This is a must see. The pond is absolutely beautiful, peaceful area. We took the loop trail all around the pond and it involves gravel, rock climbing and wooden walkways over streams and wet areas. We stopped at the restaurant on site and asked to be seated outside on the lawn outback under umbrellas. The outside dining area is so peaceful and has stunning views of the pond below and surrounding scenery. We knew to eat outside because we had been here before and checked it all out. There is very ample seating inside with a window wall overlooking the pond. What you need to do is go to the reservation reception area which has a window just to left of the restaurant entrance outside under the covered area. Here they will take your name and number in the party and give you an estimate of the wait time along with a pager. Any time we have been here we had some sort of wait and to us well worth it. We come for the popovers and drinks on the lawn, which are to die for and warm with butter and jams. They will bring another popover when your done with the first so it will be fresh and warm. The parking for Jordan pond and restaurant is free but limited for the amount of people visiting. We had to circle around the three small parking areas and finally got a spot.

Update 8/5/2020: Things are so different here since COVID-19. The pond is just same as usual very beautiful and quiet place to sit or take the trail around the pond that takes about an hour and a half. The wooden walkways are in the process of being replaced with pressure treated wooden support structures and native very wide and thick cedar planking that is naturally rot resistant wood. The walkways keep your footprints off the natural forest floor and are actually very nice structures. There will be little detours around the work areas being done by volunteers by friends of Acadia and others. There is extensive roped off areas along the trail to as before, “Leave No Trace” of your boot prints on the forest floor and shoreline allowing nature to restore these areas. As you walk the trail you will encounter wooden walkways, bridges, large rocks to walk around and fairly level gravel walkways. The trail is friendly to guests of pretty much all ages and abilities as I am 64 and the rocky trail area may be a bit challenging but doable. You will be able to see where the trail goes as you climb around huge boulders and over rocks in one area by the bright pinkish color of the native pink granite landscape rocks that are native all through the park. You can see where people have worn the surface of the granite and the pinkish color shows through. The whole park and Cadillac Mountain are made up of the pink granite. The parking areas here were very full as we did come right at lunchtime. By the time we left the parking areas had plenty of parking as it was well past lunchtime and the restaurant really doesn't have a dinner menu during covid 19. Don't judge the restaurant during this time as this is not the normal operating procedure. The water in the pond is absolutely crystal clear. There is no swimming, wading or animals allowed in pond.