Chen (the best bubble tea we’ve had)

Address: 72-74 Bayard St, New York, NY 10013
Hours: 11:30am-9:30pm daily
Website: https://chichasanchenny.com/
Average spend per person: $8-$12
What to order: bubble milk tea, dong ding oolong tea latte

This is a pretty new spot in Chinatown that only opened in May 2024. It’s a Taiwanese bubble tea company known for their high quality teas and strong flavours and they have a pretty strong fan base. As a Taiwanese person from the land of bubble teas, I’ve had more than my fair share of bubble tea so I’ve got some pretty high standards. At first glance, it’s a fancy looking shop decorated with the theme of marketing high quality Taiwanese tea. The menu is small compared to many bubble tea shops but I didn’t mind because it helps to avoid choice paralysis. We ordered the ding dong oolong tea latte and the bubble milk tea. It was pretty expensive, at about $10 per drink and only comes in the medium size. It took a while for us to get our drink but as we sat there waiting, you can appreciate how much care they take into brewing each cup of tea. The end result paid off. It was indeed one of the most tea-heavy flavourful bubble teas we’ve ever had. If you’re into quality tea, I’d highly recommend checking this place out, but be prepared to wait (it was about 15-20 minutes before we got our drink) and spend $10 per drink.

Kong Sihk Tong (Hong Kong street food)

Address: 65 Bayard St, New York, NY 10013
Hours: 8am-9pm Sun-Thurs, 8am-10pm Fri-Sat
Website: https://kongsihktong.com/
Average spend per person: $10-$20
What to order: Golden lava French toast, beef chowfun in brown sauce, baked rice

Kong Sihk Tong is a place known for serving up Hong Kong style street/fast food. We came here for the first time based on online recommendations. Food was overall average (some fantastic, some just okay) but the prices were great and the service was fast (as you’d expect from a Chinatown joint). There’s a large menu and they take cash only. We went during winter around 11:30am and we were able to be seated right away. Some reviews say that there are often lines out the door in the summer!

We got a few dishes:

  • Curry fish balls: One of their most highly reviewed dishes. It was decent, but similar to the other curry fish balls you can find in Chinatown so I didn’t feel like it was anything special.
  • Golden lava French toast: Another popular item on the menu. It tasted great, but it was definitely on the sweet side. It’s better eaten as a dessert rather than breakfast.
  • Beef chow fun in brown sauce: Fantastic. Great wok hei flavour. It was Toby’s favourite dish of the meal.
  • Baked rice with pork chop: You have an option of 3 sauces: cream, tomato, or black pepper. I ordered the cream base for nostalgia, but was pretty disappointed. I’ve definitely had way better. The pork chop in it was pretty good though! I saw many people order the baked rice – perhaps I’ll try a different sauce base last time since the waitress said it was one of their more popular dishes.

Overall, some dishes were great, some were just okay, but they’ve got a huge menu and we’re open to coming back and trying some of their other dishes!

Curry fish balls
Beef chow fun in brown sauce
Baked rice with pork chop
Golden lava French toast
Golden lava French toast

Bánh Mì Saigon (a damn good Banh Mi)

Address: 198 Grand St, New York, NY 10013
Hours: 10am -5:30pm, Tues – Sun (closed Mondays)
Website: https://banh-mi-saigon.restaurants-world.com/
Average spend per person: $6 – $10
What to order: Banh Mi Saigon (BBQ Pork sandwich)

If you’re looking for Banh Mi in NYC, you’ll be met with countless options. In the search to find the best Banh Mi NYC has to offer, two places kept popping up in my research time and time again: Bánh Mì Saigon and Saigon Vietnamese Sandwich Deli (see below).

For those that are unfamiliar what a Banh Mi is, it is a Vietnamese sandwich made with a French-style baguette-like crusty bread that is filled with a myriad of ingredients that include pickled vegetables, paté, and an option of different meats (no cilantro on mine please). This flavourful combination make it a staple in many Vietnamese restaurants in NYC.

Between the two shops, Bánh Mì Saigon is a larger shop that’s brightly lit with lots of standing room, but no place to sit. Their most popular is the “#1 Banh Mi Saigon” which includes BBQ Pork as the protein. It’s only $8 for a decent sized sandwich. They had by far the best Banh Mi bread I’ve ever had. It has such a perfect crust and texture. and there was a good balance of flavours. Highly recommend!

Saigon Vietnamese Sandwich Deli (another damn good Banh Mi)

Address: 369 Broome St, New York, NY 10013
Hours: 7am – 7pm Tues – Sat, 7am – 5pm Sun, closed Mon
Website: https://www.saigonvietnamesesandwichdeli.com/
Average spend per person: $10 – $12
What to order: #1 House Special (Grilled Pork, Vietnamese Salami, Vietnamese Ham)

Saigon Vietnamese Sandwich Deli is a much smaller shop compared to Banh Mi Saigon. This tiny shop has just enough room for their ordering counter and a large fridge with cold drinks and unlike most Chinatown shops, they actually have a small table by the window and 2 chairs for sitting. Their specialty sandwich is the “No. 1 House Special (grilled pork with Vietnamese ham and Vietnamese salami)”. Although the bread is not as perfect as the bread at Banh Mi Saigon, their filling was really flavourful. My favourite part was the Vietnamese ham 😋. Also highly recommend!

Tonii’s Fresh Rice Noodle (the best rice noodles I’ve ever had)

Address: 83 Bayard St, New York, NY 10013
Hours: 7:30am – 6:30pm
Website: none
Average spend per person:
What to order: Tonii’s special rice noodles (pork, chicken, and dry shrimp) with all the sauces

ChangFun or rice noodles are something I’ve only ever had at dim sum places. It’s usually a rolled up long white noodle dish with a protein wrapped inside and soy sauce drizzled overtop. I had never had fresh rice noodles until coming to New York and Tonii’s (yes, with 2 i’s) blew my mind! At first glance, this hole-in-the-wall shop has no seating and the inside looks a bit suss. There’s a crappy half-fallen down outdoor area with a couple of old chairs and tables that you can maybe clean off yourself if you want to sit and eat, but all the food is packaged as takeaway. I was skeptical, but upon first bite, I was in love! The fresh rice noodles here are so much softer than any dim sum place I’ve ever had. They offer a few different protein options, but their most popular (and my favourite) is the ‘Tonii’s special’ which has pork, chicken and dry shrimp. The rice noodles comes with 4 sauces that are packaged separately and you pour it on yourself: chili oil crisp, sweet soy sauce, hoisin sauce, and peanut sauce. I would highly recommend adding all 4 sauces and mix it all up. It’s seriously delicious and one of my favourite chinatown gems!

Mei Lai Wah (the best pineapple BBQ pork bun you’ll ever have)

Address: 41 Mott St, New York, NY 10013
Hours: 8:30am – 7:30pm
Website: http://meilaiwah.com/
Average spend per person: $3 – $10
What to order: Pineapple BBQ Pork Bun

Mei Lai Wah has hands down THE best BBQ pork buns (charsiu bao) in the city. They come in a regular bun or pineapple bun. The pineapple bun is a misnomer and is named due to the buttery crackled crust on top of the bun that resembles the pattern of the side of a pineapple, but has no pineapple flavour at all. I’d highly recommend getting the pineapple BBQ pork bun – it’s their number one seller. The sweet buttery topping paired with the fatty savoury charsiu pork filling is out of this world!

This place if often very busy with a line up out the door, but the line moves quickly. There’s usually 2 lines, one for cash only and the other for card payment. The cash line is usually much shorter and you can often walk right in to the counter. The shop is quite small, with very limited space and can fit about 5 or 6 people in the store at one time and it’s takeaway only. The buns are baked fresh and served right away, piping hot!

Chang Lai Fishballs Noodles (a place for fishballs and rice noodles)

Address: 55 Bayard St Store B, New York, NY 10013
Hours: 8am – 5:30pm, daily
Website: https://changlaifishballnoodles.dine.online/locations/6703032?fulfillment=pickup
Average spend per person: $10 – $15
What to order: A1. Curry fishballs with rice noodles

This fishballs and noodles shop started off as a food cart and operated on Grand Street for 30 years and only recently opened up this location in 2023. It’s run by a lovely husband and wife (?) team that are so proud of their food and so friendly. Their most popular item on the menu is the “A1 curry fishballs with rice noodles”. I thought the fishballs were just okay but Toby loved them. The rice noodles were my favourite. They’re rolled up and cut into small pieces and mixed with a combination of 4 or 5 sauces that’s a perfect portion for a snack. This is a small shop with limited seating, enough for about 3-4 people.

The Original Chinatown Ice Cream Factory (ice cream with Asian flavours)

Address: 65 Bayard St, New York, NY 10013
Hours: 11am – 10pm daily
Website: http://www.chinatownicecreamfactory.com/
Average spend per person: $8 – 16
What to order: anything! Free samples of their ice cream – popular flavours are pandan and black sesame

Chinatown Ice Cream Factory is a small shop on Bayard Street that serves, you guessed it, ice cream! There are a TON of ice cream shops throughout NYC but nowhere else will you find unique Asian ice cream flavours such as durian, black sesame, matcha, pandan, lychee, ginger, red bean – that’s just to name a few. There’s usually a small line out the door in the evenings, however it moves quickly. There’s only enough room for about 5-6 people in the shop at one time and there’s no seating available. You can sample as many flavours as you like but note that popular flavours can run out earlier in the evening, so I’d recommend coming earlier if you’ve got your eyes set on something. Although a bit pricey at $8 a scoop and $11.50 for two scoops, their portions are quite generous.

We’ve been here twice now and although there’s no doubt better quality ice cream elsewhere with a creamier texture, the flavours they infuse into their ice cream knocks it out of the park and keeps us coming back.

Double Crispy Bakery (great steam buns and egg tarts)

Address: 230 Grand St, New York, NY 10013
Hours: 7am – 7pm, every day
Website: none
Average spend per person: $5 – $10
What to order: egg tarts (2 kinds), pineapple bun, mooncakes

I’m always on the hunt for a great egg tart. Double Crispy Bakery was recommended by a coworker of mine who’s a born and bred local. This bakery offers egg tarts in two different types: a “Custard egg tart” which is more traditionally Chinese with a formed crumbly crust and an intact gelatin-like eggy center, and the other a “Macau style egg tart” which is similar to the Portuguese egg tart, pastel de nata, that has a flaky crispy crust with a softer creamier eggy center. Both were delicious. The custard filling had great flavour with a boost of vanilla, but the flaky crispy crust of the “Macau-style” was preferable for me. Although not my favourite egg tart shop (that’s in Bay Ridge), it’s still pretty good here!

They also have a good pineapple bun (a misnomer that’s named for its flaky sweet crust that resembles a pineapple, but actually has no pineapple flavour at all) and mooncakes year-round in a few flavours (I don’t love mooncakes, so you can be the judge). Their large steam buns behind the counter are also pretty decent and are filled with savoury pork, egg, and Chinese sausage.

Shu Jiao FuZhou Cuisine (cheap peanut noodles)

Address: 295 Grand St, New York, NY 10002
Hours: 8am-8pm, 7 days a week
Website: none
Average spend per person: $3-$10
What to order: No. 5 peanut noodles, fried dumplings, fish ball soup

If you’re looking for great cheap Asian food in Chinatown, look no further than Shu Jiao FuZhou Cuisine. This no-flare restaurant offers street food items served at lightning fast speeds (seriously, the food was literally ready within 1 minute of us paying!) and nothing was over $6. Their most popular dish is the “No. 5 peanut noodles 拌面” for $3.25. It’s a generous portion of well-cooked soft wheat noodles over a peanut sauce mixture – no meat, no toppings, just noodles and sauce. I had my reservations when I first walked in and every other person in the restaurant was not Asian, but I love a good peanut noodle dish so I couldn’t resist. The peanut noodles are simple but indeed delicious and worth the visit! The cashier also recommended the fried dumplings (I thought was just okay, but Toby loved it), and the fish ball soup (which I also thought was okay but Toby enjoyed the vinegar addition to this classic soup). If you’re looking for a seriously quick and cheap place for decent food, check this place out!

The ZongZi/Bah-Chang lady outside of Grand Street Station

Address: Outside of Grand Street subway station (intersection of Grand Street & Christie Street) – just listen for her call of “Baaaah-chang”!
Hours: Usually 2pm-5pm most days
Website: https://maps.app.goo.gl/pVKw4RUNyq7avchf8
Average spend per person: $2-$3
What to order: Taiwan-style zongzi/”rice dumpling”

If you’re unfamiliar with the classic Chinese staple food, Zongzi (or also known as Bah-chang in the hokkien dialect) is glutinous/sticky rice filled with a choice different ingredients all wrapped in bamboo leaves in the shape of a triangle prism. The fillings can be savoury (commonly pork belly, egg yolk, mushroom, peanuts) or sweet (commonly red bean or mung bean). The Zongzi should be warmed prior to eating – most commonly via steaming, but you can also unwrap it and microwave it if you’re feeling lazy to bust out the steamer.

Like a character from a studio Ghibli movie, the beloved elderly Zongzi/Bah-chang lady has been selling zongzi for over 2 decades outside of the Grand Street subway station at the intersection of Grand and Christie. Her husband and daughter in law makes the zongzi and she sells them. You can hear her siren call of “Baaaaah-chang!” rain or shine.

Her most popular savoury zongzi is the Taiwan style (represent!) and the most popular sweet zongzi is the red bean. She sells them at a great price at $3 per meat-filled zongi and $2 for the others. Cash only!

We first heard of this lady when we first moved to New York in early 2023 and stayed in an AirBnB a few blocks away from the Grand Street station and would often hear her “Baaah-Chang” call. Unfortunately our AirBnb wasn’t equipped with a kitchen so we never had a chance to try them until recently! I bought her two most popular types and they were indeed pretty good. There was a decent amount of filling and the texture of the sticky rice was perfect. Although I’ve had better, for the price she charges and the quality of the filling, it’s a pretty good Zongzi.

Here’s a Youtube interview I found if you want to find out more about her story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJCbypba4kM&t=386s

The menu

Mee Sum Cafe (a breakfast joint with reputable Zongzi)

Address: 26 Pell St, New York, NY 10013
Hours: 5:30am – 5pm, daily
Website: none
Average spend per person: $10-$20 per person
What to order: dim sum, zong zi

Mee Sum Cafe is known as an OG local breakfast spot, open at 5:30am every single day and serves up traditional Chinese dishes including dim sum. If you’re looking for more Zong Zi (glutinous rice dumplings wrapped in leaves) recommendations, Mee Sum Cafe has a reputation for some great ones, offering up 7 different fillings. Unfortunately when we went, they only had 3 of their 7 kinds left, with the most popular ones sold out 😔. We didn’t have time to eat here so I bought a few frozen ones to go and tried it at home – it was just okay. Perhaps the ones that were sold out are much more worthy of their reputation 🤷🏻‍♀️. I debated whether or not to include them in this post since all I had was their Zongzi and wasn’t blown away, but due to their long standing reputation as an old school breakfast spot, I decided to include it so the rest of you can make your own decision on Mee Sum Cafe and also as a place marker to remind me to go back 🙃.

7 kinds of zongzi/sticky rice wrap

Golden Diner (honey butter pancakes)

Address: 123 Madison St, New York, NY 10002
Hours: 10am – 10pm most days (10am – 3pm on Thursdays) – make reservations ahead!
Website: http://www.goldendinerny.com/
Average spend per person: $20-$30 per person
What to order: Honey Butter Pancakes

Tucked away deep into the non-touristy parts of Chinatown where you need to speak some type of Chinese dialect to order food, Golden Diner is an American-Asian fusion diner that adds a twist to classic comfort foods. You may have seen this diner featured on many Tik Tok and Instagram videos lately showcasing their viral Honey Butter Pancakes – a friend of mine from Canada actually sent me a video of this place which is how we came to find it. I’m not overly excited about pancakes in general, but I am OBSESSED with honey butter chips so of course we had to come and try it. It took two trains to get to this prickly part the lower east side and without reservations, it was a 1.5 hour wait for a table at the bar. I’m glad to report that their Honey Butter Pancakes were indeed worth it. The honey butter syrup really does taste just like the chips and the thick and fluffy pancakes was the perfect light texture to carry the heavy syrup. It comes in a single or double serving. I’d recommend the single – it’s quite heavy and after a while it can be a bit much if you don’t have a sweet tooth.

I’ve written up the recipe for these pancakes that you can check out below:

Golden Diner Honey Butter Pancakes


The Honey Butter Pancakes from Golden Diner in Manhattan are the latest viral sensation! This recipe shows you how to recreate these fluffy pancakes with the unique umami honey butter sauce and a berry compote. Be warned – these heavy but luxurious pancakes may send you into a food coma!

We ordered a few other things here that unfortunately fell short. We had their special of the day which was a asian/cumin fried chicken wings with waffles – way too much cumin and the waffles were dry, and the matcha/hojicha coffee cake which had good flavour, but unfortunately was also very dry.

All-in-all, the pancakes were definitely worth it if you like honey-butter chips, but the rest of the things we ordered fell short. If you plan on visiting, make sure you make a booking, or else it could be over an hour wait for a table!

I hope you enjoyed my list of Chinatown eats! Let me know in the comments if there’s a place you think I should include on this list!

Happy eating!
Abby

Looking For More Ultimate Food Guides? Check out these below!

The Ultimate Guide to Top Philly Cheesesteak Spots


This is my ultimate guide to Philly Cheesesteaks in Philadelphia! I’ve made it my personal mission to try as many popular cheesesteak spots as I can find through online research, word of mouth, and local reviews. This post is my personal take on these popular spots!

AbbyLeave a comment

Discover Acadia National Park: Your Guide to Mount Desert Island


Date Published: Dec 2nd, 2024 | Last Updated: Dec 2nd, 2024
Author: Abby | Category: Travel, USA
Date of travel: Oct 13-14th, 2024

START HERE: This post has everything you need to know about visiting Acadia’s 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!

Contents:

  1. Park Info
  2. An Overview
  3. When to travel
  4. How Many Days Do I Need?
  5. Where to Stay
  6. Getting Around Acadia – Driving vs the Bus
    1. Driving
    2. Island Explorer Bus
  7. Park Pass
  8. Travel Tips
    1. Start Early!
    2. Limited Cellphone Service Everywhere
    3. Bring good hiking gear
    4. Print your park pass before you go
  9. Best Things to Do:
  10. Overwhelmed? I got you. Here’s an ideal travel itinerary to hit all the highlights in 2 days

Park Info:

Location: Acadia National Park, Maine (Hulls Cove Visitor Center: 25 Visitor Center Road, Bar Harbor, ME 04609)
Park opening hours: Open 24 hours, year-round. There are road closures in the winter months (check the park website for updated info).
Park website: https://www.nps.gov/acad/index.htm
Park fees: $35 per car (+$6 for Cadillac Mountain vehicle reservation) – https://www.nps.gov/acad/planyourvisit/fees.htm

An Overview

Acadia National Park is made up of 3 areas: Isle au haut, Mount Desert Island, and Schoodic Peninsula. Of these three, Mount Desert Island is the most popular with the most amount of things to do and has the the iconic scenery in this national park. During our trip, we didn’t have time to make it to Schoodic nor Isle au Haut, so I will focus on Mount Desert Island only for this post. We do have plans to visit again next year, so keep a look out for updates!

There is a lot to do here, so if you’re feeling overwhelmed, I’ve done a quick 2-day itinerary to see all the main highlights here.

Although an island, Mount Desert Island is accessible by car via Bar Harbor Road. The most popular things to do are on the East side of the island, including exploring Bar Harbor downtown, Sand Beach, hiking the Beehive Trail, Thunder Hole, Ocean Path, Jordan Pond, the ‘Bubbles’, and Cadillac Mountain. I’ve made a quick map of these places below to give you a rough idea of the proximity of the main attractions. I’ll go into each place in more detail further down in this post.

Map of Mount Desert Island in Acadia National Park

When to travel:

The busy season is between Summer and Autumn. When I say busy, I mean BUSY. Plan wayyyy ahead and book your travel plans at least 3 months in advance if you can. I’d recommend visiting in Autumn for the beautiful orange and red colours of the fall foliage that adds to the already breath-taking landscape.

Photo from the South Bubble summit

If you want to time your trip to synchronize with the change in fall colours, here’s a foliage tracker/estimator that can be helpful when planning: https://www.explorefall.com/states/maine. The leaves will usually start changing colours between the end of September to middle of October, depending on the temperature that year. We went in the middle of October this year and while it was perfect for Acadia, it was too early for upstate New York, and just a touch late for New Hampshire 🤷🏻‍♀️.

Check the park website before you go, as some roads are closed during the winter months and some trails are closed during Peregrine Falcon nesting season in the spring to late summer.

How Many Days Do I Need?

To hit the highlights of Acadia in a flash, you’ll need 2-3 days, but if you want to explore more and take it easy, then I’d recommend staying here a week. Toby and I had limited vacation days and wanted to hit up New Hampshire and Vermont during the fall foliage season as well so we did the Acadia highlights in 2 days. We originally planned for 2.5 days, but we hit some bad weather on our last day and and shortened our stay, skipping a couple attractions. 😦

Check the weather ahead of time since many of the popular hiking trails are weather-dependent, so give yourself an extra day or two for wiggle room incase you need to post-pone any activities like us. Check our 2-day itinerary here.

Where to Stay

There are a TON of accommodation options around Acadia National Park. You pass by motel after motel the closer you get to Acadia but with that being said, ALL OF IT WILL GET BOOKED UP EARLY. We’ve never encountered such a busy place in our travels before. A month before planning our trip, every single (affordable) accommodation option was booked up around the national park and we snagged the only affordable one remaining all the way in Surry, a 45 mins drive from the park. Although it meant that we had to wake up earlier than planned to get to where we wanted to go, we were just grateful to get a place at all! We travelled at peak season in middle of October, so if you’re planning to do the same, BOOK EARLY. I’ve included a map of available accommodation options from booking.com for the middle of October next year as reference.

Accommodation options from booking.com

The best place (although more expensive) to stay will be in Bar Harbor town, inside Acadia National Park. Although a small town, it’s got everything you need at your fingertips, including restaurants, shops, grocery stores, bars…etc. It’s also close to the major attractions in the national park as well. I’ve included a screen cap below of available options in Bar Harbor from booking.com for reference. The downtown area is very walkable, so choose to stay closer to Main Street if you want to be in the hustle and bustle. Read more about Bar Harbor below.

Accommodation options in Bar Harbor from booking.com

If you can’t manage to get a place in Bar Harbor (like us), don’t fret. Anything nearby will be fine. You can always drive to Bar Harbour town and spend an afternoon to walk around (it’s not a big town, you can get through it in a couple hours).

Getting Around Acadia – Driving vs the Bus

You can get around Mount Desert Island by either driving or taking the free Island Explorer Bus.

Driving:

We prefer the freedom of driving our own car, however there are downfalls. Since Acadia gets extremely busy, parking can be an absolute nightmare. If you are visiting popular hikes and trailheads, make sure you arrive early (ideally before 8am) to get a parking spot, otherwise prepare to circle the lots and the side roads again and again until one frees up. We had to do this when we visited Jordan Pond and when we did eventually find a parking spot it was a 30 minute walk away from the trailhead 😭. It was the worst parking experience we’ve ever encountered. When parking lots are full, the rangers will barricade the entrance so you can’t just go in and circle around until one frees up. Therefore, if you only want to drive, start early and also consider that it will limit the number of places you go in a day and you’ll have to factor in the extra time to find a parking spot – for example, we woke up super early and got a great parking spot at Sand Beach parking, however in the afternoon when we wanted to to the Jordan Pond hikes, it was near impossible to find a spot and driving around took up a chunk of our schedule.

Also keep in mind that there is limited cellphone reception, so if you rely heavily on Google maps, maybe have a paper map with you just in case.

Island Explorer Bus:

This is a free bus service that operates only from Summer to Fall and runs roughly every 30 minutes. It takes you to the most popular places and will stop at most parking lots. Their website here has more information regarding the bus routes: https://www.exploreacadia.com/routefinder.html. The benefit of taking the bus is that it is easy and you don’t have to worry about parking, however the downfall is that you’ll have to take your whole day of hiking essentials with you and make sure you have places where you can fill up your water bottle throughout the day. The bus is also only every 30 minutes, so you’ll have to factor that in as well when you’re planning your day.

Island Explorer bus – a free bus service around Acadia National Park

What I recommend: a combination of both. Get up early and get parking at your desired lot. If you’re doing the Beehive Trail first thing (which I would recommend), park at the Sand Beach parking lot. If you’re doing the Jordan Pond trails first, then park at the lot there. When you’re ready to move on to the next location, just take the Island Explorer Bus instead of moving your car. It will save you the hassle of having to find parking for your next location. The bus will go to all the parking lots, so even if you can’t get a spot at your desired lot, just park at the next closest one and take the bus. There’s no cost for parking, so you can leave your car at the same place all day.

Park Pass

You will need to purchase a park pass to enter Acadia National Park. There’s no gated entry, but there are plenty of rangers around checking people’s cars for the pass. It’s $35 per car and must be displayed on your windshield. This park pass allows you to go anywhere within the park, however if you wish to drive up Cadillac Mountain (more on that below), you will have to purchase an additional timed vehicle reservation pass ($6 per car). The Cadillac Mountain sunrise tickets sell out quick so plan ahead of time!

The park pass and Cadillac Mountain vehicle pass can both be purchased online ahead of time on the government website: https://www.nps.gov/acad/planyourvisit/fees.htm. You can purchase the park pass in person at the visitor’s centre in town, but not the Cadillac Mountain pass. I’d highly recommend buying both online beforehand and have it printed and ready to go, so you have one less thing to worry about. In peak season, it can be incredibly busy and parking can be a huge hassle – don’t waste your trip waiting in line to look for parking just to buy a park pass!

Travel Tips

Start Early!

If there’s one piece of travel advice I can give you for visiting Acadia National Park, it’d be to start early! Ideally at sunrise. If you were looking for a relaxing getaway of sleeping in, I’m sorry to disappoint you. Because this place has so much to offer, it gets INCREDIBLY busy especially in the summer and fall season – I’m talking about having to park a half an hour away from your car busy – and everyone wants to hit up the same areas and the same iconic hikes. It gets so busy that not only will you struggle to find parking, but you’ll even have to wait in line to climb up mountains! It gets insane, trust me. Getting up early is the only way to ensure the best time away from the majority of the crowds and the frustrations of finding parking. You’ll appreciate the calmer and quieter surrounding in the early morning and take in nature without all the noise.

A benefit of starting early is that you get to see some wicked cool sunrises.
Limited Cellphone Service Everywhere

There is very limited cell reception in Acadia. You might get some pockets of good reception on top of mountains, but it’s spotty at best. There’s free wifi at Jordan Pond House and also decent wifi in Bar Harbor town, but apart from that be prepared for your service to jump in and out. I’d recommend picking up a map of the area or screenshot it on your phone before heading out and going on hikes just incase you lose reception and get lost.

Bring good hiking gear

There are plenty of rock-scrambling and cliff-side hikes to embark on in Acadia. If you plan on trekking through these popular hikes, a reliable pair of hiking shoes with good grip is a must! There’s also rock-climbing involved in some of the trails, so I’d also recommend a good pair of hiking pants that will hold up against abrasive surfaces. Hiking sticks can be useful, but depending on your hike, there are some trails that will require your hands to climb up and down rocks and hold on to iron rungs.

You need to display the Acadia park pass in your windshield when you park. Remember to have it printed and ready to go before you travel or hope that your hotel or accommodation will have a printer you can borrow.

Best Things to Do:

A summary of the best things to do:

Sand Beach

This is the largest sandy beach in Mount Desert Island and unsurprisingly is a very popular spot in the summertime. This open beach is a lovely place to relax and enjoy the views and sounds of crashing waves or to rest your legs after a long hike. We came here during the fall so the weather was a bit chilly for swimming, but there were still plenty of families here with children playing in the sand.

To access Sand Beach, park at the Sand Beach parking lot and it’s only a few steps away.

Ocean Path

Distance: 6.6km (3.3km each way)
Duration: 1.5 hours out and back, not counting time for photos
Trail type: out & back
Start: Sand Beach parking lot

Ocean Path is a lovely walking path along the coast of Maine. The path is narrow and follows along Park Loop Road, but there are multiple small paths to diverge off in the trail to get closer to the views and rocky terrain, best for that perfect Acadia photo. This path is flat and easy to walk on, popular for runners, hikers, photographers, and bird-watchers.

Getting to the start of the trailhead from the parking lot

This out and back path starts at Sand Beach parking lot and continues for 3.3km, ending at Otter Point Overlook. Apart from enjoying the views along the way, there are 4 main stopovers on this path: 1) Thunder Hole, 2) Otter Cliff Overlook, 3) Boulder Beach and 4) Otter Point Overlook (marked on the map).

Ocean Path, 6.6km, roughly 1.5 hours to walk to entirety

You can choose to walk as much or as little of this path as you like. If you don’t feel like walking, you can drive down Park Loop Road and you’ll see turn offs for small parking lots at each of the stops (but I’d recommend walking to see the views along the way). Note: Park Loop Road is a one-way road to accommodate for road-side parking, so you can only travel from North to South by car.

Some photos along Ocean Path on our way to and back from Thunder Hole:

Small paths along the trail to get closer to the coast
Small parking lots turn off at Thunder Hole
We drove to Otter Cliff Overlook (which wasn’t really worth the stopover in my opinion) – Otter Point Overlook not pictured

Thunder Hole

Thunder Hole is the most popular stop-off on Ocean Path where you can watch waves crash into the rocks, creating a burst splash of water high into the air. You have to come 2 hours before high tide to experience this. We didn’t manage to get our timing right, but it’s still neat to stop over here anyway. It’s roughly a 20 minute walk to Thunder Hole from Sand Beach via Ocean Path with beautiful views along the way.

Thunder Hole
The terrain around Thunder Hole
Thunder Hole not at high tide </3
Coast views at Thunder Hole
What it’s meant to look like if we came at the right time 😅

Beehive Trail

The Beehive Trail is one of Acadia National Park’s most popular hikes, offering breath-taking panoramic views. This hike has a reputation for being thrilling and difficult with iron rungs and vertical climbs but we personally didn’t find it bad at all, especially with good pacing. I recommend starting early, wearing good shoes, and dressing in layers. For safety, avoid this hike if it’s raining. Follow this in-depth guide about hiking the Beehive trail here.

Views on the Beehive Trail

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.

Abby's avatar by Abby

Jordan Pond Trails

There are numerous trails you can hike around the Jordan Pond, and many of them conveniently start at Jordan Pond House Restaurant. The 3 most popular hikes here are the Jordan Pond Path, Jordan Cliffs Trail, and Bubbles Trail. You can also combine all 3 hikes to get the best of all of them – which is what we did! Follow my complete guide to hiking these trails here.

View of the “Bubbles” from Jordan Path
View from Jordan Cliffs trail
View from the Bubbles Trail, at the top of South Bubble
View from Jordan Pond Path

Jordan Pond House Restaurant

Outside of Bar Harbor, there is a very limited selection of restaurants on Mount Desert Island in Acadia National Park. Jordan Pond House Restaurant is the most popular choice not only because of their good food, but also because of its convenient location where many trailheads are located. The back patio of this restaurant also offers views of Jordan Pond and the North and South “bubbles”.

They’re known for their popovers here, which is kind of like a hollow muffin made with a thin batter, served with butter and their local-made jam. It was okay, but for me the star of the meal was their meatloaf sandwich! Find out more about this restaurant here.

Cadillac Mountain at Sunrise

Cadillac Mountain is the highest point on the eastern seaboard and is famously known to be the best (and first) place to watch the sunrise in Acadia. You can get to the summit by either hiking or driving, but generally driving is the preferred option so you’re not hiking in the dark to get up the mountain by sunrise.

Due to its popularity, Cadillac Mountain is the only place in Acadia National Park where you need a vehicle reservation to drive to the top. You must pre-purchase your reservation ahead of time online on the government website: https://www.recreation.gov/timed-entry/400000. This ticket is in addition to the park pass – you must have both to drive up the mountain. You cannot buy these tickets in person unlike the park pass. 30% of the tickets are released 90 days in advance and the remaining 70% are released 2 days prior at 10am EST.

The government reservation website screenshot of the two ticket type reservations.

Tips to securing a ticket: When you get to the government website, there are 2 types of tickets to choose from: sunrise and day tickets. Not surprisingly, the sunrise tickets are the most highly sought after. Set your timer and get multiple people on multiple devices because as soon as it hits 10am (eastern time – make sure you’re in the right time zone), you must click immediately for your best chances. I tried this on two occasions and swore I clicked exactly on time and the tickets were already sold out within a SECOND. It was insane. Once you’re in, the system reserves the ticket for you for 15 minutes until you check out. Pro-tip: If you didn’t secure a ticket at 10am, keep refreshing and wait until 10:15am to see if tickets become available. All the people that didn’t check out their tickets within the 15 mins have their tickets timed out and gets put up for sale again. This was actually how I managed to snag our tickets 🤫. Once you check out, you’ll get sent a QR code that they will scan at the gate on the day.

The sunrise tickets are timed to enter between 5:30am – 7:30am, there’s no time limit on how long you can stay up there. It is recommended to arrive 1 hour prior to sunrise. It takes about 20 minutes to drive to the top and only a few minutes from the car park to walk to the views.

Map of Cadillac Mountain summit – smaller West lot on the left and East lot on the right

Sadly for us, we did everything right, but the weather was not in our favour. We woke up super early and got to the gate entry at 6:20am, about 20 mins before sunrise (a bit late). We knew visibility was going to be poor, but we had hopes of a small break in the clouds for the views so we drove up anyway – after all, we were already there and the $6 was spent. They scanned our QR code at the gate and it only took us 15 minutes to drive to the top (although I’ve heard it can take up to 30 mins due to slower people unfamiliar with driving up mountain roads and it’s single file all the way up). Once we got to the top, there are 2 parking lots. You’ll pass the smaller West lot first which is farther away (seems like the overflow lot), then you’ll reach the East lot, which is a semi-circle and is directly in front of the trail. You want to park in the East lot. When we visited, the weather was so bad that you could barely see 10 feet in front of you so we just got out to have a quick peak, then got back into our car and headed straight for a warm breakfast in Bar Harbor.

East lot with no visibility at sunrise
</3
What we shoud’ve been seeing
Toby pointing at where the view should be 😅

There’s a short and easy 500m trail around the Cadillac Summit that was supposed to be nice to see. I guess we’ll have to try again next time. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Bar Harbor

Bar Harbor is the only major town in Acadia National Park. Here you’ll find lots of cute shops, souvenirs, restaurants, hiking gear, and even a big grocery store for all your food needs. There are also tons of accommodation options in this small town that get booked out way in advance during the busy season.

Map of downtown Bar Harbor – Main Street will be the majority of the shops

You don’t need to spend a ton of time in Bar Harbor, an afternoon is enough to explore this small town. It only takes about 15 minutes to walk from one end to the other. Main Street is the street with the most shops. There are TONS of seafood restaurants around here and of course, lobster rolls – when in Maine!

Take a stroll down The Shore Path that starts at the North end of town from Agamont Park. From here, you can see a ton of lobster boats anchored in the water (we counted at least 26). Continue walking on the path that wraps around Bar Harbour Inn, a big beautiful inn with spa amenities (looked expensive). The path can go for a while but we stopped wen we reached the small beach at Balance Rock and took a right to head back onto the Main Street, weaving through the beautiful old houses in the quiet neighbourhood.

Agamont Park
View from the harbor
The many many lobster boats – we counted 26!
Bar Harbour Inn
Balancing Rock

If you need to stock up on supplies, there is a large corporate grocery store that sits at the edge of town called Hannafords.

We had breakfast at a highly rated local diner called Jordans Restaurant (conveniently located next to Hannfords). They open at 5am, which was perfect for us after our big disappointment with the gloomy weather on Cadillac Mountain. When we arrived at 7am, the diner was already half full. By the time we left an hour later, there was a line up out the door! They have a decent sized menu, boasting their wild blueberry muffin and wild blueberry pancakes – we got both (and Toby added chocolate chips to the pancake). We also got the lobster roll, clam chowder, and lobster cheese omelette – if you haven’t noticed, we often order too much food because I want to try it all 😅. Overall it was an okay meal. I liked the home fries and the lobster roll was great (soft fluffy toasted buttered bun). The pancakes with the wild blueberry sauce was good but the lobster omelette and blueberry muffin was just okay. The staff was real friendly and the place had a great buzz about it.

If you’re looking for great coffee, there’s a cool local shop called Vacationland Coffee Roasters where they roast their own beans onsite and will package it fresh for you. What actually drew me here was the super cool logo with the lobster claw pinching a coffee bean. I bought a bag of beans just for the logo 😅.

Overwhelmed? I got you. Here’s an ideal travel itinerary to hit all the highlights in 2 days:

I’ve put together an ideal sample itinerary to hit the highlights of Acadia National Park from our experience (our real itinerary was a bit more messy):

Before you go:

  • Check the tide times for Thunder Hole and estimate to arrive at Thunder Hole 2 hours before high tide. Depending on when you go, you will have to adjust your itinerary to either do Thunder Hole before or after the other activities to get there at the right time. There is a parking lot at Thunder Hole that gets pretty busy so plan accordingly. You can also walk from Sand Beach parking lot via Ocean Path – takes about 20 minutes. You really only need 10 mins at Thunder Hole to watch the waves crash.
  • Make a lunch reservation at Jordan Pond House, timing will depend on where you are able to fit Thunder Hole in.
  • *Book your Cadillac Mountain vehicle pass 2 days in advance.

Day 1: Beehive Trail, Ocean Path, Thunder Hole, Jordan Pond Trails

  • 7am (or earlier): Get to Sand Beach parking lot by 7am to secure a parking spot.
  • 7am – 9am: Hike the Beehive Trail when the sun rises to avoid the crowds. This hike takes roughly 1.5-2 hours, depending on your pace and crowds.
  • 9am-10:30am: Finish the Beehive Trail and head towards Sand Beach to take in the views of the ocean, then walk the Ocean Path (conveniently also starts from the Sand Beach parking lot). Ocean path does link up to Thunder Hole, so if the timing is right you can head there after hiking the Beehive Trail.
  • 11am – Noon: Arrive at Jordan Pond House for your lunch reservation, or if you didn’t secure a reservation, get there before 11am and line up to get seated. If you were able to make a late booking, you’ll have more freedom in your time.
  • 12-4pm: Hike the Jordan Pond Trails (takes about 3-4 hours, be mindful of the time of sunset that day).
  • 4pm onwards: The loop finishes back at the restaurant. Depending on how tired you are, you can have dinner here or head to Bar Harbor for more restaurant options. Have an early rest and wake up early the next day.
  • Note: you can also flip the hikes around and do Jordan Pond Trails first, then lunch at Jordan Pond House and Beehive Trail last, however the Beehive Trail is one of the busiest trails and it will get PACKED in the afternoon, whereas the Jordan Pond Trails are not as busy.

Day 2:

  • 5:30-7:30am: Arrive at the Cadillac Mountain summit before sunrise (make sure you have a vehicle reservation pass).
  • 7:30a – 9am: Enjoy the sunrise views and walk around the Summit Loop.
  • 9am – 10am: Breakfast in town at Bar Harbor – we went to Jordan’s Restaurant. Quick service, decent food, nice people.
  • 10am onwards: Spend the rest of the day exploring Bar Harbour
    • Browse the shops
    • Walk across the foot bridge to Bar Island at low tide to get some views of Bar Harbor from a distance (make sure you come back before the water level rises again!)
    • Book a lobster boat tour with LuLu Lobster Boat Tour (tour times are usually 9am, 11:30am, 2:30pm) – https://lululobsterboat.com/
    • Have lunch or dinner in one of the many restaurants in town
  • Sunset at Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse
    • This is optional and a VERY busy place at sunset. We did not end up doing this due to timing and weather, but other visitors have recommended coming 3 hours before sunset just to get a parking spot due to the very small lot that’s there. It’s roughly a 30 minute drive from Bar Harbor.

Less popular places that came up in my research for this trip but we didn’t get to go due time constraints, so I’ll make a list here for reference on our next trip to Acadia. You’d need at least another day to fit the rest of this into the itinerary:

  • Beech Cliff Ladder Trail – we didn’t get to go due to weather, but this hike (strenuous, roughly 2 hours) provides beautiful views over Echo Lake. It’s not as exhilarating as the Beehive Trail or Precipice Trail but there are still iron rings, ladders, and cliff-side walks. Park at the Echo Lake Beach Entrance for the trailhead.
  • Precipice Trail – I didn’t put this in my original itinerary because of the multiple warnings and thrilling things about this hike, but after doing the Beehive Trail which was also meant to be scary but wasn’t bad at all, I think we’ll give this hike a go next time. It’s the most dangerous hike in Acadia and will take you anywhere between 1-3 hours. Arrive early for a parking spot (what else is new?).
  • Walk across the foot bridge to Bar Island at low tide from Bar Harbor to get views of Bar Harbor.
  • Drive around to the other little towns (ie. Southwest Harbor and Northeast Harbor)
  • Watch the sunset at Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse
  • Visit Echo Lake
  • Visit the other two Acadia regions: Schoodic Point and a day in Isle au Haut
  • LuLu Lobster Boat Tour (9am, 11:30am, 2:30pm) – https://lululobsterboat.com/

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!

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…

AbbyLeave a comment