The 28 Best Places to Drink and Stay in Portland ME

A cocktail bar on Portland's tourist-heavy Wharf Street that opened with a stated mission to make the block worth visiting. The drinks lean on reworked classics, with hot dogs and bar snacks to keep things honest. The $28 Flaming Scorpion Bowl arrives in a blaze of mild chaos, which tells you the room doesn't take itself too seriously. Punch named it one of the best new bars in the country, and Esquire flagged its espresso martini among the best in America.

1. Esquire Espresso Martini · The Best Martinis in America
2. Punch Best New Bars
3. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland

Wood-burning fireplaces, whirlpool tubs, and antique-furnished rooms spread across a cluster of restored barns and cottages on the Maine coast. This is an inn in the old sense: unhurried, a little formal, the kind of place where afternoon tea by the fire feels like the obvious plan. Bikes are available for riding along the coast, there's a stone pool, a spa, and a candlelit restaurant on the property that guests tend not to leave.

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Four Star
2. Michelin Guide 1 Key

Every one of the 226 rooms has a private terrace facing the Atlantic, which makes the clifftop setting feel less like a amenity and more like the whole point. This is a sprawling luxury resort on 70 acres of rough Maine shoreline, with an ocean-facing spa, outdoor pools, and a Forbes Four Star and a Michelin Key to its name. The crowd skews well-heeled road-tripper; the vibe is coastal grandeur with enough square footage that it never feels crowded.

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Four Star
2. Michelin Guide 1 Key

1. Esquire 50/50/50 · The Best Martinis in America

1. Wildsam The 50 Most Essential Bars in America

Six rooms in a residential house a few blocks from the Danforth Street sibling, this Lark Hotels guest house holds a Michelin Key and wears its size lightly. Vintage furnishings and local artwork give it the feel of staying with someone who has better taste than you do. The neighborhood is quiet, walkable, and genuinely residential, which means you'll pass actual Portlanders on the way to breakfast.

1. Michelin Guide 1 Key

The name nods to the Prohibition speakeasy that once operated in the basement, which is a better origin story than most boutique hotels can manage. Lark Hotels gave the old house a full renovation, and their signature formula is intact: photogenic rooms, genuinely comfortable beds, and a walkable neighborhood that makes you feel like a local who somehow has nicer lodgings than anyone else on the block. The Michelin Guide awarded it one Key.

1. Michelin Guide 1 Key

Sitting on the cobblestone end of Fore Street in Portland's Old Port, this boutique hotel leans into a nautical theme without going full lighthouse gift shop. Rooms run contemporary-classic, with large soaking tubs in many bathrooms and fireplaces in some suites. BlueFin handles fresh North Atlantic seafood on-site, though the Old Port's bar and restaurant scene starts essentially at the front door.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

A converted textile mill with original worn brick and warehouse ceilings sets the tone for this 33-room luxury boutique hotel in Biddeford, a riverside town that doesn't get nearly enough attention. The design swings between clean modern lines and Art Deco flourishes without losing the thread. A rooftop pool, lobby bar, café, and a brewery-restaurant round it out. The Michelin Guide awarded it one Key.

1. Michelin Guide 1 Key

The former home of the Portland Press Herald spent nearly a century printing the news; now it's a 110-room boutique hotel in the Old Port where the newspaper theme is more than wallpaper. The building itself does the heavy lifting, so the vintage journalist decor reads like atmosphere rather than concept. Selected by the Michelin Guide, it's a Marriott Autograph Collection property, which means independent spirit with loyalty points attached.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

A historic sea captain's house anchors this boutique hotel on the edge of Kennebunkport's compact town center, with eleven modern cabin suites spread across the surrounding grounds. The design, by Elder & Ash, lands somewhere between old Maine and contemporary coastal, which is a trickier balance than it sounds in a town better known for Bush family compounds and old-money shingle cottages. A Michelin Key holder.

1. Michelin Guide 1 Key

A cluster of Federal-era sea captains' homes on a quiet, tree-lined street, the Captains Collection operates as an upscale bed-and-breakfast in what might be the most tastefully patrician small town in New England. Kennebunkport has been a presidential retreat for generations, which tells you something about the pace. Galleries and antique shops are a short walk away, and the Michelin Guide awarded it a Key.

1. Michelin Guide 1 Key

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

A six-room B&B tucked into a stately red-brick Georgian house in Portland's quieter, more residential West End. The rooms are handsome and distinct, the décor classic without feeling like a period piece, and the cooked-to-order breakfast is a proper morning. An automated wine bar is an odd and welcome touch, and afternoon cheese boards keep things civilized. Downtown is a short walk northeast when you need it.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

A block from one of Southern Maine's most beloved sandy beaches, this Colonial Revival inn in Scarborough's small waterfront district sits twenty minutes shy of Portland. Guest rooms lean hard into seaside style, with vibrant colors and vintage postcard illustrations, while the details stay modern boutique. The on-site restaurant, Shade, serves oysters and fresh seafood on a covered porch with wine on draft.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

A few minutes from Portland in Cape Elizabeth, this coastal resort sits close enough to the water that the sea breeze does real work, even in summer when the air conditioning is technically doing its job. Rooms and suites run to gas fireplaces and heated floors, which sounds like a sales pitch until January arrives. The style is contemporary-classic without the stiffness that phrase usually implies, and the Michelin Guide has it among their selected hotels.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

1. The Pinnacle Guide 2 Pins
2. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland
3. James Beard Awards 2022 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Northeast · Ben Jackson

Getting to this inn requires a ferry, which is either a dealbreaker or the entire point. The island has no cars to speak of, and the inn leans into that with no TVs or phones in the rooms, just vintage furniture, local art, and views. Bikes, tennis, golf, and charter boats fill the days, and the restaurant runs on lobster, mussels, and produce from nearby farms. Selected by the Michelin Guide.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

1. Punch Salad Bar Martini · Our Favorite Cocktails

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

1. James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Bar
2. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland
3. James Beard Awards 2022 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Bar Program

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

A six-room B&B in a Colonial-era house that has Ralph Waldo Emerson quotes on the walls, which is either charming or a lot depending on your relationship with transcendentalism. The inn has been around forever and shows it in the best way: pine floors from the original build, original architectural details, and modern bathrooms that know when to stay quiet. Breakfast, a lending library, and an honor bar round out the thoughtful extras.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

1. James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Best New Bar

The check-in desk is a cocktail bar, which sets the tone for what The Nevada is doing. This 21-room motel on Long Sands Beach has been gut-renovated by a husband-and-wife team, and the L-shaped building now runs art deco through a nautical filter: clean lines, ocean views, private terraces on every room. The beach is right there. Checking in early, staying late, and ordering another drink all feel equally reasonable.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

Floor-to-ceiling windows frame the Nubble Lighthouse from every room, which means the view does most of the decorating at this 18-room boutique hotel on the York coast. A former motor lodge, now redesigned into something that feels genuinely considered, with private patios, coastal-modern interiors, a pool, sauna, and beach access. Bikes and yoga classes are on offer when staring at the Atlantic stops being enough.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

Mahogany double doors shipped from Puerto Rico anchor the entrance to this Puerto Rican cocktail bar in the Old Port, where salsa and merengue fill the room and the tiled bar is the obvious place to sit. The drinks lean inventive, the food is serious enough to linger over, and the whole thing has a regional Spirited Award to its name. Portland has seafood shacks covered; this is doing something else entirely.

1. Condé Nast Traveler 15 Best Restaurants in Portland, Maine
2. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland
3. Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Honoree · Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. East

1. Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland
2. Spirited Awards 2023 · Regional Honoree · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. East